This Week’s Spread
I began journaling during the pandemic as a way to refocus on myself.
After seeing it making the rounds on Instagram, I began reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The morning pages are what sticks out to me most. What she proposes is, first thing in the morning, you immediately sit down and write three full pages longhand in a journal. Anything and everything that comes into your brain first thing after waking goes on those pages. The first two may sound a bit ridiculous re-reading (which we aren’t supposed to do!), but by the third one you may have something usable. Thoughts or ideas may begin to form in a logical order at this point. During my time off from work, I was able to get full pages in right after waking. Now that I’ve returned to work, I still carve out a morning time to sit, write, and turn my brain on, but it is a much smaller space to fill now. After months of doing this, I’ve found I miss it if I have to skip it for some reason, so my small, half-page, morning pages still remain.
Next up is moon phases and weather. The weather part is purely practical; I am able to be prepared for the day and surprisingly, even five days out it is still pretty accurate. The moon phases are more interesting. After reading Do Less by Kate Northrup, I began tracking my mood and motivation vs. the moon phases. In her book, she postulates that our days, months, years are cyclical in nature rather than linear and mimic the energy from each phase of the moon. This was a new idea to me and fascinating, so I have begun tracking it to see the effects on me. This week we approach the new moon, a time for finishing out projects or goals for the cycle and reflecting on the next beginning. After the new moon, motivational energy to begin new endeavors finds us and allows us to put ourselves out there in the world again. The moon phase’s effect on my energy and motivation has been interesting to see so far.
After the moon and weather is morning gratitude. I’ve watched Amelia Boone practice this for years now daily on Instagram, but it never stuck me to try it until I took The Science of Well-Being from Coursera in April. Laurie Santos, host of the course, is a cognitive scientist and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Her work focuses on happiness, what makes us truly happy. One of the many learnings I took away from the course is that taking the time to acknowledge what we are grateful for can have a huge impact on our overall reported happiness. For the course, we take two tests pre and post-course to measure our overall happiness with a number score. I began writing down my morning gratitude list during this and noticed it really does shift my mindset as I begin the day. My score was noticeably higher on the post-test compared to the pre-test as well. But more than that, I like to take the few minutes I have set aside in the morning to reflect on the previous day and write down what I was grateful for. A cup of tea, a good night’s sleep, a friend remembering to call, a really great sunrise. This list is often simple things, but by remembering them and writing them down, I smile to myself and feel at ease before leaving the house for work.
Lastly, and the newest edition, is “I’m ready to let go of…” and “I’m ready for more…” This has been added recently after watching a new YouTube video from Youheum at healyourliving. Her video explains her pursuit of decluttering her belief system. This resonated with me. We hold onto so many attitudes and beliefs that we have picked up unconsciously from our childhood or from society. This is an excellent opportunity for me to sit with those beliefs, acknowledge them, thank them for what they have added to my life, and release them from my belief system. On the flip side, I can also take a moment to firm up a new attitude that I would like to welcome to myself. For example, one day last week I let go of inherited behaviors that aren’t mine (I also finished reading It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn) and I welcomed in support from friends.
It all seems like a lot, but this morning journaling takes me less than ten minutes on average. I make a cup of tea and sit at my kitchen table, looking out over the neighborhood as the first runners and walkers pass by to being their days. Closer to June, I watched the sun rise over park in front of our house. Although this routine was an adjustment to my workday mornings, I have no intention of stopping it now. Like I mentioned before, I crave this time I’ve carved out for myself and thoroughly enjoy creating my journal spreads each Sunday.
Originally published August 16, 2020
