Making the unconscious conscious
A friend of mine reached out to me recently with a simple request, “Hey, in your experience…what do you think would make the perfect journal? Size? Material? Anything you can think of.”
Little did she know…
This is like my favorite question of all time.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE journals, pens, art supplies – basically anything that can be found in a Dick Blick.
I also really love journaling. I have approximately a bazillion filled-up notebooks. And I would love to share my love for journaling and its accoutrements with you. Happy Sunday!
Journals
- Moleskine: I started out journaling in whatever pretty notebook I could find, but once I discovered Moleskine journals, I was hooked. They are a perfect size (5” x 8.25”), the paper is lovely, and they have a little pocket in the back to stash things. My favorite Moleskins are the Special Editions, which oddly enough are often cheaper than the standard ones. I have so many cool ones – Wizard of Oz, Superman, Superwoman, Camo, Pinocchio, etc . Very fun.
- Lemome: I used these for several years as bullet journals. They have grid paper, so they are easier to use to create the daily page you want. It was such a relaxing task – pulling out my ruler, good pens, and a calendar and using them to create a daily template specifically tailored to my needs. I’ve since switched to using the Passion Planner for my daily paper calendar – a bit more efficient for this time in my life, but I loved the flexibility and creative potential of the bullet journal.
- Rhodia: I’ve also used these for bullet journals and regular journals. Very nice paper. Very expensive. The soft cover is very pleasing to touch, and the journal has a nice heft to it. Maybe you write weightier words in a heftier notebook?
- Leuchtturm: Speaking of expensive… There is a lovely stationery store in Mt. Vernon: Iron Leaf Press. My mom and I stopped by (we were celebrating my birthday together), and this notebook caught my eye, and my Mammacita insisted on buying it for me. At 10” x 7”, it was a bit bigger than the notebooks I previously used. I fell in love with it. The paper is beautiful, the pages are numbered, and the dot matrix paper provides just a hint of structure to the page – helpful for mapping out one’s thoughts. I love this one so much that I just bought 2 more when we were in Mt. Vernon yesterday.
- Talens Art Creations Sketchbook: I can never enter a Dick Blick without buying something. Last time I was there, I wanted to get a sketchbook that I could travel with, so I wanted something sturdy, with an elastic close. I looked at the big Moleskines, but they were just so darn expensive. I discovered this one, which was about $10 cheaper. And guess what? I LOVE it. It is even bigger than the Leuchtturm (it’s 8.3” x 11.7”). I guess as I “mature” I need more space to express myself. 😛 I love having big, blank pages – no lines, no dots – just lots of room to write, draw, sketch, make lists, make connections. It’s a journal and a sketchbook. And since I just had to find the hyperlink to it, I now realize that online they come in SO MANY colors, not just basic black. Yew!
And now on to writing utensils. OMG. So many delightful ways to mark up a piece of paper.
Writing Utensils
- Lamy Safari: These are my favorite pens to use in my journal. They are beautiful, the ink flows frictionlessly, and they feel super special, but they are not crazy expensive for fountain pens. I’ve had these in dark purple, white, & black. Huehue, our dog, is a jealous dog. He has a tendency to destroy things that seem to distract my attention and love away from him, such as nice pens. So he has destroyed my white and purple ones. My black one eventually started leaking after several years of use. Now I have a turquoise & yellow one, and yesterday I just got a Rose Gold Al-Star.
- Papermate Flair: These are my favorite pens to use in my planner and for work. They add lovely pops of color to my notebooks, and writing with a pen that brings me a little spark of joy helps me get through those days of work where it’s just me and a spreadsheet for 5 hours.
- Staedtler Pigment Liners: These are great pens for line drawings – deep, black, bold. I also like the Tombows.
- Prismacolor Colored Pencils: I use these ALL the time. I have a small set next to the couch (a graduation gift from my brother and sister-in-law), where I do my morning writing, and a set of 150 pencils that Mammacita gave me (she shares my love of art supplies). The lead is very soft, the colors are very vibrant. I <3 them.
I write almost every day, a practice solidified after I read The Artist’s Way, wherein the author advocates doing “Daily Pages” where you write 3 pages in stream of consciousness style. Some days it’s just life minutia – what I did yesterday, how I felt about it, how I wish I was a better person, how other people annoy me, what I dreamt about last night, etc. For the past two months, I’ve been working my way through The Book of Alchemy (another gift). This book has 100 essays, each essay followed by an associated writing prompt. I am really enjoying it because it makes me write about things I never would have thought about before, and it’s introducing me to new minds, which I love. Writing daily is my therapy. It helps connect my mind to my hands. It helps connect my body to my mind, my subconscious to my conscious, the collective conscious to my individual conscious. It’s a way to channel ideas from the nebulous into the concrete, a way to help me realize how I really think and feel about thing. Sometimes it’s hard to know what I think, but writing introduces me to myself.
A few quotes/revelations from my current journal:
- Kindred spirits everywhere / NICE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.
- My journal really is a portal/doorway to another place/dimension.
- There is still lots of beauty and magic in this world – even in my dusty back yard.
- JUST DO IT. Less Talk/Pondering. More ACTION.
- NATURE: PEACE: ALONE: STILLNESS: RETREAT
- EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE (a teaching from the paint class I am taking with the Mammacita, and SO applicable to life in general).
- You ARE doing it right! You can relax and let your guard down. You don’t have to wait to do that, Sweet Pea. (This is from Elizabeth Gilberts’ Letters from Love practice).
- Live life slowly and with intention and presence. It is beautiful here.
If you are craving some space and clarity, I wonder how it would feel to sit down with a nice notebook and a nice pen, set a timer for 10 minutes, and just keep your pen moving for those minutes. If you can’t think of anything to write about, write about that. I would love to hear what arises out of the ether for you!
I hope you are staying warm and cozy on this grey Sunday!
Ways to work with me
- You can book a bodywork session here.
- You can book a free Organic Intelligence Coaching consultation here and learn how you can feel better by feeling better. I am offering a 5-session coaching package for $250. You can read testimonials here.
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