So I was talking to someone about a commonplace book, and I realized that gathering all of my inspiration will take some time. What I really need to do is organize my thoughts and my ideas – story of my life! I will do that and I’ll let you know of my progress. As much as I don’t consider myself a natural at organization, the idea of having one source (instead of: journals, Trello, Word docs, bits of paper, etc.) really excites me. Maybe when I’m done, this project will be the story of my life. One of them, anyway.
Instead of the commonplace book I promised last post, I’ll share something light with you. Sometimes I really, really, really need lightness. These times are extremely tough to say the least (will there be a day when we don’t say that?) and tbh, things have felt especially heavy for me lately.
But I do have a lot of tools and a lot of support. I’m going to share something from one of my journals. This is a prompt from A Year of Zen, which I am making my way through.
Here is a prompt from week 16:
FULL COLOR: Play with language a bit; let yourself say what has never been said. To begin, give names to five new colors, like “milkapple pink,” “rigorous trouble red,” “poshnipple blue.”
Here’s what I wrote:
Oakwhistle ochre, most perturbed vanilla smokegreen, Penelope’s pincushion purple, habitually funny pink, alabaster shimmy mustard, wheezing-go-round turquoise, mishap blue, funicular–feathered vanilla raisin, happiest eggplant, noshbygosh beige, hippie squash, perpendicular burgundy.
This delighted me for so many reasons: I love color, I love making up stuff, I love “nonsense,” I love pure fun with no apparent purpose, and I love what feels like escape but is really a way to be more present.
If you’ve known me for a while, you’ll know that I’m not big on being prescriptive, only on saying what works for me, in the hopes that it will land with someone else – or spark some ideas. We can inspire each other, every day. That’s what I believe.