I think curiosity is our friend that teaches us how to become ourselves. And it’s a very gentle friend and a very forgiving friend, and a very constant one.
Elizabeth Gilbert
A weekly review/reflection is an empowering practice of noticing what you are experiencing. Checking in with yourself regarding what has your attention + what you are processing and envisioning.
TL;DR — A creative practice offers us options to hold space with our fear + helps to foster curiosity over and thru fear.
Creating myself, knowing myself and the desires of my heart begins in my journals (right brain planners).
A current example of how holding this space helps me to create + know myself is my habit of taking on the responsibility [read: worry about] for the well-being of the people I love. Despite the reality that I have very little control over their well-being.
- And now I once again redirect my focus on this journey as inspired by Mary Oliver.
With that in mind, it is also my habit to practice being in the present moment—doing what I need for my well-being. This is certainty a process and I am ever-grateful for 🫶 love and affirming support.
- I mentioned last week that loneliness was a major experience of my childhood, thru my teens and even into my 20’s. This is likely why I have always had multiple journals …
- Sacred space where I could express myself + be “heard” and discover more about my dreams and desires.
- Sacred space to celebrate (reflect + appreciate) supportive relationships.
- Sacred space to hold space with my fear (and my faith).
💙 My guide word for this week has been [create]. ➡️ This includes hand-written entries, collage and painty vent pages along with daydreaming while being ☀️🌙 outdoors.
Courage comes in many shapes, and strength can look different day by day. So remember to pay attention to what this might look like in small ways.
Morgan Harper Nichols
- My definition of [courage] continually evolves.
- I know it manifests through a willingness to be vulnerable. (But … that is so very complicated and exhausting.) 😮💨
- I know I “can’t get to courage without rumbling with vulnerability” (Brené Brown).
When we have the courage to walk into our story and own it, we get to write the ending.
Brené Brown
Life is like a puzzle. As I fill in the final spaces of my Life puzzle, I am continually curious and open to the possibilities of the final framed corner.
- As of right now, it offers only a few clues regarding its missing pieces.
Being open and curious about possible clues regarding missing pieces is part of my creative practice; it is why I begin each day, pen in-hand by faith.
I trust all I need to do is put one foot in front of the other.
Amie McNee
May has included the installation of a new rose garden, along with a new collaborative journal project, and ever-present, kindred conversations with friends and family as I continue to prepare for a major (bittersweet) life event.
- I am continually grateful for slow-but-steady progress regarding my spiritual life aspirations (along with some simple and fun projects). 🤸🏻♀️🤸🏻♀️🤸🏻♀️
Right Brain Planner resources are designed to support a self-paced creative practice of chronicling your story-unfolding according the rhythms of nature (instead of a constant state of busyness, feeling behind and “shoulding” yourself).
- It is an opportunity to monitor 🔎 [give time and attention to] your continual unfolding, Braveheart.
- Intuitive Painting, Jane Davies Studios 🎨
- Choosing Curiosity Over Fear 🎧
- “[Be] transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind” –Romans 12:2 📖
- aligning our thoughts with Truth
- changing the story we tell ourselves
- Wild Surrender by Mindy Lacefield 📖
- “The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” -Julia Cameron
- “[Surrender] to Him and you will rise above happiness and unhappiness.” -Leo Tolstoy
- The Four Noble Truths 📖
- “Meditation helps us see through and settle the patterns of distraction and avoidance that are all expressions of the dissatisfied heart.”
- What is Spirituality? 📖
- “Spiritual development requires successive degrees of freedom based on the realisation that thoughts are not facts but simply transient mental phenomena, as indeed are our emotions.”
- “You will be placed exactly where you need to be to change everything.” –an alchemic phase 🌕✨
Ko-fi Posts*
- daily grounding statements
- when you are unsure where to begin
- pause and reflect tools
- 🚫🚫🚫 When creativity is not happening because of our 🙃 moods, 💢 overthinking, a busy ✅ schedule, ⁉️ what-iffing ourselves, 🧮 perfectionism and/or overwhelm—altering something is such ✅✅✅ a great way of ➡️➡️➡️ moving through! 🥳
*[These posts are for patrons only and linked here as a personal record.]
I am currently compiling the third Right Brain Planner Guide for 2025. Although I had already outlined the theme, I had no idea how vital the timing would be for me personally.
The focus is the creative (spiritual) practice renewing our minds—particularly essential when we are living in a spiral of overwhelm and challenging circumstances.
The third Guide for 2025 will offer simple prompts to use for realigning our thoughts; ideas for restoring inner calm and self-soothing.
- But also, devoting oneself to a practice of being in the moment, to chronicle as we begin to process what we are experiencing. They gave me a structure through which to see things and an easy way to begin building a habit.
Thank you kindly for your presence here, Braveheart. 💗
I appreciate your interest and support.
~love & good wishes~
2025 Right Brain Planner theme is [Chapters 📖 The Magic of Your Story Unfolding]. I publish cyclical resources + quarterly guides with art and instructional content. ✨
Right Brain Planning Basics | Day One Guide | Guide 3 | Guide 4
⭐️ 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). 🫶