Spiral Findings

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Inspiring Links: Moon People & Planners

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I had a really lovely several weeks of adventuring around the city and good conversations.  During some of those conversations, I shared some articles that were fun to read and may have been fun for my friends to read as well.  In the same way, I’d like to share this weeks fun links with you today.

I’ve been slightly (ok, more than slightly) obsessed with all thing planners lately.  I’m working on a post about what I’m going to use for the rest of the year and into next year.  For now, here are the planner posts I’ve been reading:

Strange & Charmed had a lovely post about 7 things to track in your post to reduce stress & increase productivity.  I like the idea of tracking victories and accomplishments in addition to a daily gratitude practice.  I’m mulling over how I can incorporate this into my planning routine.

Boho Berry (Kara) did a post on 17 things she wants to do before 2017 and I thought that was a fun idea. Some of my things include finding a yoga class/exercise class I like, planning a fun leisure trip, and getting back into reading (I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately…if you have any book recommendations, feel free to post them in the comments.)

She also had a fun post about how she’s planning out her new Filofax planner for 2017, and in particular, how she’s going to use it as a bullet journal.  The accompanying video, and really all her videos, are pretty mesmerizing to watch!

I’ve been pretty good about my morning routine and journalling practice, thanks to Tammy Strobel’s Write to Flourish course.  I had fallen out of practice and the course got me back into the groove.  The group of people that take the courses and join the Facebook groups are so inspiring and encouraging that you can’t help but get a little energized yourself!  I’ve also signed up for two other journaling courses – one I’ve tried in the past and a new one to me.  Susannah Conway’s Journal Your Life course is one of the first journalling classes I’ve taken and it’s just lovely.  Her story about journalling and her dedication to guiding you through your own practice really comes out with the way she has crafted her course material.  The latest session is still open for registration for a few more days (til October 3rd) in case you are interested.  The new course I’ve just enrolled in is lead by Jamie Ridler, and it’s less like a course and more like a community gathering for you to journal together with a group of friends.  I don’t know how she does it, but Jamie seems to make these classes feel very homey and nurturing.  The name of that program is Journal Club, and is still open for registration in case you are interested!

Lastly, and somewhat unrelated, I had a pretty challenging week with sprinkles of fun and exciting adventures.  One of the challenges I came across was in the form of people that crossed my path and were not super nice, which reminded me a bit of Brene Brown’s philosophy of Marble Jar friends and this absolutely lovely post by Sas Petherick about Moon People.  Sas says, “Ash and Rex and Badger get to come right up to the door. My dearest trusted hide-a-body friends are allowed in the front garden. Outside the gate, I invite the people I adore and admire and who’s presence feels like an expansion. In my street, I permit access to the people who I have an real affinity with. Others are allowed as close as the outlying suburbs. And then there are the Moon People.”

I love the idea of my soul house, which is my own place, for me, while caring for others and allowing them in my life but not at the expense of leaving a door open for all to traipse in with their dirty sneakers! 🙂

I hope you enjoy these links and have a lovely weekend!

Inspiring Links: Stop Fixing & Self Care

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I came across these two interesting links over the past few weeks that I’d like to share with you.

The first is from Sas Pethrick, and an absolutely lovely post about how the natural response to a problem for some is to try to “fix it.”  In this post Sas talks about how instead of trying to fix a problem, its often important to stay with it and work through the discomfort.

stop fixing: why it’s necessary to stay in the muck

The second is an in-depth look into self-care and how it’s not always about doing things that are pleasing to you.  Sometimes self-care is eating a salad versus shoving your face with pizza and cupcakes (my words, not theirs).  The article is written for people experiencing depression, but I believe it’s valuable read regardless of what you’re going through.

What nobody tells you about Self-Care

I hope you enjoy the links!

Day Designer Planners Update

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It’s time for a small update on my Day Designer Planners.

I’ve officially retired the small planner.  I didn’t like the content available in it.  Even though it was compact and easy to carry around, I like the bigger planner better because it had the weekly to do list on the left hand page.  The passion planner I have is the same size as the small planner and offers a layout that fits my preferences better.

I’m still not 100% sure I like the large planner either.  I really miss having my blocks of time during the day broken out in 1/2 hour increments like the Passion Planner does.  I do however like how there is an intentional “tonight” section which helps me separate my work day from my personal time in the evening.  It’s like a little reminder to stop and make time for myself to have dinner, read, do something with friends, etc.

At the moment, I’m thinking I’ll keep planning in both the larger planner and my passion planner, but the larger planner will stay at home.  It’s pretty, and it’s fun, and it helps me make sure I’ve got a running to do list for the week to pick from when I’m selecting my most important task to do each day.

Planning Day

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As one year comes to a close and another begins, the time is ripe for reflecting and planning for the year ahead.  There are so many ideas that flow through my brain at the end of the year – where I’ve gone, what I’ve done, most likely what I haven’t done and need to improve for the next year…but resolutions don’t work for me.  I gave them up several years ago, because they seemed a bit like they were not encouraging things to motivate me but rather sources of lofty unattainable goals that I wasn’t achieving actually were making me feel worse about myself.  Who wants to start the year off that way?  Not me!!

So at the end of 2015, I heard about something interesting online through one of the blogs I follow.  Jamie Ridler was offering something called Planning Day.  It was a 1/2 day session where she guides you through some prompts and helps you set up for the year ahead.  At first I was skeptical.  Did I need another planning solution?  I’d already done the Unraveling the Year Ahead the last few years and was eagerly waiting for Susannah to post this next workbook.  Wouldn’t that just work for this year as well?  But for some reason, I was drawn to the idea of this Planning Day course, and it seemed like a minor investment, so I jumped in…I took the day off work and I set my intention to have a nice relaxing morning and an introspective day with this seminar.  🙂

I can’t believe I didn’t post this back in January…that just proves that sometimes life happens and your best intentions get away from you.  As an update, I’ve been reflecting on the outcome of that planning day event pretty regularly and it’s been a bit of a guiding light for my year.  When I’m down or I don’t know what I should be doing next, I refer back to the words I scribbled and brainstorming I did with Jamie’s guidance and plan out my next week or month with renewed vision and excitement.

I’m definitely looking forward to doing this program again in December.  In fact, I think I might make it a regular thing!

How do you plan your next week, month, or year?  Do you have any favorite workshops or programs you like to use?  

Day Designer Planners

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Earlier this summer I picked up two new Day Designer planners from Target (photos here & here).  I was introduced to them from SeaweedKisses webpage and YouTube videos and just had to have one of my own!  Well, I wasn’t sure what I was going to use either of them for when I bought them.

I prefer the monthly & weekly view versus a daily view so I picked up a small version and a large version.  Daily planners are just too much planning so I don’t end up using them regularly and days get missed.

Ultimately I thought I would turn one into a personal planner and the larger one into a work planner.  I thought I might use it in place of my compact-size passion planner for a while and see how I like them.

Both planners started in July so I just kicked off using them last week after the 4th of July holiday weekend.  There are some subtle differences in the planners, aside from size.

  • The larger planner has a gratitude box every week and a to do section on the weekly page.  This is something I definitely appreciated.
  • In general, the blocks on the larger version were good sized to enter information into, but I didn’t particularly care for the fact that the times were not broken up by 1/2 hours.  I didn’t know how much I appreciated that time delineation that the passion planner has until I tried this version.
  • The smaller version doesn’t seem to have good page turn-ability.  The pages seem to get stuck.
  • The binding rings sit between the plastic and the paper cover, which almost seems out of place, and as if it was made incorrectly.  Both versions I have are like that so I don’t believe it’s a mistake.

At the end of the day, I like the design and the format of the inside pages, especially of the larger version.  I’m not sure I need a different personal and work planner, and I do kind of miss the simplicity and structure of the passion planner.  I’ll probably give it a go for a few more weeks and see how I like it.

Hope you have a great week!