Using Journals to Focus on the Good Stuff

I really hope you're enjoying these regular

blog posts, all about how I like to use my journals.

Last week I talked about documenting all of life's ups and downs, which I think is really important. However, I would definitely say that my journals have a bias towards positivity.

I much prefer spending my time celebrating and appreciating the good things in my life, rather than dwelling on the more difficult parts.

These art journal pages sum up those thoughts pretty well I think. Whilst it's quite a simplistic view, I know that if I look for problems I can find plenty of them. However, if I change my focus back to gratitude and take time to notice the good things around me, I tend to have a far more positive attitude about my day.

I use my Hobonichi journal pages for a combination of planning out tasks and some reflective journaling. Again, where possible, I try to keep my focus on the better parts of my day. This doesn't mean that I ignore any problems, I just try to use my journaling to help me move past them and bring my attention back to the good parts.

My daily journal tends to be a little more factual as I use this to document the main things which have happened each day. I will make a note of things that might be worrying me, but I don't tend to go into too much detail here. I often find that if I look back to my pages from a few weeks ago, things that I was worried about have now passed. This isn't always the case of course, but it does help to keep things in perspective.

Something I am loving at the moment, is following along with the exercises in the book, "Draw Yourself Calm" by Amy Maricle. I find this type of drawing so relaxing and it's a great way to unwind in the evenings. I find it mesmerising how all the wavy lines and patterns slowly come together on your page.

One of the fun projects that I have been working on this week is designing my next set of journal printables, which have now been released. These are something I look forward to working on each month and they make decorating journal pages so much easier. The full bundle of printables get shared with my Journal VIP members on Patreon each month and you can access a free trial here.

I used these creative journal pages to reflect on how important I think it is, to find what fills us with joy and then share it with as many people as possible. There is so much negativity surrounding us, particularly in the news, so it feels essential that we create our own bubbles of happiness where we can thrive and find some peace.

Finally, in case you missed it, I have released a flip through of my latest completed journal insert on YouTube. In this video, I talk about some of the topics that I choose to write about and it will hopefully give you some ideas for creative layouts too.

I do hope you enjoyed this blog post and that it gives you lots of inspiration for your own journals, Helen x

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