“Maybe what I need to do is write about the journey and the inevitable ups and downs I have faced along the way….[And maybe] ‘there’ doesn’t even exist.” -Mariah Z. Leach
The past several weeks have been filled with much love, laughter, precious moments and healing conversations. I met each day with joy, openness and curiosity. 💓
But this week has felt like everything is in ultra-slow motion: wandery thoughts and starts and stops, 🫣 mingled with bouts of imposter syndrome …
Having experienced all of this before, I know this week is merely a reminder that everything cycles. And I know I can trust my pace.
📚✂️📝🖊️🎨 My right brain planning practice ❤️🩹 sustains me through these types of wonky times, 💁🏻♀️ and part of that practice is sharing how I map 🗺️ my way through with you, dear Braveheart. 💓
Steps of moving from distraction to moving through:
- set a timer for ⏲️ (5-10 minutes)
- be in the moment: pen-to-paper, begin listing tasks and priorities
- use lined paper; divide into two columns by folding in half
- jot down everything that comes to mind: must-do | want-to-do* ❤️
- *these items will serve as rewards ➡️ alternate between musts and wants ❤️
- reset ⏲️ timer for 5-10 minutes and begin working on ONE task from the must-list
- depending on the time needed for the task, consider using the Pomodoro method
- I use the Pomodoro timer on the Balance app
- I also found this online version of a Pomodoro timer
- resist “pushing yourself” to finish if the task begins to feel 🫨 overwhelming
- pause + resume after a break:
- nourish 😌 your senses:
- listen to music 🎶
- brew 🍵 a cup of tea
- movement 🤸♀️ or breath-work
- walk ☀️ outdoors (or into another space/room)
- audibly remind yourself of your “enoughness” and worth ❤️
- slow is fast enough
- nourish 😌 your senses:
- pause + resume after a break:
- depending on the time needed for the task, consider using the Pomodoro method
- when the first task is complete (or at a stopping point), set a timer for ⏲️ (5-10 minutes) and enjoy something from your want-to-do list ❤️
- repeat this process according to a pace that works for you, Braveheart ❤️
Slow is fast enough.
➡️ Using a timer helps us to focus (and ❤️ self-sooth); it also helps us to work with 🕰️ time (instead of ignoring it and/or agonizing about it).
Blocks of timed sessions are a way to “zoom out” and focus on the proverbial big picture of our living (instead of dwelling on our doubts, questions and the accumulation of incomplete tasks).
⏲️ Using a timer, I was able to summarize some writing notes (Monday); complete content and art for the Ko-fi lunar download (Tuesday); set-up my weekly ✂️📝🖊️ page and go from doubt to delight within the 25 minutes that followed (Wednesday). 💓
One thing leads to another …
On Wednesday, I also added in another motivating detail to keep me moving through: writing down the minutia of my dailies. This is one of the ways to literally see everything I am doing.
Please Note: This practice is not about celebrating productivity, it is about maintaining my focus + acknowledging the details I often ignore with regard to my energy and time. ❤️
After I finished the first layer of my weekly page on Wednesday, I had the focus+energy to declutter my desk and prepare an early lunch to accommodate my afternoon meeting.
- The meeting focus was to discuss a chapter from The Book of Alchemy (by Suleika Jaouad)—focused on rebuilding—the ideal topic for the way I was feeling! 😉
After my meeting, I drove to a nearby park for my daily walk with my grrl. It was a beautiful, sunny day with moderate ☀️ temperatures, and it felt so good to be outdoors! 😎
True Confession: Thursday morning I felt the same-ish way I did the other mornings … but I reminded myself of how my trusty ⏲️ timer helped me to get started, and I set out to write this post.
- Bonus inspiration: I continued working on this post during a co-creating session hosted by [the amazing] Corinne Cunningham. 💓
What does this have to do with right brain planning?
Every day is a gift. 🎁 Simple chronicles of the details (thoughts, events and emotions) of our days is a way to cope + know ourselves + map our desires.
Tracking (and reviewing) our thoughts and routine activities [along with whatever has our attention] reveals our beliefs and values—and helps us to discover meaning and the details of our rhythms.
Showing up for ourselves on the page—along with setting aside time and space on a regular basis for both tangible and intangible processing is how we come to identify our desires + get clarity.
- Everything is an opportunity. Everything we have experienced, lived and loved, questioned and lost is a part of our wholeness.
And, Braveheart, there is enough time and space and energy for our dreams and desires, wishes and want-to’s, and our ❤️🩹 healing (even when we doubt all of that).
Our dreams take time. Without some type of visual chronicle to serve as a “map”—as well as a reminder and directive—the timelines of our desires and experiences become jumbled. What matters most becomes ignored and forgotten.
Thank you kindly for your presence here, Braveheart. 💗
I appreciate your interest and support.
~love & good wishes~
Right Brain Planning Basics | Day One Guide
The 2025-2026 theme for the Chapters private community I am hosting is 📖 [Conscious Living]. ✨ This is also the guiding theme of the cyclical resources + guides with art, templates and instructional content I publish for my Ko-fi patrons.
⭐️ I am an artist and curator; I am one who communicates with color, found words and collage, inky marks and doodles as I cycle like the moon (as my calendar), chronicling oracles and abiding with the sky as a meditation.
⭐️ I host creative communities, safe spaces for gathering and sharing. I choose love and creativity for coping with the ongoing challenges of this world and I go to work—not because everything is fine but because I believe art heals.
❤️ Braveheart, as the Creator/Artist of Right Brain Planner I am ever-grateful to have the opportunity to share my creative work online + support other creators! 🎉 For almost 20 years I have had the privilege of sharing my art and writing about right brain planning while also hosting kindred 👭🏽💞👭 communities. ✨ I consider it an absolute delight to continue this portion of my creative work (even as I retire from full-time work).
- This is possible, in part, by {you} and your presence here. But also because of the support of my Ko-fi patrons and the other member/subscriber communities I host (via their presence, input and paid subscriptions). 🫶
- 💁🏻♀️ Other ways to support my work: continue to read this blog + follow me on Instagram.