Category: Writing

new year :: new journal

2024 morning pages journal

Introducing my 2024 journal. A fresh start for the new year with a new journal. This one is a gift from my husband. I love the cover and the pages are thick. I can use markers without staining the back side of the pages.

I always start the year with a new journal for my morning pages. It doesn’t matter how many blank pages I have left from the previous one. I love the feeling of opening it up the first thing in the morning, a new chapter begins.

Of course I have more than one journal going on at the same time. Each one with a different purpose.

2023 journals

Last year I used the blue one for morning pages, the tiny ones on the top for poetry, quotes and daily notes; and the magenta on the bottom for art pages, cards, photos … I’ll keep using some of them in 2024, they still have blank pages or I have bought new inserts for them.

I haven’t made any resolutions for this year, but I’m planning on lots of writing and creative projects. No pressure only going with the flow.

And you? New journals, new resolutions?

Happy 2024!

WDYS – hollow

So I heard
She is old, not worth our time
The storm has broken some of her branches

So I heard
She still has bright leaves
Her shade is kind

So I heard
Birds and squirrels make their home in there
The kids have their swing on her branches

So I heard
The electrical cables will be damage
She can’t hold another storm

So I heard
She is hollow
No more flowers and fruits

So I decided
My aged and deformed hands
Will strongly ground to the Earth

I’ll show my power
And my will
I’ll survive the next storm

Recently, we had a heavy storm with tornados touching down near by. Many trees branches broken, and full trees came down destroying houses, cutting electrical cables …, lots of damage. A few days later the city workers came by and cut many trees, the damaged ones and also some healthy ones. This made me so upset. Now we see the left over from their trunks, some indeed were hollow inside, but others had a strong core. I don’t know much about trees’ health, but it should have a way to check if the tree is doing well or not before cut them off.

Thanksgiving weekend

In Canada, we celebrate thanksgiving this weekend. It’s earlier than the USA thanksgiving celebration. We are up north and the harvest is already in full mode, soon it will be snowing and nothing else to harvest.

It’s a chilly day, 5C/41F this morning. I’m sitting in my living room trying to put words together for this post. Maybe a gratitude list, quotes, poems… not sure what to write.

“What if, today, we were grateful for everything?”

Charlie Brown

So, here are three things I’m grateful for at this moment:

  • Pumpkin pie season – I got the last one in my favourite bakery yesterday, I know they sell the pies as soon as they are ready, but I only had time to stop by later in the afternoon. The shelves were empty, only one pie was waiting for me.
  • Hearing from faraway friends they are ok in spite of the craziness in the world.
  • Making peace with myself, working on acceptance.

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”

Maya Angelou

Could you tell me one thing you are grateful today?

Happy Thanksgiving!

monday musings

“Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures.”

Henry David Thoreau

ups and downs

  • the beautiful photo i took this morning, the leaves changing colours and the blue moon up there
  • the darkness in my mind, where regrets don’t leave me alone
  • cicadas buzzing
  • the sun warming my skin
  • the wind caressing my hair
  • my thoughts taking me away from here, from this moment
  • a new season starts, releasing the past and opening new gates for the future
  • the present is what matters

it’s holiday here, i’m catching up with some writing in my deck. please, tell me one beautiful thing you are doing today.

WDYS:: Deadline

Image credit; Simon Berger @ Unsplash

The outdoors is inviting. The golden light beams are dancing between the branches, adorning the leaves as sparkling diamonds. Oh, the leaves couldn’t be more appealing, dressed up in red, orange and yellow.

A few minutes here is enough to recharge me, now n.115 is waiting for me. A dark and claustrophobic room where days and nights blend with one another, a cell I’ve designed for myself to keep the distractions away. The work needs to be done, timing is pressing.

Joining Sadje’s WDYS.

W3 :: The power of journaling

J ourney 
O pening up thoughts to the pages
U ltimate self-care
R ecognizing my needs and dreams
N ow, past and present colliding 
A nswers hidden in my being 
L ightness guides the pen
I ntuition takes over
N ever backing up 
G enuine pleasure

W3 prompt this week is: Write a poem of any style and any length on the topic of “Power.” I have written an acrostic poem about the power of journaling.

I’ve been journaling for 10 years. I remember the first time I put a pen to a blank page, it was in September, later in the afternoon, the autumn sunset bathed my living room. I got a piece of paper and a pen, leftovers of my kids homework. I started jotting down ideas, a little while those ideas transformed into deep thoughts, a yes, like magic, everything clarified in my mind. 

Since then I have filled up many notebooks with my thoughts. I started getting fancy and buying beautiful journals with soft pages and pens that glide on each line or dot. Now I prefer dotted pages rather than lined ones. 

Journaling is powerful!

WDYS – Approval

Image credit; Jenna Hamra @ Pexels
Am I real?
Can people see me as I am? 
Or I’m an illusion of time and space, I can’t be seen or felt. 
Do I need their approval to be me? To exist? To be plenty?
Is love dependent on feedback, or can love survive in one direction only?

Joining Sadje - WDYS

Arrival

A flash of light is entering through the window 
Bodies start to stretch after the long night.
Good morning, bonjour, bom dia, buen dia, guten morgen …
Many languages contained in a small space, all the dreams and expectations
A baby babbling at the left, a toddler asking ‘are we there yet?’ at the right
People are moving in the aisle, rushing for the lavatories
The cabin crew is busy, checking if everyone is ok and collecting the night trash
The coffee fragrance spreads along the plane, soon breakfast will be served, the landing approaches.
Welcome to …

Reena’s Xploration Challenge:

“There’s something about arriving in new cities, wandering empty streets with no destination. I will never lose the love for the arriving, but I’m born to leave.” 

Charlotte Eriksson, Empty Roads & Broken Bottles: in search for The Great Perhaps

Sunday musings – yellow and orange

These last two weeks have been hectic. Many deadlines at work and weekend travel with the kids. I didn’t have time to have my precious ‘me time’ and to join the writing/poetry challenges, that I love, here.

Another snowstorm was on the way for the weekend, so I went grocery shopping on Friday evening and I found these gorgeous tulips, yellow and orange, at the grocery store. Of course, I had to get them.

I still have my Valentine’s roses, yellow ones, drying out. I dried red roses many years ago, they turned out great and are decorating my living room. These yellow ones are also drying beautifully. Not all the roses dry the way I like, so it’s great when they do and I can preserve them.

Today the clocks went ahead one hour. I’m taking this morning slowly, not hurrying to catch up with the lost hour.

I made pancakes for breakfast to enjoy with a strong black coffee. I got my orange mug last weekend while travelling to the USA middle-west. I drove all the way from Canada, a long drive, however pleasant, I love a road trip.

Yellow and orange are calling for me. I need to search for their meanings, I know yellow is happiness, and warm, but not sure about orange.

Wishing a wonderful day to you!

March is here

Looking forward for a new month full of inspiration and colours. My tiny journal is getting chubby, not much as I expected, February was a slow journaling month, hoping to catch up in March.

Today I woke up with a feeling of excitement, spring is coming but at the same time a feeling of missed opportunities: Did I learn all of the lessons from winter? Did I enjoy all its coziness? Did I dive inwards and really connected to myself? …My questions started with DID, it’s the past, now let me look ahead, to all the new possibilities of growth and blooming.

And you? How are you feeling about the change of the seasons?

Wishing you a flourishing new month, Spring or Autumn, both bring colours to the Earth.

In March winter is holding back and Spring is pulling forward.
Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.
Jean Hersey