What are the pros and cons of automatic functionality versus conscious effort? How do they affect quality of life? And how had this particular call for secrets elicited such a powerful response, through handcrafted, snail mail postcards no less?

In telling our secrets to others (even anonymously), we are holding up a mirror to see the simple but profound truth of what "is." Is this perhaps the secret to life?

If the act of keeping a secret takes such a toll on our minds and bodies, and the act of revealing one is so freeing, is it truly healthy to keep secrets at all?

I began collecting and sharing secrets in 2004. I printed 3,000 self-addressed postcards with simple instructions about sharing an artful secret. I passed them out to strangers on the streets of Washington, D.C., not knowing what to expect.