Journal
lobster
Crusty Veteran
From another thread:
Oh! That's the first I've heard of anything called a bullet journal so I googled of course - I started to suspect right away that this is what I've been doing for a few months now. This is what I came up with: https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/how-to-start-a-bullet-journal
...and funny stuff in there, but I guess mine's not exactly a bullet journal, but a combination of a bullet journal and daily ramblings!Mine's starting to include some mini-aha moments that helps me remember those moments and build my "Inner Empire" - now I need to know when to use single or double quotes.
I likes it. ✅?????
It sounds like a combination of filofax, scrapbook, journal, personal physical wiki, offline tweeting etc
I am gonna gets me a suitable receptacle ...
What I definetly will be concentrating on is
- not online, must be physical
- using fountain pen
- simplicity
Anyone else journeying into journaling?
Comments
Yes yes yes! I love the "bullet journal" so much. I actually stumbled into it quite by accident and had never seen or heard of such a method until the past month or so. I love journaling but I was always running into issues with feeling I needed the "right" journal for the job, so always had too many and couldn't keep up. I'd have one for writing, a planner for calendar/appointments, another thing for tracking finances, etc. I love putting it all into one place and making it whatever works for you. I track my habits I'm trying to change, home chores, our son's diabetes supplies and needs, finances,big and small goals, writing, etc. I had a bit of overwhelm getting started until I let go of the idea of a right way to do it. I connect with my life much better when I actually write it down rather than online. It's still pretty new to me but enjoying it. Having visual representations is such a big help to me in truly seeing the whole picture better. I, too, use a fountain pen. Love my special pens,
I've started journaling recently with a spiral notebook and a pen. I hadn't realized how much I missed writing with my hand. Still haven't got the hang of journaling yet. There's some narration of daily minutia, studies of suttas and some brainstorm like all over the place stuff. As for a bullet journal, I've been doing that awhile, first with a small notepad, then a folded sheet of paper and now with Google Keep in my phone. I call it short-term memory.
I have the hardest time using tech stuff to keep track of anything! I find myself annoyed when reminders come through because they almost always come at times I can't deal with them, so I have to cancel (and then forget) or snooze them so they come up too often. I never remember which app I used for what, and lose stuff anyways, LOL. I set up a few reminders for monthly household things and mostly just delete them and then, again, forget about them
I get, for some reason, much more satisfaction from coloring in a box in a journal that says I did something rather than crossing it off on my phone or computer. My college son uses a paper planner for school despite being a complete tech kid who runs his entire apartment from google home.
Ahh i've come across those bullet journal things before but while I like the idea I guess i don't like the neat and orderly aspect of it. I prefer having squiggly out of control writing whereas this feels too clean X3 saying that i do kinda keep a journal, the first one i did was jus a general one which i stopped. The one i have now is more a methodological guide to improving yourself and plus some random ideas. I guess also ive go through periods of writing daily but that wasn't for me perhaps I haven't quite cracked the right method for that. Also my phone is good for keeping many many notes all chronological whih is good.
Yeah. I got a half cheep sketch book just enough to put anything in it without thinking Im wasting anything. No words so i draw my thoughts. Sometimes with stickers others using markers or whatever.
Stickers are a good idea @Carlita
I have already used a repeat shopping list. We tend to get the same things.
I have a Dec Todo list, Events for Dec, Ideas and a few others ...
Lo-Tech Nerd ... already seems to be working out ❤️???
I've graduated from blogging to vlogging lately. I looked into bullet journals after reading the OP. Can't quite get into it at this stage. I'm pretty lazy and talking keeps up with my thoughts
I used to be quite prolific at journaling as an angsty teen and into my twenties though. 4 page minimum entries.
When I first ventured into Buddhism, and was still on the fence 'twixt Catholicism and Buddhism, I journaled. A lot.
Then, one day, I read an account of how Alan Ginsberg (I believe) had his journal thrown into a fire by a Lama, with the admonishment that all thought bubbles were just wasted air in a fragile container, so I did the same with mine. Never regretted it then, since, or now.
Cool! I started drawing out my meditation visualizations with Vijasattva and his blessings. I take notes during our Dharma talks and classes. Drawing helps put the concepts together too. Was thinking of how to draw my visualizations of what I see in my head. Its hard to keep the same picture and I start all over again.
I mostly do actual writing when I run into blocks and need to work through them. Like my irrational fear of having to drive to pick up my college son because I hate driving in the dark in the winter, especially when it's snowing. So I "talk" through it on my own as I've found sharing almost always causes people to want to help and I don't want advice, I need to work through it myself. But I mostly do that in a secret blog because the thoughts come too fast to write it by hand.
My bullet journal, for me, is mostly a planner. It's 90% stuff I need to keep track of/remember/plan for and then some things like habits I am working to change and my moods. It's just more fun to me this way than to keep a boring calendar that I never remember to use,
I have a lot of time to kill though. I am by myself 7-8 glorious hours a day. Also, at 42, I am awful at planning anything. As in, I plan nothing. I have no retirement plans, no savings plan, no plans for anything. Tired of flying by the seat of my/our pants, I have picked some short and long term goals for the family and trying to learn how to plan for them .My life was too unstable for a long time to think and plan long term. It's time.
@karasti
We haz plan!
I am too unstable to have a plan. The beauty of this method is its adaptability. The most useless part for me is the diary part. Looking forward to my second day of bullet journalling ... I may go straight into the centre pages and build a portable shrine page ...
I had read that anecdote too. I don't recall where, but I do remember the way it was recounted brought to mind "to abstain from taking what isn't given." Not commenting on the point, but how the Lama made it was, in my not so humble opinion, out of line.
I have journalled all my life.
Except for the past years.
There came a moment in my life when recording my life on paper got in the way of living it properly.
I carry a notebook where I pour haiku, thoughts, reflections, quotes that I have liked.
But this bullet diary feels too much like a planner.
I am too spontaneous for that.
I wake up every day with no definite idea of what my day will be like.
I have my tiny rituals, like meditating, doing yoga, reading my Dhamma books, but overall, I go where the spirit of the day takes me.
I live very much an ad-lib life.
That's awesome, @DhammaDragon! For me, if I don't plan at least some, I accomplish nothing. We have things we want to do as a family that have been on our list for years and we've made no progress on planning and preparing for them (including a trip to Australia!). My mind is so stuffed with our son's medical prescriptions and needs and the kids activities and schedules, that I miss out on community classes I forgot I wanted to take and other such things. I got tired of missing out. My sister is much like you, she lets opportunity find her and her life is so full and fascinating! But she also lives in an urban area where opportunity abounds so she doesn't have to worry about missing something because there is always something else on the horizon! I missed a class I meant to take last fall and it has yet to be offered again
We need to do far better at savings for various things than we do so that has been a major goal for us as well. With 5 people relying on basically one income, and another one getting ready to go to college, getting our financial poop in a group has become a priority. Along with starting to think about retirement because my husband can't save to retire for both of us, lol. I envy those who can go where the wind takes them all the time!
I'm trying this bullet journal for work and home. Today is day 1 and it seems to be ok. I'll evaluate it over the week and see how I go. I'm just using a spare notepad I found lying around.
Lately, I find myself thinking about how I just started journaling out of the blue not too many months ago - or is it weeks? I started out with no particular reason - just general mundane stuff. I'm sure it got long-winded and boring for the average person but I'm pleased that it ended up recently, to get 'serious' about a couple of shall we say problem areas, and I'm pleased because it allowed me to stop and think - instead of hit-and-run thinking - I'd have insights and I think the whole reason I've gone through life having put myself in the position of re-learning a lesson or insight is because I played it down by never really stopping to think more deeply instead of just surface attention to it.