In my newsletter last week, I suggested we make a new journal page together as a way to focus on something good and constructive. As a place to start, I asked if you'd write back and tell me one thing that's on your mind these days.
I received such heartfelt replies and as I read through each one with gratitude and great interest, three themes emerged:
the uncertainty of emotions: identifying them, exploring them and figuring out what to do with them,
the complicated nature of personal experiences and world events, a sense that they're too big or overwhelming to reflect on in meaningful ways, and
the heavy weight of these thoughts right now.
In the end, one journal page didn't feel like enough room to think it all through. The final result is a two-page set dedicated to finding the words for events and experiences -- in our own lives and out in the world -- that feel too big, too difficult, or too complicated to make sense of.
I'm posting this set a few days later than I wanted to, but it felt important to me to answer all of the replies I received to last week's email first. I sent an early draft of these pages to everyone who emailed me.
This is an aspect of my work I'm exploring more deeply these days -- seeking out opportunities to engage in conversation; sharing thoughts and experiences with the goal of creating more (and better!) ways to encourage you as you develop a rewarding and truly useful journal practice.
As someone who is not always comfortable reaching out, I feel very much as if I'm figuring this out as I go and I'm so grateful you're here with me for the journey. I hope we can create journal pages together again soon!
If you'd like to give this set a try, you can click here or on the image above to download them. You'll find four different page sizes (letter, half letter, A4, A5) and, as a new feature, I've included grayscale versions of all four sets, just in case you're not printing in colour.
As always, if you have thoughts or questions, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me anytime by commenting below or via my contact page. Occasionally, I need to a little extra time to think about and reply to comments and messages, but I'll do my very best to get back to you as quickly as I can!