review notes: journaling project (💁🏻‍♀️thus far)

Posted on by stargardener
notes in my altered book journal

A review/reflection practice facilitates clarity and ultimately minimizes the inevitable overwhelm phase in the cycle(s) of living.

This post includes my review notes + favorite prompts from Suleika Jaouad‘s New Year’s Journaling Project.

[Day 1] Live the Questions

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” -Rainer Maria Rilke

[Day 2] Identify a turning point in the last year.

“It makes me grateful and curious about what it means to be alive, to have a life and be along for the ride. I am both the author and the reader of a fascinating story.” -Jedidiah Jenkins

[Day 6] A prompt to draw a self-portrait—with your eyes closed; along with a bonus prompt: “If you really knew me…”

  • The closed-eyed drawing prompt reminded me of Lynda Barry’s guidance for drawing (included in the January-February lunar templates).
    • The purpose of this type of drawing is to separate drawing/sketching from the idea of creating the perfect image of something. Closing your eyes removes the ability to judge your work as it is happening.

[Day 7] What’s a nonnegotiable in your daily routine?

“Rather than control, rituals are relational. They create atmosphere. They offer rhythm and containment. Where resolutions depend on willpower—a finite resource, especially in times of illness or uncertainty—rituals build scaffolding. They don’t ask us to muscle through. They anchor us in time, place, and meaning.” -Suleika Jaouad

The prompts are mingled with video interviews and essays to inspire reflection and writing. Inviting us to reflect and weave together our moments, desires and inspirations.

I appreciate the reminders that this project is “not a challenge or dare. It’s a daily ritual to help nudge you, one millimeter at a time, toward the person you’re becoming” (Suleika Jaouad). And included on Day 9, was the option to do nothing.

“[I’m] starting to notice patterns and rhymes in the pages of my journal. The unfolding of the prompts reminds me of watercolor—how one gesture bleeds into the next, how control gives way to happy accident.” -Suleika Jaouad

[Day 14] Use a sentence from a book, line of poetry, etc. as the opening sentence for today’s journal entry, with this optional music pairing.

  • It was such a joy to listen to Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste discuss “getting free” with first lines and unexpected epiphanies. 🩵
  • “When you can create without a goal, something unforeseen emerges.” -Suleika Jaouad

[Day 15] Marginalia: “More often than not, I find that the real stuff happens in the margins—meaning a free-flowing zone where the stakes are lower and I’m somehow able to tap into the essential.” -Anne Francey

  • This is definitely a way to journal [keep a record of] our reading, Braveheart! 🔍
  • When I read a book, I like to “move in”—marking pages with notes and doodles as I add colorful tabs to pages I know I will want to revisit.
Finding Water by Julia Cameron

What does this have to do with my right brain planning practice? I journal and read (varying amounts) on a daily basis as a part of my practice.

Any daily practice (even for a few minutes) fosters a sense of continuity and being connected to one’s life.

Chronicling (and reviewing) our thoughts and daily activities reveals patterns; reading fosters meaning and helps us to live according to our values.

  • Setting aside time and space on a regular basis for both tangible and intangible processing is how we come to identify our values and desires + get clarity.

Thank you kindly for your interest in right brain planning! I am so grateful for your presence and support! ❤️