Why Journal? Good Reasons #5, 6 and 7

There are so many good reasons to journal. Here are numbers 5, 6 and 7:

If you'd like to download these pages for yourself, you'll find them all here. Happy journaling!

Why Journal? Good Reason #4

This week's newsletter is all about developing your voice -- and then using it. Check it out!

Why Journal? Good Reason #3

This week's newsletter is all about taking a moment to recognize the good stuff in life. It goes out tomorrow at noon and includes the free printable journal page pictured above. Let's all write about the good stuff!

Why Journal? Good Reason #2

This week's Adventures in Guided Journaling newsletter is all about facing challenges head on and then figuring out how to overcome them. It goes out at noon tomorrow (Eastern Time) and will include another free printable guided journal page (pictured above). So many good reasons to journal!

If you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet and would like to join me on this new adventure, just click here to sign up.

A newsletter and a new guided journal series -- all in one

What is your general approach to life? What drives you? What are you really good at? What are the moments you never, ever want to forget? What makes you smile on even the darkest day? How do you decide what's important and what can be disregarded? How do you use your voice in the world? How do you convince yourself to keep at it when nothing seems to be working? How do you celebrate your successes?

It's certainly trite to say that it's trite to say that life is complicated . . . but it is. Complicated, I mean. And even so, a certain amount of complication is good. It keeps things interesting. It keeps us on our toes. It forces us to rise to challenges and make good use of our many strengths (and then to feel a wonderful sense of accomplishment when we do.) But complicated lives require navigational tools. And if you know me at all, you'll know that I recommend a good journaling session every now and then to check in, poke around, gauge progress, brainstorm and make plans.

I fiercely believe that journaling is a tool for positive and constructive action and this forms the foundation for a new project I'll be starting next week: a newsletter. I'll be sharing updates, journaling tips and works in progress. I'll also occasionally include new guided journal printables before they're available anywhere else.

To start things off, each week for the first ten weeks, I'll be sharing a new page from a free, printable series that asks the question, Why journal? In it, I'll give you ten good reasons to give journaling a try. (If you've already given journaling a try, I hope this series will spark new and fun ways to approach your journals.)

Here's a pic of the first page, Good Reason #1:

If you'd like to subscribe to my newsletter, simply click here to be taken to the signup form. Alternatively, you can click the button at the top of the right sidebar of my website.

I hope you'll join me for this new adventure in guided journaling!

New journals in the shop and a bit of creative experimentation, too!

One of the very best things about journaling is that there are no limits. You can write as much or a little as you like. You can draw, you can collage, you can make audio of video recordings. You can delve deeply into the mysteries of your soul one day and record point-form snippets about nothing in particular the next.

I am in love with the possibilities that journaling brings. I love the search for meaning. I love gathering up all of the ideas and values that are most important to me and looking at them from as many different perspectives as possible. Most of all, I love the surprises, the discoveries about myself and the world around me, that happen along the way.

I strive to bring all of these elements to each of my guided journals and I'm thrilled to let you know that I've recently added a new spiral-bound journal to the collection in my Etsy shop -- Volume 4!

I've also been experimenting with the idea of adding a little something extra to a small number of my spiral-bound journals: a little piece of original artwork in the form of a hand-lettered quote (painted in gouache by me!) and an accompanying, hand-painted (and secret!) prompt -- all tucked into an envelope inside the back cover.

No extra charge, just a personal touch, created with care, from me to you.

These two sets were early attempts. Just to sort out how it might work:

After that, I created two more sets with two different quotes and I've just put them in the shop. (In the first one, the quote and the prompt are a surprise!)

I've called them Special Edition journals and you can find them here and here. If this is something you'd like to see more of, please let me know -- I'll get out my paint and paper and create additional listings.

Wishing you lots of inspiration in your journals and your travels,
Christie

Over on Instagram

Over on Instagram (and Facebook) I've been sharing oodles of doodles, as well as snippets of my journals from time to time.

I'm still hard at work on Journal no. 4 and I've discovered that a quick doodle is a fantastic way to warm up for a session of drawing and prompt writing. I've tested out a bunch of different pens and even tried my hand at a bit of yarn doodling.

Here's a sampling:

That's about it for now, but I've got a new yarn doodle on my crochet hook and lots of new pages to test out from journal no. 4, so I guess it's back to work! Happy Tuesday, friends!