right brain planning is allowing

Art of Day 17 // allow & reflect

A good system shortens the road to the goal. -Orison Swett Marden

Art of Day 17 of Art Every Day Month: I {allowed} time to review and to flip through my journals and artwork … to {be} with it and observe the many facets of what I do every day.

Noticing the {allowances} for variances of time and inspirations when I add to the black and white pages of each month’s planning pages.

And how I decide to bind — or not-to-bind.

Cycling like the moon; {allowing} everything to matter — “to count” …

Planning as index card art, a collage, a gluebook page … a doodle on my wall calendar, a collection of Post-it notes has been a way of {allowing} for me for decades. A way to hold loosely, but not let go.

To note and reflect in a way that feels doable on busy days or intensely emotional days — and those days when I believe “I don’t have time” …

Lovingly {allowing} my-self to feel what I feel when believe that 24 hours is not “enough” … that I am not enough to {allow} even moments of the day to be exclusively mine.

This week of each month is the absolute busiest week for me. I have writing and project deadlines for the Right Brain Planner™ planning pages and The Art Journaler Community.

It is my absolute delight to create art and content for these amazing communities of kindred and creativity! ♥

It is also my most intense monthly sojourn with fear.

So I grin … and sparkly dare my-self to believe; I dare myself to assume the worst — and then flip it. You know, like I would tell you, Braveheart.

Fear is my start line. I {allow} it.

But that doesn’t make it any easier. So I make it art …

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. -J.R.R. Tolkien

The washer is in spinning through a final cycle; I need to finish writing this post. Today I will pack up and depart from The Usual, embarking on a 24-hour adventure — with all my facets and alter egos — and fears!

It will be fabulous! And the timing is perfect, this … the busiest week of November …

Because I know {it} will all get finished. I trust my gut, my sacred yeses {and no’s}. And my dragons are fiercely mine, and I am fiercely theirs.

P.S. The past 10 years have been transformative; a decade of naming what I was hurting about, releasing The Unchangeable as well as embracing what was fostering ease and recovery. That which made me smile.

A consistent choice to do what was in my heart created a shedding away of conditions and loosening the noose of constantly playing games and hoping for a win. To consistently honor what was in my heart — even when no one agreed, affirmed or otherwise accepted my choices.

This is why I am offering “She Journals – Holiday Session,” a journal guide and prompts focused on realities specific to holidays, family challenges and the pressure of a “new” year. To sojourn with you as you trust your gut, your sacred yeses {and no’s}.

Beginning the first weekend in December, I will be sharing prompts {as well as from my journals} regarding third-person writing. A way to journal-through the process of finding space to abide with what cannot be changed, to accept the unacceptable … to care for your-self for healing.

• Click here to learn more + register.

During the month of November I will be posting glimpses of my art every day …

I prepped a new gluebook for this month’s art. If you would like to see visual tutorials and read more about glue-booking, click here.

P.S. Use hashtag #tajgluebook on Instagram to connect with other women who use glue-booking as means of art journaling.