One of the practices I miss the most that I’ve been neglecting is writing in my journal. I used to be obsessed about it and it did me so much good. It’s a way to liberate thoughts, emotions, just sort out the stuff that invades our brain and our soul every day.
I love just sitting down with a real pen and paper and literally just putting the tip of the pen on the paper (obsessed with Moleskin diaries in yellow and orange, in case you wondered!) and letting whatever needs to come out to come. I don’t judge it, I don’t try to make it pretty or fun, I just let those words be.
So what happened? I started blogging. I spend all day in front of the computer and forming grammatically correct words and sentences that I just forget to journal.
Pero lo extraño demasiado. Lo necesito demasiado.
So I’m pushing myself to get back on the journaling bandwagon with the help of this fabulously clever Q&A A Day 5-year journal that my friend got as a Christmas gift and when I saw it I loved it so much I immediately ordered it!
There are 365 questions that are meant to be answered in one or two lines. Each page has space for you to answer the same question every year for five years. The idea is to see how much you evolve and change throughout the years with question like “What is your biggest obstacle right now?” or “If you could have a superpower just for today, what would it be?” Or to just record details like “Which book are you reading right now?” I can definitely see how much joy I could get out of this when I’m sitting down con los nietos contándoles mis loca-aventuras! 😉
I also bought the Q&A a day for kids and will be sharing a cute story about that one soon.
I’m in such a good sharing mood, that I’m gonna tell you what I answered for the first week of 2014. ¡Aquí les va!
January 1:
Q: What is your mission?
A: To be a Bridge and connect.
January 2:
Q: Can people change?
A: Yes, but we have to change because we want to and in acceptance of failure.
January 3:
Q:What are you reading right now?
A: I just finished reading The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and started Fear of Flying, a novel by Erica Jong.
January 4:
Q: The best part of today?
A: Being with my friends Letty and Coral who are visiting from México e intentar solucionar la vida con mezcales.
January 5:
Q: What was the last restaurant you went to?
A: Gladstone’s in Malibu with Coral, Letty, Alan, Camila and friends.
Love it?
Over a year ago I had the same issue. My blog had become my daily writing and I had strayed from actual journall writing. I bought this exact same journal and I love the prompts and short responses. Now that I am over a year in it is so cool to see how my responses change or stay the same!
Oh, that’s cool to know, Elissa! It helps to know that it’s just a short phrase and you’re being prompted, so it’s easy enough. I’m actually keeping up with it!
Are you starting year 2?
I used to write three pages longhand every single morning before I would even talk to anyone á la Julia Cameron, Artist’s Way. Then I started blogging and that stopped. Now, I’m trying to use my moleskin calendar to write down at least a thought a day. I’ve been thoughtless on quite a few days.
Incredible how those thoughtless days do actually exist. I have a ridiculous collection of moleskins for work, notes, thoughts and they’re all half empty/half full.
These daily prompts really help and are fun.
Ok, this makes me miss you so much more amiga! I LOVE this too, que buena idea este journal!! Me fascinó! And I love your new blog, it’s very very inspiring. Besotes!
Uy, amiga, te encantaría! Y el de los niños está genial también para capturar sus ocurrencias y también motivarlos a escribir en un diario.
Te extraño demasiado porque las cositas así se nos van con la distancia!!!
This one sounds fun, I keep a journal that is a gratitude journal only so I can only write in it what I’m grateful for that day. I like to also tape on event stubs or a flower petal from a bouquet I received etc…. 🙂
I love that you keep the event stubs and actually paste them. I’m so bad because I just keep collecting so much that after a while it feels like trash and I let it go. Years later I regret it, but it’s too late.
My girl have a gratitude practice of saying out loud every night what we’re grateful for that day. We should just start writing it as well.
I’m a fan of moleskine’s too! (Classic black for me although the colors are sometimes tempting!) … The Q&A journal is a cool idea. I’m trying to get back to sketching daily. (Aside from writing, I used to draw a lot.) For Christmas we bought Julian this fun book where drawings are already started and you’re supposed to use your imagination to complete them. Lately he’s been bringing it to me in the evenings to play with him instead of reading a bedtime story and we’re having so much fun that I’m thinking about getting one just for myself.
Felicidades on the blog! I love the category titles. xoxo
I had no idea you also like to draw/sketch. What a fun skill to have! I can totally see how doing Julian’s drawings can be kinda therapeutic. That happens to me when I sit down and color with Camila — I get more into it than she does!
Thanks for the category titles love — they were very on purpose and I’m glad you got it!