Hi and welcome back to the Chrissie Murphy Designs Blog. This week I’m sharing my January Journal Flip Through. I was fortunate to have annual leave this January, and it afforded me time I don’t usually have to really push in with my journalling. I’m not sure when I’ll have another month like it, so I thought we should make the most of it and do a flip through post. Let’s get into it.
But don’t you journal every day Chrissie?
No, not necessarily. I journal as much as I can. Some days I don’t have the time to do full spreads, so I just make some notes in a journal app on my phone (I love Day One for this).
January was different though. Because I was on leave, I had the time to work on spreads most days. I didn’t get them all done, but I completed quite a few.
With journalling, it’s important you don’t turn it in to something you HAVE to do. When journalling becomes an obligation, the joy it can produce will be lost. I recommend journalling as much as you can, but be kind to yourself. If you miss a day, it’s ok. Just pick it up and continue on when you next can.
My favourite spread in my January Journal Flip Through
What was my favourite spread in January? It was the spread from 16 January.
We listed our top 3 Travel Goals for the year. We also used 3M by Beatrice Aronas, CZT as the tangle prompt.
This page in my journal was actually a pre-strung page and it was quite a challenge to incorporate 3M into it. I did though and I fell in love the results.
It was also done one day after my father was taken to hospital critically ill with Covid. Life was being put into perspective for me, and travel didn’t seem important to me at the time.
My responses reflected where my heart was positioned, and where it still is, one month later.
My least favourite spread in my January Journal Flip Through
What was my least favourite spread in January? It was the spread from 20 January.
We listed the habits we would like to adopt for the year. And we used 4Fun by Mina Hsiao, CZT.
This was another prestrung page and the tangle prompt pattern seemed impossible to incorporate into two Zendala’s. I made a decision to cover one zendala with some decorative paper.
Things were going ok at this point. It wasn’t until I attempted to write on the decorative paper that things declined! The pens I used wouldn’t work and black ink was smudging everywhere.
I put some gold washi across the page in an attempt to distract focus, but it didn’t work well either…. In the end, it is what it is… my least favourite spread.
The spread that carried the most revelation in my January Journal Flip Through
What spread carried the most revelation for me? It was the spread from 04 January.
We looked at what we’d like to welcome into our lives this year and we used 1/2 Orbs by Mina Hsiao, CZT as our tangle prompt.
As I contemplated this prompt, I had a paradoxical moment where I realised I didn’t know what I needed to welcome into my life, because I would never truly know what I needed. I’m not all-knowing because I’m not God, I’m human.
Over the previous year, I kept coming back to this understanding – that I know very little about life. What I do know is formed through my own lived experiences and perspectives. It is such a narrow slice of all that’s available.
If I wanted to learn more, I needed to widen my perspective and that would mean welcoming new perspectives into my life. I may not know what I truly need, but I can help myself by trying to understand more of what is out there.
This was quite the revelation.
What about you?
What was your favourite and least favourite spreads in January? Which spread carried the most revelation for you?
I’d love to hear your perspective. Leave me a comment below.
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Until next time, listen to your heart and sharpen your coloured pencils. A masterpiece awaits!
Bless you my friend
Chrissie xx
