art journaling

I’m at the beginning of a journey to overhaul my life.

There are many things I want to change, and I’m using journaling as a tool to keep me honestly asking myself what I want my life to look like, and to help me find the courage I need each step of the way.

I also use my journal as a place to dream what my new life will look like.

We often do this for the big picture stuff – what job we want, where we want to live, what kind of partner we are looking for.

I think it can be easy to overlook the simple day-to-day moments that make up a good life. A while ago I asked you to dream big by thinking about what you want for your life in your journal. Now, I want you to dream smaller: think about your perfect day. This journal prompt should help you to do just that.

perfect-day

Sandy Grason (author of Journalution) says:

In your journals you can collect visions of how you would like your days to unfold. Reflect on them often. Meditating on these visions and imagining that you are living them will help attract the circumstances to create them. As you get clearer and clearer about your life and your dreams, paths will appear.

>>> Prompt:

Write, in great detail, about your perfect day. Start in the morning. Consider where you wake up – what kind of bed it is, who is there with you, what time of day it is. What can you see around you? What view is out the window? What do you do – do you get up and make coffee, do you stretch before the sunrise, or do you sleep until midday? What do you eat for breakfast? Who do you spend your time with, and what do you do? Give all the details. Continue in much the same amount of detail for the rest of the day.

details

Here’s the fun part – you don’t have to limit yourself to one day. Perhaps you could do one ‘outrageous’ perfect day (you know – the one where you wake up and Johnny Depp is next to you, wanting to take you shopping and then rub your tired feet) and one more ‘likely’ perfect day.

My perfect day involves waking up when I felt rested, listening to my body rather than an alarm clock.

It means having the time and freedom to play in my art journal, write and walk my pup with my partner. Time out in nature, time to rest, delicious food. This is certainly achievable for me, in my long-term plans, and having regular days like this will really help to fill me up.

These are the kinds of perfect days I will incorporate more and more into my life as I create a life more in line with my values.

My ‘outrageous’ perfect day involves waking up in Rome and wandering down the cobbled streets eating pastry before flying to Manhattan to party into the night with the cast of The Office. Not exactly something I would want for my everyday life (or very likely to happen!), but certainly an amazing day!

What is your perfect day?

What Inspires Me

Weekly inspiration

August 21, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

Each week I share a series of the blogs/posts that have most inspired me. Feel free to share anything that has inspired you in the comments below!

Artist Nichole Rae has finally released her art journaling book. Yay! I am so excited about this and can’t wait for my copy to arrive.

Leonie tells us why burnout is normal and how to manage it. I love this woman’s approach to life and business. An inspiration!

After discussing how I define success, I was very interested to read Barry’s definition of success.

I recently missed a day of blogging in my 100 days, and I can SO totally relate to this post about starting and stopping and starting again!

I can’t get enough of my Neat and Tangled stamps that I bought from Butterfly Reflections Ink! I use them to add images and colour to my journal pages. Vanessa at Butterfly Reflections Ink is so lovely, totally recommend her store!

Creativity

A peek into my vision journals

August 19, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

Today I just wanted to share a few images from my vision journals.

One of these is my creative dream journal, which is a berry coloured A5 planner from Kikki K (very similar to a Filofax).

creative-dream-journal

The other journal is part of a business and blogging journal that I’m working on at the moment with The Right Brain Business Plan and The Creative Entrepreneur, as well as including anything else for my business planning that inspires me.

blog-and-business-journal I love to use magazine images and words to help me in these journals. I love magazines that have images of creative things – art, writing, desks – as well as homes, gardens and other similar images. These are the images that resonate the most with me.

I tend to have one big session where I go through a stack of magazines and cut out anything I find appealing. Then another time I will put on a movie, or music, or an audio book, and just spend a couple of hours arranging the images and words. Sometimes I will add my own words, and washi tape if I feel like it.

The thing I have noticed is that it is important to work quickly and not get too hung up on getting it perfect. Try to work from your intuition rather than logic. The idea is to create images and words that make you feel inspired – it’s like creating a vision board in a journal. It’s images designed to generate the positive feelings of whatever it is you hope to draw closer to you.

The two things I am most working on at the moment are building my creative business and finding a wonderful place to live.

vision-1

vision-5

vision-4

vision-3

What Inspires Me

Weekly inspiration

August 14, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

Each week I publish a series of links to websites and blogs that have inspired me. If you have anything that has inspired you this week, please share it in the comments below!

> I enjoyed reading this excerpt from Sassoon’s diary

> I stumbled upon this page and now I’m going to spend the next month soaking in the images and inspiration!

> My friend and business partner has started a new series documenting our creative business planning journey

> I really want a Midori Traveler’s Notebook, but they aren’t cheap! So I’m taking my inspiration from here to to make a fauxdori

> This week I’ve been playing in my art journal and so anything art-journal related really inspires me. This is cool!

Creativity

Journal prompt: The journey

August 13, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

I was thinking tonight on the drive home from work how much I’ve changed over the past few years.

In particular, the past six months of consistent journaling have seen me reconnect with myself. This is a strange thing to say, but it’s true.

I feel more like myself than I have in a long time – possibly ever.

hot-air-balloons It’s like I was going through the motions, feeling like my life was a little off, not quite what I wanted – but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that was wrong.

Now I know what was wrong. I was afraid (there’s that word again!). Afraid to listen to the little voice inside me – that’s when I could hear it – and afraid to make the changes I so craved to make.

I was afraid of failure, of what people would think, of having regrets, of not doing what I ‘should’ do.

And you know what? Fuck it. Life is too damn short.

I’m not afraid anymore.

The world is mine for the taking. I’m leaving behind the things that make me unhappy, the fears that people will judge me, or that I will make a mistake.

I’m creating an unconventional and exceptional life. I’m building a tiny house. I’m starting my own creative business so that I can work for myself, helping others and doing work I love. I’m creating regularly. I’ve quit dieting. These are just the first few steps towards a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life.

journey-quote

Here is possibly my most favourite poem, ever. It summarises my journey, and I’m sure, the journey of many others.

‘The Journey’ by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!’
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations
though their melancholy
was terrible. It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do – – –
determined to save
the only life you could save.

>>> Prompts:

What is your journey? Can you describe it in a few sentences or paragraphs or a poem? If you’re stuck, try to write it in the second person as Oliver has done in her poem.

How have you changed?

Is there a journey you would like to take (either metaphorical or literal)? What is stopping you?

Do you feel like yourself? If so, how do you know? If not, why not?

Creativity

Art journal play: The first two art journal prompts from the 30 Day Journal Project

August 12, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

I finally made some time to play in my art journal this evening.

I’m quite new to art journaling and I’m just trying to see what others do and pick up things from them. I also try to see what I feel inspired to do at the time. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn’t.

I love playing with different media such as stamps, washi tape, acrylic paint, watercolours, markers, collage etc. I also love the idea that I can just cover anything I don’t like.

I really feel my perfectionism creeping in when I’m working in my art journal.

I’d like to learn to relax a bit and go with the process, rather than worrying about how it’s going to look in the end. I want my art journaling to be more about the process than the result.

I haven’t shared much of my art journaling on here. I don’t actually do it as often as I’d like – it’s more time-consuming than pen and paper journaling, and also I guess I worry about it not being ‘good enough’. Which is silly really, because it’s not about that.

At the moment I’m following the prompts from Lisa Sonora’s 30 Day Journal Project. I love how she starts each list of prompts with ‘do one, some, all, or none, as you wish’. It really helps me to feel free to choose and journal how I most feel like it. One thing that I have found to be really difficult with projects like this are too many rules.

The first prompt is about beginnings. Lisa provided the quote, from Henry David Thoreau:

There is no beginning too small.

I wanted to bring in the idea of the beginning being like a journey. I’m starting where I am, which is literally Auckland, New Zealand on this map. But it’s also about starting where I am in my life right now – with the skills, feelings, and desires I currently hold.

So often I put things off because I’m waiting for ‘the right time’ – whatever that is.

But more and more I’m realising that starting where I am is fine. Starting now, in fact, is better. Start where you are. You are here. Move forward from here.

Have faith.

you-are-here

These words appear so often in my journaling. Faith is a ‘being value’ I’m forever working on – a character trait that I would like to possess. I so often doubt myself, my work, my dreams, my skills, the possibilities for the future. I remind myself daily to have faith that things will work out. It never fails to reassure me, and keep me on track.

have-faith2

Be bold.

Courage is another being value I’m working with. In case you haven’t noticed, fear is something that seems to follow me around! Reminding myself to be bold kicks its butt, though.

be-bold

The second prompt is to do with commitment. This is something I really struggle with.

I’m fine with romantic commitment (I’ve been with my partner for over 5 years) but most other forms of commitment are tough for me. The thought of a mortgage terrifies me. I usually don’t stay in a job for more than a couple of years. I move house a lot. I change my mind a lot about things: I lose interest, lose motivation, lose faith. In fact, blogging every day as part of this 100 Day Project is one of my best commitments so far.

I think I’m afraid of getting trapped in something I don’t want. And I’m also afraid that I won’t see things through, so committing to something can be really hard when I doubt that I’ll finish it. I worry about over-committing to things and getting too busy and stressed.

I love my freedom and like to make choices based on how I feel at any given time (this is why I find full-time employment quite hard). But, I also think there are benefits to really committing to something worthwhile and seeing it through.

commit

Most of all, I think it’s important to be gentle and kind to ourselves. You can only ever do the best that you can at any one time. You are doing the best you can. Go gently.

It’s a very strange coincidence – I didn’t read the text before I put it down and painted over the top. Then I noticed these words:

make-a-commitment

Just try it. Experiment…make a commitment. Respond kindly.

Or perhaps it’s not a coincidence at all. The universe works in mysterious ways when you invite creativity into your life.

What Inspires Me

What’s inspired me this week

August 7, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

Every week I share some of the things that have inspired me online recently. Please feel free to add any of the things that have inspired you in the comments!

A really cool interview with journaler Dawn Herring

Mel asks the big questions about creativity and work

Your impact matters

Found this online course and thinking about taking it to help me launch my online creative business

Can’t wait until I have some time to explore this amazing art journal class

Creativity

25 Days into the 100 Day Project: A reflection

August 4, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

Today is the 25^th day of the 100 Days Project. I’m a quarter of the way through the project, and I want to reflect on how it’s going.

It’s hard.

I know I’m probably not supposed to say that, but in the interest of being authentic and vulnerable, I should be honest.

I’m actually really enjoying the challenge of coming up with new topics and things to post. I’m enjoying the daily journaling and creativity, the daily commitment. I’m enjoying getting comments and support from readers and other bloggers – that has been such a huge pleasure.

This is the first time I have blogged this consistently.

It keeps me focused on what matters in my life: creativity and sharing my creativity with others.

But some days I am tired. I work as a teacher which requires a great deal of energy. It is especially difficult at the moment because I have moved to a new school which is further away – so I have to get up extra early if I want to journal before work. That is fine, but then it means that I have little energy in the evenings to blog, or do any other creative work, such as my art journal, or poetry.

Oh, and my best friend and I are planning our own online business, which takes a lot of time and energy too! But it’s the good kind.

So what does this mean for my blogging? Nothing much. I’ve thought about stopping the 100 Days Project but in truth I don’t want to. I enjoy the challenge. I like being committed to something. I like having to share my thoughts and my creative practice regularly. I think if you want to achieve something creative, particularly writing or art, doing it every day is important.

Can I keep going for another 75 days? I don’t see why not. When I read about amazing inspiring people like Lisa Sonora’s 1008 paintings project I am just blown away. It makes me laugh about my 25 days of blogging.

Lisa says throughout the course of the project she dealt with questions such as:

‘How do we stay on track with a big goal?
How do we start again when we’ve gotten sidelined?
What supports constructive action and creating? And what undermines?’

These are things I should explore in my own journal. If I’m feeling like I want to give up, why is that?

Susannah Conway has said that every week she worries she has run out of good blogging material. Anne Lamott says that she often worries she has run out of ideas. So I guess the mild panic I feel each day about what to blog about is only normal.

I like the fact that it keeps me on my toes. The discomfort and challenge of blogging every day is good for me as a writer and artist. It keeps me pushing forward towards a goal, even when it feels a little uncomfortable.

So, on that note, here’s to 75 more days of getting outside my comfort zone!

Creativity

Journal prompt: The perfect now

July 21, 2014December 11, 2018 Jen Morris

In 1949 at age seventeen, Sylvia Plath wrote in her diary:

Somehow I have to keep and hold the rapture of being seventeen. Every day is so precious I feel infinitely sad at the thought of all this time melting farther and farther away from me as I grow older. Now, now is the perfect time of my life.

So often we are focused on what we want in the future, dream what we hope to gain or achieve: a promotion, losing weight, getting a new car, house or spouse…

But what about right now?

I once described to a friend how things were going well for me at that point in my life. I said, ‘it’s all working out perfectly’, to which she replied, ‘how could it be anything but?’ She was suggesting that there is a perfection to the universe and the way things are in each moment, even if they are not as we intend them.

Sometimes we get so focused on what we want in the future (or what we miss from the past) that we forget to notice the perfection in our life right now, as it is.

There’s this line in the last episode of The Office where Andy says, ‘I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days, before you’ve actually left them.’ Even if where you are right now is not exactly where you want to be, there will most likely come a time when you look back fondly on something that you have right now.