Braveheart, I have been sharing about my right brain planning practice for almost two decades. In that time I have never attempted to define it beyond collage-planning and allowing self-compassion & expression to be a guide.
- Right brain planning is a daily practice for me because:
- it is a form of prayer and meditation: [naming + listening]
- a way to clarify my hopes, desires and fears
- it is a practice that enables me to [define + hone] my priorities—and live more of what matters most to me
- it is a form of prayer and meditation: [naming + listening]
During the past two years, I have discovered new language for right brain planning via reading Feel Something, Make Something by Caitlin Metz, and Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff.
“Here I am to proclaim that I’ve yet to encounter a feeling that can’t be softened by making something.” -Caitlin Metz
When we feel something (like inadequate or “behind”) we tend to default:
- We view ourselves with an “all or nothing” 😱 lens: we “forget” that everything cycles like 🌙 the moon.
- Everything changes and everything is simply a phase that we cycle through.
- We believe we are “the only one” with situations like ours (and then we begin to isolate 🫣 ourselves).
- We self-loath and slip into a shame 😔 spiral: we begin to believe that “if only” we had […] then we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in (feeling the feelings we are feeling).
“I sharpen my sensitivity to the quiet whispers of my body and mind every time I create work in collaboration with the feelings and sensations resonating inside.” -Caitlin Metz
Right brain planning is a practice for creative work in collaboration with whatever we are feeling and experiencing—instead of defaulting to trying harder, or choosing to ignore (push away) our feelings.
- This is include making marks and keeping pen-to-paper as you let “the thing you are doing be nothing” (Lynda Barry):
- “Sometimes we are so confused and sad that all we can do is glue one thing to another. Use white glue and paper from the trash, glue paper onto paper, glue scraps and bits of fabric, have a tragic movie playing in the background, have a comforting drink nearby, let the thing you are doing be nothing, you are making nothing at all, you are just keeping your hands in motion, putting one thing down and then the next thing down and sometimes crying in between.” -Lynda Barry
“Self-compassion is one of the easiest ways to shift your mental health.” -Kristin Neff
To foster self-compassion and expression I write content + create templates focused on the practice of right brain planning.
Right brain planning ensures I am able to:
- keep going + devote attention to what I need and desire
- have a dated and sequential chronicle of my living
- process what I am feeling + have a chronicle of what I gave my time and energies to
- have monthly themes, keywords and prompts to use as needed
I have been reading excerpts from this book (and Anne-Laure Le Cunff‘s Instagram posts). 🤓 She continually offers permission to be a beginner, to lower the stakes—and to accept imperfect results, so as to cope with living free from three subconscious mindsets that often get in the way of living (happy) conscious lives.
- Le Cunff cites these three mindsets as: the cynical mindset, the escapist mindset, and the perfectionist mindset.
Because our mindset determines so-o many different parts of our living, these particular mindsets lock us in a loop of performance and perfection.
“There is an alternative to those three mindsets, which is called the experimental mindset. This is a mindset where your curiosity and your ambition are both high. In an experimental mindset, you’re open to uncertainty. You see it as an opportunity to explore, to grow, and to learn.” -Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Right brain planning is a no-rules way to exit these loops and instead of living life by expectations within an hour or a date on the calendar, it focuses on our ongoingness: big-picture values and desires, and trusting our intuition to guide us.
- It promotes using our journals as our planners: incorporating art journaling techniques—such as doodling, painting, collage work and “gluebooking”—with seasonal or lunar prompts to notice + track our rhythms and habits.
“Instead of letting a difficult emotion take over your focus, attention, and precious mental bandwidth, you are instead choosing to step back and make space for the feeling to coexist with you so that you can use your time and energy for something more productive.” -Emily Hu
Thank you kindly for your presence here, Braveheart. 💗
I appreciate your interest and support.
~love & good wishes~
⭐️ 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.
Artist’s Statement 😊🔮🔎📝🖌️🎨❤️📊
⭐️ 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. (Thank you!) 💗 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. 📲
If you already have your own system of creative journal-planning, but are interested in financially supporting my creative work, you may do so by making a donation:
- Make a one-time contribution in any amount via [this link]. (Thank you!) ❤️