The photos have different colors because they were taken with different cameras. I've tried my best to make the second batch similar, but I just can't comprehend technology, so this will have to do. Plus, the fact that it was a rainy day and there was no natural light didn't help.
I have five pages left in my bullet journal and will begin the new one either tomorrow or on Monday. Excitement!!! Here are mini glimpses of details from the one that's coming to an end.
The photos have different colors because they were taken with different cameras. I've tried my best to make the second batch similar, but I just can't comprehend technology, so this will have to do. Plus, the fact that it was a rainy day and there was no natural light didn't help.
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(Above quote)
"So every day - I was surrounded by the beautiful crying forth of the ideas of God. - One of which was you." -Mary Oliver Here's a few pages from the grey journal I began in May :) (Above) The very first pages. I use envelopes to keep important papers, secrets & the manifesto for what I want each of my new journals to look like and feel like ;)
And here I'll share the last batch of details. After this, it will all be about my grey journal, which I began a couple of weeks ago. Gratitude lists, as always :) Say goodbyyyyyyeeeee!
It was nice experimenting with a spiral spine. I thought I'd hate it much more, but it didn't bother me. What did bother me was the atrocious cover. I tried covering a lot of the ugliness with washy tape, but still... I'm not pleased. The pages of this journal, however, are extraordinary. The best I've ever worked with. Now say hello to the grey fake-moleskine type journal that I've been working on for the last two weeks. It cost me 1'99€. The pages are not as great as those in the blue notebook, but oh well. I can work with anything ;) I'll make anything work for me. Monthly gratitude/appreciation lists. (above) I write lessons & ideas inspired by my favourite bands.
(below) Oracle readings to help me process life stuff and receive guidance. I don't write fiction anymore, I only store it in my head at this point. Going on for two years. I still make up characters and imaginary friends -it's compulsive, I couldn't give it up even if I tried- and I'm in constant contact with them, but I don't put their stories on paper; I'm too obsessed with my own "real" life. Needless to say, my characters influence everything about me: my choices, my ability to see different points of view, my desires for this life, and even my daily behavior. People who find this strange clearly don't realise that imaginary friends aren't separate entities from the thinker; they are alter egos. They allow me to explore crazy ideas before I decide whether or not to bring them to fruition. It's no secret that some of the places where I get to express my alter egos are my glorious journals. Some of them are used for plain writing and others contain visuals. I haven't found a better way to "know thyself" than pouring your soul into a notebook. I've also learned over time that I don't do well with the advice from certain professional writers and journalers, because they have what I call a "too mehanical" way of aproaching the process. For me, when I get mechanical... it just doesn't work. If I'm not immersed in some sort of emotional uproar, if I'm not bathing in the juices of restlessness... my brain is frozen. And I don't resist this condition anymore, on the contrary; now that I know for sure what works for me, I fuel it. I swallow all the inspiration I can gather on a daily basis, and fill myself up that way, then process it all through my blood, then spew the result with my own DNA attached to the mix of things. Hasn't failed me yet. These are a few of the key ingredients of my writing process: Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience. Henry David Thoreau
Bad writing precedes good writing. This is an infallible rule, so don’t waste time trying to avoid bad writing. That just slows down the process. Anything committed to paper can be changed. The idea is to start, and then go from there. Janet Hulstrand Writing is alchemy. Dross becomes gold. Experience is transformed. Pain is changed. Suffering may become song. The ordinary or horrible is pushed by the will of the writer into grace or redemption, a prophetic wail, a screed for justice, an elegy of sadness or sorrow. Andrea Dworkin Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. Franz Kafka
Only in men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life. Joseph Conrad ★
Vision Book - Spring Written Diary - Tiny Bits ☽ ✧ ☾ *Eternally grateful to Berry, who sent me a journaling care package a while ago, and I'm still having a lot of fun with everything. Thank you grrrrl!
✫ Part II ✫ 11. Book of Activities. A place to keep track of the experiences you want to have. Not those you have to do for one reason or another, but those that come from personal desire. In this notebook you can make (short) lists of little adventures you've already written about in your bucket list and/or in your "100 Things to do this year" from the Amazing Workbook and that you are convinced now is the right time to go for it. It's a very useful tool when friday comes and you feel the desire to have a little adventure in your weekend, but you don't know what you want exactly. You open your book, see the possibilities and choose the one you like most. With a journal like this, I finally went swimming to the ocean for the first time in 8 years this past summer. And I bet you're wondering But isn't Barcelona next to the sea? Oh yes, but it's a long story. This journal also helped me commit to my terrifying desire to volunteer at animal rights organizations. This was no easy adventure since I suffer from social anxiety. This little notebook felt like a support system, and it worked! There's nothing like writing down your wishes to feel excited about taking action, instead of having all these mixed up thoughts that become a foggy mass inside your head. Clarity please! I think it's important to keep the lists in this journal small, because when you cross a completed activity, you get a sense of accomplishment & expansion, as opposed to overwhelm, which is what happens when your peripheral vision catches the remaining twenty bullet points that look like clutter. 12. Dream Interpretation. Although I record & interpret dreams in my regular diary, plenty of people dedicate a whole journal to that task. There are periods of time when my dream life gets so epic and convoluted that I do ask myself whether I should move the whole thing to a 'bigger place' of its own, but I haven't made that step yet. Meanwhile, I drool over other people's dreams journals on youtube ;) And one more fun thing: if you're a fiction writer, your dreams are always great sources of outrageous ideas. 13. Gratitude Journal. This helps you focus on what makes life worth living, from the tiny details to the grand events. When I first started on my path to recover from depression, the number one thing I did was get myself a notebook for the sole purpose of writing daily gratitude lists. When I re-read that now, it feels kind of embarrassing because the items seem so mundane ("I'm thankful for yogurt", "for pens", "for X tv show") but that's what it took at the time to open my eyes to a brighter life. Best project I ever did, wasn't it! A book of pure positive focus! 14. Travel Journal. My mother taught me this habit. In my family, travel journals aren't a one-person task; it's a collective activity. My mother used to curl up in a ball in the car or caravan, and scribble like a maniac in her travel journal. Every couple of minutes she would jerk her head up and ask "What did you guys think of..." and she'd annotate everyone's impressions about a single event. Now that I travel on my own or with friends, I'm the one bringing the notebook along, and I make sure to include the experiences of those who are coming with me. Oh the lols! My travel journals are particularly hilarious because I tend to write them in a mixed style of satire & surrealism. Doodles & quotes are also imperative, as well as physical keepsakes. Not only are they fun to read afterwards, they're also practical tools for future trips. Thanks to recording past experiences, now I know how long it takes me vs my companions to pack a suitcase, and how long it takes to get to specific airports, & what to expect from each security system around the continent, & what I typically spend in every european city, & how to catch different public transportations depending on where I'm landing, & what are the best deals, & what trouble we got into and how to avoid those situations next time, and much more. 15. Sketchbook. This is where you practice your drawing style and the themes that interest you before you draw "for real" somewhere else (vision books, canvas, etc.) Sketchbooks are the perfect tools for trial and error. 16. A planner. I use them during crazy-busy eras of my life, but nowadays I keep bullet journals. Sometimes I wish I had a busier life just to have enough material to put in a planner ;) 17. Alternative Universe / Inner World. This is where you document the lives, personalities and looks of your imaginary friends, as well as the lanscapes of the world inside of you. My favourite methods to get in contact with that place are letting the characters narrate in first person, making them write letters to each other & lots of sketching/watercoloring. I used to believe that I had many different worlds inside of me (one had pink skies, another had green skies: they looked different) but after reading The Pixar Theory I think it's just one world inside of me -and the color of the landscape changes depending on what side I'm looking at ;) Exploring & documenting your inner world promotes creative thinking, and helps you unload strange information that lives in the back of your brain but that doesn't seem to have anything to do with "reality". And it's a place to contact your muses too. I found this type of journal extremely helpful for self expression when I was in the midst of depression a few years ago. I was too afraid to write down what was truly going through my brain as well as what I was doing to my body, for fear someone would read it and 'find me out'. So everything got channeled through alter egos living in an alternative universe. If someone were to read this journal, they'd think it was fiction, so I was safe. This is a safe haven away from "reality". However, I have found that my inner world and the real world are extensions of each other. Tip: Sometimes I use prompts that help me dig into the inner world and bring up issues I hadn't explored before. 18. Heritage Journal / The Family Memoirs. I began toying with the idea of such a monumental project when my cousin reconstructed her genealogical tree. I know bits and pieces about my blood line thanks to my bigmouthed father who won't ever shut up about little boys' battles. Now I'm on a mission to write the stories of every person in my family, and it's so magical! I know I'll never be able to get to every story, but the ones I have collected so far are precious. 19. Reading Journal. Like Goodreads, but on paper :) I make my own cheap version by copying the sections of The Book Lover's Journal. 20. Penpal Journal. It's like sending and receiving mail despite the fact that you live one street away, and without having to spend a cent on postage (unless your friend lives in a different city). The idea is that each person keeps the journal for a specific amount of time, fills a few pages with their own creations and then passes it on to the next person. I've been involved with written journals, where one person would start a story and pass it on, and thus a novel would be created by the different people participating in the project. And I've also done group scrapbooks which, as the word suggests, consist of one person pouring random stuff + handwritten letters into it, all with the next person in mind. It's one of the most fun & bonding projects that friends (and lovers) can do. ☽ ☀ ☾ ✫ Part I ✫ There's a type of journal for every mood in the emotional spectrum. Sometimes you feel like writing, other times you're just in need of quick and chaotic brainstorming. Sometimes composing lists calms you down, and the same activity can also stimulate you to take action. You shape journals and they shape you in return. It's the most healing relationship I've had with an inanimate object, and then people ask "Why are you always scribbling shit in those things", my question is Why aren't you! How can you live! (throws arms in the air dramatically). I've been asked on numerous occasions what types of journals I keep, so here comes my answer. The truth is I've had so many types I can't remember them all, but I've managed to recollect twenty so far. I've made it into a two-part post after realising that the list was getting too long and dense. Enjoy! :) 1. Personal Diary. This is the most popular use of a journal. It contains personal thoughts, opinions, feelings, as well as the recounting of events. Typically, when we re-read our personal book, we can see the growth that's occured within and outside of us during a specific period of time. 2. Vision book. I developed this concept after having completed a bunch of art books and came to the realisation that the contents swayed in two directions: what I was interested in at the time (inner and outer realities) & what I desired for the future. I decided to split the content, and now I use the vision book as the link between my present and my near future; it's the land of possibility. In other words, it contains what I intend to manifest, and it's where I channel a great majority of my prayers. This type of journal speaks both from and to my conscious mind as well as to my subconscious. It looks like a bunch of miniature moodboards, and you can see examples here and here. 3. Art/Visual book. They can take the form of scrapbooks, smash books, collage books, portfolio of mini paintings... It can look like anything. This is the journal where the idea of a vision book originated. My art journals are more symbolic than factual, and if someone were to look at them, they would get a glimpse of what a portion of my mind might look like mood-wise, but very few images in it are literal. Of course, you can do whatever the hell you want. The possibilities of imagery are endless. This type of book may include memorabilia, unsent letters, sketches, newspaper clippings, little scribblings about your current life, and so on. 4. Quotes & Dialogue. You can keep a notebook for quotes by famous or successful people, and/or one for conversations that take place around you. I've been carrying a pocket notepad with me since the age of fourteen, and maniacally scribble down every crazy thing that my family, friends, co-workers and neighbors say. It's a lot of fun to re-read it later. Plus, some of the dialogue I've written in fictional stories come from demented phrases I had the fortune to overhear. 5. Commonplace book for scattered knowledge. This is a type of notebook I keep on my desk next to the computer, which is the tool I use most often to do research. Every bit of random knowledge goes, and there's no order. In this journal you can write down facts you come across in newspapers or the internet, and also you can keep it close when you're reading an educational book whose pages you don't intend to underline or cover in post-it notes. I have found these journals very fun to write and also great entertainment + informational tools, since sometimes when I go to bed I don't feel like reading fiction, so I'll grab one of my commonplace books and read from them. 6. Commonplace book for random thoughts & collecting ideas. This journal will save those thought forms that pop up in your head and that tend to disappear in a milisecond if you don't record them immediately. I carry this journal with me everywhere, from the grocery store to trips to the mountains and even when browsing the internet at home, because you never know when something you experience will make a 1-sentence opinion pop up in your brain. The idea is to jot it down as fast as possible for further development when you get to a quiet space. It's also very helpful to empty your mind of intrusive thoughts when you're doing something that requires your complete attention. Ever find yourself reading a novel and the thought "I have to buy the birthday gift for X" keeps coming up and it just won't leave you alone?! Write it down and it will disappear, so you can continue with your reading. These random thoughts might be about spirituality (which you might then transfer to your spiritual journal or to the personal diary), or ideas about activites you want to put in your bucket list, or an errand you forgot to complete, etc. The brain can be your worst enemy when you're trying to focus on something important, or your best friend when it comes up with a great idea for your next story in the middle of a roadtrip. Carrying three dozen notebooks with you around is inconvenient, so this is the one place where literally everything goes -a brainstorming method- and from which you bring the ideas to the rest of journals to deal with them properly. 7. Companion Journal for Specific Subject. When you become passionate about a subject and spend hours doing research, a commonplace book is an insufficient tool. You need a big space for condensing everything you're learning. Right now I keep separate journals for MBTI, ennegram T4, Thelema, ayurveda, herbology and my personal book of recipes. The reason why I have so many is because I'm fond of transcribing, so printing straight from the internet when it comes to subjects I'm deeply invested in isn't for me. I keep my personal voice out of these books, and if an opinion pops up while I'm reading/researching I will grab either my personal diary or my spiritual book and vent there. 8. Spiritual Journal / Grimoire. In the recent past, I've talked about the idea of having a personal mythology, knowing what your spiritual beliefs are (and if you don't know, you write "I don't know" and go explore, sometimes only to come full circle to "I still don't know", that's perfectly okay). There's a few ways to go about spiritual journals: pure research, or just personal beliefs documenting trials/errors/experiments, or a mix of both. I've read of people who also include prayers in their spiritual journals, but I prefer to do that in my diary as well as in my vision book. In a spiritual book is where you talk to yourself about your beliefs concerning metaphysics, God/Goddess/Spirit/Buddha/Kittens/Whatever, how you think the universe works, what's the frikkin' point of all this called life, the afterlife, energies, physiology affecting our thoughts and viceversa, and any mysterious phenomenon you're curious about. 9. Creativity & Inspiration Book. In this journal you can collect prompts, inspirational quotes, other authors' tips for creativity, make a lit of the reasons why you do the creative work that you do, advice on writing from random people... and it's brilliant for getting inspired during the hibernation time. What many people don't realise is that our brain can't be producing content all the time, and it needs to go through periods of rest. I find that these are times to consume, not produce. You can flip through this journal and feel your brain get excited with what you're seeing, and you will find yourself ready to be active again when the time is right. One of my favourite things to do in my creativity journal is to draw & color in the faces of people I consider to be eccentric, childlike and hilarious, since those are the human traits I value the most. When I look at these portraits I'm overwhelmed by a sense of fun and aliveness. 10. Financial Book. I'm not a good money maker. I have terrible blocks and anxiety issues surrounding this subject. The good news is that I began to get better after starting a financial vision book that I decorated with a ton of stars and moons and silly cute shapes whose sight make the experience less dreadful. I got inspired to start this by an online friend, and then went deeper into it using Leonie Dawson's worksheets from her Magic Money Making Kit, which is so stimulating both visually and emotionally that it actually makes you excited about the prospect of thinking about money. There's no place for negativity in this book! Every word and doodle in it must be uplifting, like a playground for finances. The number one thing to put in it is good intentions & pure positive focus. It mainly consists of breaking down the money areas I need to get covered on a monthly basis and how to get there in a way that feels energizing. ✿ ✿ ✿ |
about AlexandraBorn and raised in Barcelona city, now living in a small town. Categories
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