If I am restless and longing for a place I’ve never seen, then perhaps I was made for this place. – C.S. Lewis
Over the last couple weeks, I’ve felt restless. I had my heart set on going to San Diego for Labor Day but those plans fell through. Instead, we went to Napa, the weekend made my heart happy, however it didn’t satisfy my travel bug. I haven’t been on a plane for a couple of months and needed to find hobbies and habits to fill time and settle my soul. I rarely have extra free time and for the first time, I didn’t want to fill it with busyness. This was an opportunity to find a creative pursuit that didn’t involve technology.
Bullet Journal & Goals
After I found a hobby, it was time to tackle goal setting for the rest of the year. Bullet journals on Instagram were the inspiration, along with the downloads from Passion Planner and Self Journal. I used a free download of the Self Journal to create a 13 week roadmap of my goals on PAPER. Sitting by the pool writing on paper feels so old-fashioned but it helped to plan how much time I needed for things which are important to me. While fitness has been a priority in my mind, it wasn’t making it to my daily calendar so that was causing stress and adding to my restlessness.
The 13 week roadmap helps you identify your goals, break them down into daily tasks or activities, then track and review weekly milestones to create new habits towards success and your ideal life. My goals include meditation, fitness, brush pen practice, writing and side projects. The reminders help you stay on track when circumstances pop up to distract you from your goals. My issue with the bullet journal was that it was overwhelming to start with a blank journal, then create and decorate all the pages. My solution was to use the download pages from Self Journal to map everything out, then transfer to Evernote for weekly tracking and reflection along with reminders on the phone. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing a blog post about this setup up or want the Evernote templates by leaving a comment.
To settle my mind, my goal was to do guided meditation every night. I’ve been doing this sporadically and definitely feel more settled when I’m being consistent. Each step in the evening routine was a prompt to tell my mind to wind down. I’ve incorporated a multi-step Japanese skin care routine, the challenge of the day, journaling and meditation.
Journaling helps to get rid of the anxiety that’s troubling your subconscious so you can look at it and release attachment to the issue(s). You don’t need to spend a lot of time journaling, it can be as quick as 5 or 10 minutes.
Writing Prompts
- What was a “win” for the day? Give yourself a pat on the back.
- Vent about what’s bothering you. Then finish your vent with the following sentence, “I acknowledge and release the emotions surrounding these words.”
- What are you grateful for today? Write 3 things. They can be small joys like “I am grateful for having my favorite coffee this morning.”
Meditation
My evening meditation is hypnosis targeted at areas I want to work on, like having a success mindset, releasing negative emotions, and deep relaxation. I chose hypnosis for the evening meditation to rewire my subconscious thoughts to align with my goals. I held and suppressed emotions from the past which occasionally shadowed the present with negative emotions. I wanted to release attachment to those memories and emotions to enjoy life in the moment. I play the hypnosis app right before falling asleep so it doesn’t add to my day. It automatically turns off after its’ done.
The morning meditation (10 – 15 minutes) is to get quiet and centered to face the day. Before getting out of bed in the morning, I write down 3 things I’m grateful for, this takes less than 5 minutes then I start the guided meditation for the morning. I alternate between a notebook, Evernote or the calendar app. I’m still trying to figure out what works for me. Right now, I write what I’m grateful for in whatever is handy. The focus is to build a habit of thankfulness instead of getting caught up in the method.
While I still feel the need to get out of town, I’m feeling less antsy with this routine.
Tools & More
- Self Journal Free Download (the link to the free download is in the middle of the page)
- Passion Planner Free Downloads
- Evernote (creating public templates)
- For inspiration on Instagram search #bulletjournal #bulletjournaling #bulletjournaljunkies #bulletjournallove
What are your thoughts?