“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant—there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing—and keeping the unknown always beyond you.” -Georgia O’Keeffe
I have been a right brain planner (someone who compiles visual, dated journals) since I was a teen. It is part of being a devoted curator of random notes and details that remind me of my life experiences, wishes, inspirations, highs and lows.
In 2008 (the year Right Brain Planner was officially created) I was in the midst of determining what I wanted to do next with my life. My children were adults and it had always been my plan to resume my business career.
- So I started this blog to collect lists, links and ideas about creative planning, a career in social entrepreneurship, and to compile my discoveries and inspirations from the journey … ❤️
I mention this because I am once again at that point: 🚪determining what is next for me.
This means it is time to compile some lists to guide me as I cross over this threshold at the 🚪 doorway between the known (right now) and unknown (everything that awaits).
My current lists include: morning rituals; daily creative work sequences; what to release; books to read; coursework; dreams + desires; and projects.
Most of the past 5-6 years have been focused on life-edits, loss, healing and letting go:
- two major home 🛠️🏚️🏡remodel projects (along with sorting + purging a 📦📦📦 lifetime of belongings) and helping with the details of my ❤️ mother’s daily care (as she lived with dementia before her passing* in 2023); but also, the details of my personal recovery rooted in my habit of minimizing the effects of life-altering events and loss. 💔⛓️💥❤️🩹❤️
- *The next ten months after her death presented profound opportunities to examine my belief system and to live differently (focused on improving the way I tend to my well-being).
There are always two mindsets we (continually) cycle through regarding change:
- [fill-in-the-blank] will never happen because [fill-in-the-blank]
- all things are possible (eventually) … and today is Day One
The nevers and what-if’s offer us self-knowledge, starting points and eventual affirmation as we face each one—and then begin to do whatever is doable as we compassionately trust our pace. ❤️
“Some people live in cages with bars built from their own fears and doubts. Some people live in cages with bars built from other people’s fears and doubts …. [and] the choices others made for them, the circumstances other people imposed upon them. And some people break free.” -C. JoyBell C.
Self-compassion, relationships and expression are the basics of how I hold space and move through my fears and doubts (and eventually, break free).
Thankfully, joining me on this leg of my Life-Journey is my loving partner and several kindred friends (some side-by-side, others celebrating their arrival to their proverbial other side); and some friends who are in their beginning phases—but together we are each stronger via presence and support. ❤️
- I offered starting points of a weekly ritual in my last post.
- This ritual facilitates awareness of what I want and need, and serves as a grounding weekly/daily 🎬 starting point.
- This week, I have also been jotting down my response to the Week 2 prompt included in the December Ko-fi download (theme: timelines).
Living differently is the sticky, messy middle part of being at a crossroads + moving onward.
My right brain planning practice facilitates the moving through. It is an extension of my spiritual practice: sacred listening and expression + chronicled, visual prayers resulting in inner peace and clarifying ideas, closure and inspiration.
Right Brain Planner is a collection of lunar + seasonal prompts and journal-planning ideas to encourage self-compassion and review, reflection and expression, discovery and healing.
Braveheart, we learn by doing: we discover details about ourselves through chronicled observation 👀✍️📔 because everything we experience is data. 📊
Data is value-neutral; it is neither “good’ or “bad”—it is merely information to use for our choices, intentions and conclusions. Remembering this helps us to live free from judgment and shoulds.
Thank you kindly for your presence here.
I appreciate your interest and support.
~love & good wishes~
❤️ 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).