Today I wanted to share with you my 2020 Bullet Journal Set Up.
I’m still in a bullet journal that I started in October of last year, so I have created a new section for the beginning of 2020. And that section starts off with the wish that I set for 2020 on Yule, the Winter Solstice.
“I wish for patience, peace, and loving kindness in 2020. May I find it and give it freely without bounds.”
Last year my cover page for the year was “and so it begins” and this year my cover page is “and so it continues.”
Next I have a flip out for my accomplishments for the year and my spiritual goals. I made a spiritual goals flip out for my bullet journal this year so I didn’t have to keep re-writing them on every new moon during my goal setting sessions. I felt like I needed more space for planning in the span of a moon to work on my goals. This makes my yearly goals really easy to reference when I am at other locations in my journal.
Next to my goals for the year are my calendars for the year and the moon calendars. Last year was pretty awesome that the new moon’s pretty much corresponded with the beginning of a new calendar month, so it made journaling with the moon really easy. But this year they do not, but that’s normal.
This next layout is my 2020 Themes, Swatches, & Splotches. I wanted to be able to look back at the end of the year and see all of the themes that I created on one spread. I’m really excited to see what it looks like at the end of the year.
The next two pages are my grid spacing layouts for this particular journal and a mid-century modern cabinet full of my washi tape. I thought that this was a fun way to reference the washi tapes when I am planning in my bullet journal themes for the next month.
This is my year ahead tarot spread. I’ve never done one of these (that I can remember) so this felt really new to me. I used the original Wild Unknown Deck from Kim Krans.
Some links in this article are affiliate links, this means I earn a small commission if you use them! Affiliate Links are one way I am able to provide videos, articles, and resources for free. Other links go straight to the Owls & Indigo Shop where you can support me directly.
The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck and Guidebook (Official Keepsake Box Set), by Kim Krans is a really great introduction into tarot cards that feel more approachable than the classic Rider Waite deck for those who are just starting their tarot journey. I love just looking at the artwork and tucking the cards into my mirror so I can see them every morning.
I also have a flip out here for my monthly mantras and affirmations. I do monthly goals setting in alignment with the moon phases and on every new moon I also create mantras for myself for that lunar month. So I am going to be writing those here as well so I can see them in my yearly overview.
Have you ever found yourself at the end of the year wondering if you even accomplished anything? I feel that way sometimes and have to remind myself that life is a constant ebb and flow.
Today I want to share my yearly review journaling pages. These are the same journaling prompts that I do at the end of every lunar month at the balsamic moon and at the end of every calendar month. I ask myself these questions to see how I did for the month on my goals. This year I am doing the same for a look back at this entire year.
Now, let’s take a moment and look back at the year. Grab some tea and let’s journal together.
How I Make Journaling An Experience
I felt like setting the stage today… I haven’t really set the stage for a little while and I wanted today to feel special, so I decided to light a candle and pull a tarot card.
I reached for The Universe Has Your Back deck which isn’t actually a tarot deck, it’s more of an Oracle deck. The card that I pulled today is so sweet. The colors are beautiful! These are actually some of my favorite watercolors that I used in my bullet journal this year. September and December in my bullet journal have a really similar watercolor design and pallet. This card says:
“my happiness is a direct reflection of my level of faith in the universe.”
and then in my bullet journal I added “and myself.”
These are perfect little love notes and messages from the universe. I love to start my day with one of these cards as a note from the universe. I tuck it up in to my mirror and look at it every time I go by and at night before bed.
The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith, by Gabrielle Bernstein is a really great set of oracle cards that are perfect for those who are religious (even Christian or Catholic!) and those who are spiritual but not religious.
This is a really great addition to your tarot card and oracle card collections. It’s also really great for your vanity or shelf for self care and self love. I love having a vanity or shelf set up that is dedicated to self care and self love, because it acts as an altar dedicated to the most important relationship in my life, the one with myself.
Some links in this article are affiliate links, this means I earn a small commission if you use them! Affiliate Links are one way I am able to provide videos, articles, and resources for free. Other links go straight to the Owls & Indigo Shop where you can support me directly.
Yearly Review Journal Prompt Questions
At the end of every month I always ask myself the same questions:
what workd?
what didn’t?
what can I improve?
what I learned.
how I challenged myself.
what is a time-saver?
and what isn’t?
what am I most grateful for?
Below are my answers to these yearly review writing and journaling prompts.
what worked?
Pivoting! Instead of feeling guilty for failing. I started the practice of reorienting and pivoting my goals or approach to the problem at hand.
what didn’t work:
Exercising consistently and working on a yoga practice that were both daily activities. I completely failed at that this year. This is one of the things that I’m going to be focusing on building little habits for in the next year.
what can I improve?
Tiny habits that get me to exercise. My follow-through. And my vegetarian, sometimes vegan way of eating around meat-eaters. I tend to capitulate when I shouldn’t. This year I made the tiny habit shift of eating more vegetarian meals and only eating meat and dairy when I was really craving those things. I dropped a lot of weight for such a small dietary change and that’s something that I want to continue into the next year. It wasn’t really the weight loss that is making me want me to continue this into next year, it’s how good my body feels on a plant-based diet. I’m not doing this for any ethical reasons, I’m just doing this for dietary reasons, I feel a lot better when I eat plant-based and like shit when I don’t.
what I learned:
I learned a lot about filming and editing. More green witchery and garden knowledge. AND composting! I filmed a vlog about that recently. I have no idea if I’m doing this right. So if you have any tips for me for composting let me know in the comments.
how I challenged myself:
Rather uncomfortably, I pushed myself to open up more on camera and in person. It’s so hard for an introvert like me. I also challenged myself with two 30-day challenges for daily videos! Vlogtober with 31 days and right now with the 21DaysOfYule.
what is a time-saver and what isn’t?
Time savers this year have been meal prepping, having soup, smoothies (I’m obsessed with our blender and adore it for kitchen witchery) and protein shakes. Planning out my clothes for the week and batching everything. What didn’t work for me was cleaning my home on one day of the week. I was taking the entire day to clean or at minimum a morning or afternoon. We aren’t finding time for it and it just feels like such a time suck on the weekends. The other thing that wasn’t a time-saver for me this year was TV rabbit holes and binge watching or binge listening to podcasts.
If you’ve been here for awhile you might be wondering where some moon bullet journal videos are for this month…. they are missing! That’s because this year for the 13th moon I decided to do an entire month of resting, reflecting, and planning for the upcoming year.
It turns out that I accomplished a lot this year! I was really really surprised when I did this yearly review to see what I got done and what got left behind. I accomplished 15 out of 31 personal goals and 20 out of 27 goals for OwlsAndIndigo. And then there is my spiritual goals…. I kind of just abandoned the process that I had set up for the new year in January this past year. I think that I got too in depth with my goals too quick and I just wasn’t ready for how intense I made it for myself.
So I pivoted my goal-setting practice for my spirituality into an entirely different system, that I’ve been sharing with you this entire year! For my spiritual goals this year I ended up creating a list of things that I wanted to accomplish, but didn’t make them very specific. At the beginning of every new moon, I set goals that corresponded to those overarching goals for the entire year. This actually helped me accomplish a lot, it was an interesting way to look at achieving those goals after I had abandoned the process, pivoted, and restarted.
I really really felt proud of myself this year. It helped my mental health too when I realized that I had accomplished so much. It made me feel a lot better about myself and gave me a little pick-me-up to realize that I actually got a lot more done than I thought I could do in the first place. It was such an amazing gift to give myself. I’ve definitely made a lot of progress when it comes to my spiritual practices this year and also my mental health. Interestingly enough my mental health actually goes hand in hand with my spirituality practices.
I’m starting off this yearly review by creating my lunar leftovers for 2019 and dressing up the page a little bit with some of my DIY Moon Phase Stamps. I’ve also incorporated stamp markers this year which make the process of bullet journaling a lot faster and a lot more creative and fun.
At the beginning of every year I write myself two letters:
the promise
and the vision
The promise is a note to myself on the things that I’m going to accomplish by that time next year. The vision is a five-year outlook. This is what I think my life is going to be like in five years and the things that I think I will have accomplished by then. It turns out… this year I actually marked off one of the things on my five-year vision!!!
Next mark up your goals from the beginning of the year.
→ arrow to migrate √ check mark the accomplishments ῀ squiggle the things you’re still working on X x-out the things that you didn’t do or want to do next year.
Now, write down the items that you want to transfer over into next year’s bullet journal on a separate piece of paper.
Finally, celebrate those accomplishments!
I started celebrating my staring them with my stamp markers and I’m going to treat myself to a long afternoon or maybe morning nestled in at one of my favorite coffee & tea shops.
Now you’re ready to start planning your goals for the new year!
There is still time for you to ponder the December Spirituality Journaling Prompt this month. This can even be a part of your end of the month journaling review. I like to ask myself the same questions each month plus a Spirituality Question that gets me thinking and gives me a chance to connect to my truest most inner self, my spirit. If you’d like to see what questions I ask myself each month check out my December Plan With Me, which includes all of those questions that I ask myself at the end of the month to see how I’m doing. See what I’ve learned and just to see where I’m at, this monthly life review also helps my mental health.
This journaling practice definitely gives me pause for reflection, which I feel like I don’t have enough time for in my life. Taking pause is something that I have a hard time making and taking the time. But with this practice its built into my routine at the end of the month with my journal.
December Spirituality Journaling Prompt
Where do you tend to expect other people to conform to your beliefs?
AND what scares you the most about allowing people to have their OWN beliefs in that area?
My Experience
This journaling prompt was really interesting for me. It made me face some fears that I have about others. Still not sure if I’m blowing it out of proportion or not, even as I write this after I have already journaled this month’s spirituality question myself… But this is a real fear that I have.
My Answer to This Shadow Work Spirituality Journaling Prompt…
1. Where do you tend to expect other people to conform to your beliefs?
To not hurt others and value life (human, animal, AND Earth). To take care of the Earth. To not impose your religious beliefs on others (even if you fear for their souls). To be a good kind person to people, animals, & the Earth.
2. AND what scares you the most about allowing people to have their OWN beliefs in that area?
What scares me the most are those willing to kill others who have opposing views, beliefs, and lifestyles.
On a less serious level, that they will judge me and try to convert me to their lifestyle. Or that they will talk falsely about me in a dangerous way that could impact my safety.
I’d really love to hear what your answer is (if you can share it) in the comments down below or email me. I really love to hear from you. I love getting emails from you. It’s amazing to be able to interact with you on a much more personal level in actual genuine back and forth conversations. It makes me smile and it just warms my heart whenever I get these messages from you all.
I am very very grateful and thankful to have you as a community and to know that I’m not alone when it comes to mental health struggles or just normal everyday struggles. Sometimes I’m just too hard on myself and I’ve got to remember that I’m human. It really helps to have a community to support me and also have a community that I can support back as well.
What are you doing today to connect to your spirituality?
There is still time for you to ponder the November Spirituality Journaling Prompt this month. This can even be a part of your end of the month journaling review. I like to ask myself the same questions each month plus a Spirituality Question that gets me thinking and gives me a chance to connect to my truest most inner self, my spirit. If you’d like to see what questions I ask myself each month check out my November Plan With Me, which includes all of those questions that I ask myself at the end of the month to see how I’m doing. See what I’ve learned and just to see where I’m at, this monthly life review also helps my mental health.
This journaling practice definitely gives me pause for reflection, which I feel like I don’t have enough time for in my life. Taking pause is something that I have a hard time making and taking the time. But with this practice its built into my routine at the end of the month with my journal.
The reason this article and video hasn’t come out until now is because it was emotionally taxing for me to do this journal prompt. Honestly, I did the journal prompts with the intention of reflecting immediately on camera to share the journal prompt and my answer.
I just couldn’t do it.
I needed to get myself some space, and now I’m ready to share with you my answer for the November Spirituality Journaling Prompt. This month’s question has to do with Shadow Work and getting to know your inner self.
It’s been a really interesting journey to journal on and to reflect on. I think you’ll find a lot of insight into yourself and realizations that you didn’t realize were there. So let’s dive in a get to know ourselves better and work on connecting with our soul and spirit. The prompt for this month is: describe a person you have a strong negative reaction to and their negative qualities. After that, erase their name and replace it with your own and ask yourself for each point: what am I feeling? why am I feeling this? If you find that you don’t have the answers… just wait… they will come to you.
November Spirituality Journaling Prompt
Describe a person you have a strong negative reaction to and their negative qualities.
Erase their name and replace it with your own.
Ask yourself for each point: what am I feeling? why am I feeling this?
My Experience
I found this journaling experience was really unsettling, and I was very very surprised at how it made me feel. It made me feel incredibly sad and anxious. Just plain, disrupted. I also felt more and more ramped up as I worked my way through this journaling exercise. BUT, I did have some revelations at the end of this, which is the whole point of this exercise.
I realized what my values are, the standards that I want hold myself to, and that I’ve been holding others to. I also had the revelation of recurring themes that are happening throughout my life. Then I realized that I have got some major work to do on myself.
I had such a shake up when I did the journaling exercise. At the end of the first part of this exercise I found that I ended up with nine points about the person that I was describing that I have a strong negative reaction to.
My Answer to This Shadow Work Spirituality Journaling Prompt…
After I erased their name and wrote my own, I felt really really unnerved and freaked out by the revelations and insights that followed. One of the points that I can share with you is, “I Jenny, Person I have a negative reaction to, don’t take care of my home, my body, and my health.”
I didn’t realize how important those things were to me until I erased the name of the the person that I was having a strong negative reaction to and replaced with with my own. Then I realized the standard that I hold myself to, and that I was holding other people to, was a bit high. and sometimes that’s not always fair.
Then I reread the answers to myself as, “I Jenny, do or don’t do this negative thing.” The answers caused me to pause for reflection. As I went through each of the nine points and wrote down the feelings and emotions that I was having initially, I wrote out why I was feeling those emotions and having those visceral reactions.
The reasons were giving me a lot of insight into my true self and into the way that I honestly and deeply feel about my own self, which was a huge huge revelation. This journaling exercise has given me a lot of really big revelations. Shadow Work like this is scary and taxing. It’s just difficult to get through and difficult to recover from.
The emotions I was feeling through this journaling practice were: uneasy, ashamed, panicked, unsafe, embarrassed, mad, hurt badly, very sad, not thought of, forgotten, shocked, and scared of how I’m perceived.
Those themes, feelings, and emotions, just kept repeating themselves repeating, and repeating themselves, through each of the nine points that I wrote.
Lets go back to that last one that I shared with you, “I Jenny, don’t take care of my home, my health, and my body,” which is not true. But this is a negative thought that I have about myself from time to time. I am not doing enough and not living up to the standard I’ve set for myself in those areas. I need to stop the negative talk, we all need to stop the negative self talk and stop projecting our fears about ourselves onto others.
I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to the standard that I hold others to. I need to either practice what I preach, and actually do those things in my own life, and really take that to heart… Or I need to let this standard and expectation go and stop holding myself and others to such a high standard.
I need to realize that they are human, and I am human too. I need to realize that my expectations are just a little too high and sometimes can be toxic.
The reason that I felt embarrassed in my journaling prompt was because my pride was hurt and I want people to know that I care, and that those things are important to me. I want people to know that I take pride in my home, and I take care of my home, and I take pride in my body and my health, because it’s something that’s important to me.
It was interesting that I felt embarrassed. I think that has a lot to do with my mental health struggles and just the normal pressure that we put on ourselves when it comes to life, interacting with others, how we’re perceived, and the expectations that we hold ourselves to. I was surprised that I was embarrassed and that my pride was hurt after this journaling exercise. I’ve got some work to do on that. I’ve been reflecting about it since writing this journaling prompt. And let me tell you, it’s was hard.
Shadow Work is hard and very difficult. BUT it will help you a million fold. It will help you understand yourself more. Shadow Work will give tell you if you’ve been unrealistic with your expectations of yourself and others. You are not alone. It’s a common this to put too much pressure on yourself and others.
I’d really love to hear what your answer is (if you can share it) in the comments down below or email me. I really love to hear from you. I love getting emails from you. It’s amazing to be able to interact with you on a much more personal level in actual genuine back and forth conversations. It makes me smile and it just warms my heart whenever I get these messages from you all.
I am very very grateful and thankful to have you as a community and to know that I’m not alone when it comes to mental health struggles or just normal everyday struggles. Sometimes I’m just too hard on myself and I’ve got to remember that I’m human. It really helps to have a community to support me and also have a community that I can support back as well.
Today it’s time for my monthly plan with me for my daily planner and spiritual bullet journal. November’s cover page is a combination of two different pins that I saw on Pinterest. I am also carrying over the color combination from one of my recent weekly spreads that I really enjoyed. My quote for this month is “November’s descent into the Shadow Self.”
November’s descent into the Shadow Self.
This monthly cover spread also has the lunar phase dates for this moon and the next moon that both span November. I used my DIY Moon Phase Stamps. I am really really enjoying these stamps. They were so much fun to create from scratch.
Then I used my watercolor palette to pick up the colors that I used in the leaves for the eyelashes on the November cover page. I’m also using a little bit of salt and tapping my brush here to add some texture as well to this spread. Next month I am thinking about using a spray bottle of vodka to create the texture in the water colors.
This Is My Dear Universe spread. This month I wanted to focus on what it is that is happening for me, instead of to me. I’m just saying thank you for the things that are seemingly negative each day and turning them into a positive experience by saying thank you for them and thank you that this is happening for me rather than to me. I just want to shift my perspective a little bit into a more positive mindset this month.
Now we’re onto the mental inventory page which is just like a brain dump spread. This is where I get all the ideas that are floating around in my head that are keeping me from getting things done and causing me anxiety, out of my head and onto the page.
At the end of the month is where I do all of my journaling and my reflecting. I’ll have my November spirituality prompts which I’m going to be sharing with you in just a second down below! I have sections for, what I’ve learned, how I challenge myself, what is a time-saver and what isn’t, and what am I most grateful for. I also have monthly prompts for “unravel your month” that I do for my words of the year “flux and flow.” Flux and flow are my words for this year, kind of like a mantra.
The questions I ask myself at the end of every month are:
what am I grateful for most?
how did I challenge myself?
what did I learn?
what is working and what isn’t?
The very last spread in my monthly stack is my leftovers spread. I usually have tasks that I don’t get to, and just wanted to make sure that I had a place to write them all down so I could easily transfer them over to the next month. I like to keep this spread really simple and wide open to I have room to write. So for decoration I just use my DIY Moon Phase Stamps, DIY Coffee Cup Stamp, & my DIY Tree Stamp to create a little scene.
And finally, the most important question of the month, out monthly spirituality writing prompt:
I’m going to be doing 31 days of videos to make sure you subscribe here on the website and on youtube so you don’t miss anything. I’m not taking the weekends off either. I’ll be sharing:moon journaling prompts, Spooky DIYs, Autumn & Fall Decor, Farm House inspired Halloween Decor.
Today, I wanted to share with you some of my little journaling Doodles that I do. First it started out as just a daily drawing or daily doodle. This helps me to fulfill my creative side and it also gives me a chance to just tap into that creative spirit and to that artist within me. I get a chance to do this every single day by making this a daily draw or daily doodle.
I’ve done two months of drawing every day for an entire month and I am now on my third month with October. So what I wanted to do today is show you my first daily draw, which was August and then show you September, and what I have started for October.
This was the inspiration, August. As you can see I drew a tarot card for every single day and what I did was I just drew the card from the deck and then I recreated it as a miniature in my journal. I really enjoy doing this because it gives me a chance to look at the beautiful artwork on my tarot cards. It also gives me a chance to learn a little bit more about the tarot cards because I don’t know if that much. I’m more of an intuitive person when it comes to tarot cards. I’m also one of those people who just loves to look at tarot cards because they’re just completely beautiful. I love looking at them and just seeing them as little pieces of art.
For September I took a break from the tarot daily draws and I did a daily doodle instead. Towards the end of September it was a little rough to get time in for my creative side. I just didn’t have time to draw because the month was winding down and then a lot of things just popped up in my life that were stressful. Some days just didn’t want to make the time to draw because I felt like I couldn’t draw allow myself to. But I really enjoyed the process of actually sitting down and drawing when I could.
Now I’m into a new journal for October and I’ve already started my daily draws. I’m doing both daily Doodles and daily tarot draws this month. For my daily doodles of October I already have three done. I’ve got a little leaf, a fox, and today I drew a little coffee cup. I like to share these with you all over on Instagram so go follow me there @owlsandindigo !!!
This is my October daily tarot draw spread, which is going to be the exact same thing as August. I’m going to draw a tarot card and then recreated as a miniature here in my journal. I like to use watercolors and pens for this. I use ink pens like Prisma pens or any other type of art pens. I’ve also seen some really pretty recreations of tarot cards with ballpoint pens on Instagram. So don’t feel like you can’t do this if you don’t have the “right” tools. You can even do this with markers and colored pencils. I’ve definitely done that before in the past and they turn out gorgeous.
SO! That is what I have for you today for day number two of You-Tober. If you want to see more of my art miniatures and maybe a draw with me let me know for sure over on instagram or youtube. I like to share these Miniatures over on Instagram that’s actually where I am most so if you want to talk with me and see doing what I’m up to make sure you follow me over on Instagram @owlsandindigo I’m really excited to share more with you this month, there are going to be a lot of posts to make you a happy and healthier human. I’m really excited to share these with you and I’m excited to open up more this month and to let you see into my world a little bit more and to get to know you better. I’m so grateful that you chose to spend your time here with me today I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 3 of You-Tober.
This month’s spirituality journaling prompt: Make a list of your values. Include what you think is right and wrong behavior.
Last month we talked about what makes you feel enlightened & uplifted. And this month I’d like you to reflect on the list of your values. Include what you think is right and wrong behavior. For me my values start with kindness above all else.
1. Kindness above all else.
2. Learn from everyone, “eat the fish and spit out the bones.”
Coming in a close second, is to learn from everyone. “Eat the fish and spit out the bones.” This is a saying I use a lot across the board. I’m a creative person I have a different perspective on how to approach certain situations and problems in my day-to-day life. In my work life I give my perspective and then just say to the other person, “take what you will from that.” My partner in my day job has a more analytical approach. They often take what I have to say with a grain of salt and then apply their own thinking. They eat the fish, spit out the bones, and apply what they kept to the situation at hand. So my advice to you is to eat the fish and spit out the bones in all aspects of your life. Just take what works for you, and leave the rest behind.
3. We live in a circle of life, not in a food chain.
We should all live in a cyclical world view instead of a pyramid or food chain view. We live in a circle of life. It’s been that way for a very long time. Only in modern times recently has that changed. I try to get back to a more simpler way of life and acknowledge that we’re all affecting each other. We are all interconnected and when it comes to consumption growing up on a farm gave me this view. There is a circle of life and death. We affect that circle directly, and I think that in the modern world we really need to get back to seeing the world as a circle of life. Instead of a food chain or a pyramid, with the most sentient being at the top, letting everything else just be under our domain and fall beneath us. I have a strong core value that we should all approach life as a circle instead of a chain or pyramid.
September Lunar Bullet Journal – Spiritual BUJO Plan With Me
4. Respect the Earth, the animals, AND actually take care of them both.
I also think that we should be respecting the Earth, respecting the animals, and actually take care of them both. I don’t mean this in a froufrou way or in a hippie way. I mean this in a realistic, real world way. The planet is changing again, and a lot of it has to do with climate change and how humans have affected the Earth. I do believe what scientist have said about the cycles of the earth. And humans, in my opinion, have largely affected that because of the Industrial Revolution. We put a lot more out into the atmosphere which changes the ecosystem of the earth, which in turn is affecting us.
If we want to continue on the earth as a species, I definitely think that we need to change the way that we’re taking care of the earth. So we can make sure that there is a home for our future generations, specifically in our species and in the animals that are on the planet.
I think that we should be taking care of the planet on a local, regional, state, country level, and on the world stage. It’s our home it’s the only planet that we have, because we haven’t been able to harness space technology and be able to go out to other planets yet as a species. This is the only home that we have, and until space travel and colonizing other planets becomes a viable solution, I think that it’s very important that we take care of the home we have.
5. You can do and believe whatever you want as long as you’re not harming others.
I also believe that you can do and believe whatever you want as long as you’re not harming others. AND as long as your belief system or a thought process and what you’re doing doesn’t hurt others.
6. It’s wrong to push your beliefs onto others.
I think that it’s wrong when other people push their belief system on to others when they have not actually asked for it. I do not believe that my way is the right way. I do not believe that you should believe what I believe, and I think that it is inherently wrong for anyone to tell you, that you have to believe what they believe.
7. Any kind of violence is wrong, but it is okay to be angry.
I also believe that violence, in any capacity is completely wrong. That includes expressing your anger outwardly and physically. It’s completely okay to be angry. The thing that’s not okay, is to express that anger physically, and to harm others emotionally and physically. I think that violence is completely wrong and something that should never be done. Violence should never be allowed. Expressing anger outwardly should never be allowed either, but it is okay to be angry. Just don’t hurt others with that anger.
8. It’s wrong not to take care of the planet, its animals, the ecosystems, and others in need.
I also think that it’s wrong to not take care of the planet and to take care of its animals are ecosystems and others in need. It’s really hard sometimes to reach out to those in need for various reasons. You might be afraid to do so, or you may feel like you can’t. BUT I think that it’s really important that we reach out and help others as much as we can within our capacity. We all have different capacities to help. It might be through very small things, or in a larger ways.
9. It is wrong to condemn someone for the state of their mental heath and how they chose to get help.
Finally, the last thing that I think is wrong is condemning someone for the state of their mental health or condemning them for the way they chose to get help. I think that we all have our own experiences of life, we all walk through life differently, and you can’t condemn other people for the state of their mental health and for the choices that they made to get help.
You can only try to understand, and also to try and help them if they are still in need and are not at the point where they’ve been able to get help. There is a societal view that “going to therapy makes you seem less of a person, that therapists are kooky people, and people who went to go see therapist we’re just crazy people. They should be able to figure out their own shit on their own.”
I think we all need help. We need to be able to talk to someone, and if you aren’t able to talk to someone in your life because you’re afraid of what they might think… then go see a therapist! A therapist is a completely neutral party that is there for you and is there to support YOU. I think that it’s really important to have that support system.
I also mentioned that I think that it’s wrong to condemn others for how they chose to get help for their mental health. The way that I ran into this, was that I was condemned for choosing medical intervention for my mental health. I chose that because I was at a point where nothing was going to help me. It got to the point where I was taken to therapy and a therapist had to tell me that I should talk to the doctor. Because a professional noticed that I was no longer able to help myself anymore, I was more open to the idea of medical intervention or that talk therapy could help me, and that could be the way for me to go.
The reason that I think that it’s wrong to condemn others for their choice and how they handle their mental health because:
We don’t know what they’re going through. We don’t know what they’ve gone through. We don’t know the threshold that they were brought to. We also don’t know their belief system.
Sometimes there are religious reasons as to why someone does or doesn’t want to take a particular route for their mental health. We should be able to be more open and talk about those things, and that we should choose for ourselves, not because someone told us to do something, and not because of religion told us to do something. I think we should choose what’s right for us, and choose the route that will allow us to live our lives.
To choose a way that will let us continue our lives on in the way that will make us productive again and in the way that will make us better members of our society and better human beings. And finally just in the way that will allow us to live again, because for many people with mental health issues they just aren’t living. That’s where I found myself. I wasn’t living and the route that I chose allowed me to live again.
The First Harvest of the year is a time to reap what we have sown, take stock of what we have and where we’re going as the nights begin to shorten on our way into the autumn & fall. The festival of this time of year is called Lammas which means “loaf-mass,” referring to bread, and comes from England. The first harvest is also known as Lughnasadh, named after the god Lugh of Irish mythology and comes from one of the great Celtic-Fire Festivals.
These festivals are historically about abundance and the First Harvest of crops. Here in the Mid West we are seeing the literal first fruit harvests of blueberries and other wild berries. There is a wooded community and a wooded path in another location that are both bursting with wild berries at this time of year. And as soon as they do, they will be gone from those of us foraging for them before the animals beat us to the First Harvest of the year. I am always competing with other foragers and the local wildlife for these delicious berries.
The First Harvest is a time to release what is not working in our goal setting practice and let those things fall away to make room for what is working. We should focus on our growth during the second and third harvests before the final turn inward and the resting and reflecting of the winter months.
Give thanks for how far you have come and give thanks for being now over half way on your journey through the year.
Journal Reflections:
Harvesting & celebrating your goals thus far.
Practicing gratitude and thankfulness for the accomplishment of your goals and/or the lessons you have been taught on the year’s journey so far.
The literal weather & forcasting on the progress of your goals. Has this year been a sunny journey or a stormy one full of thunder and clouds? Is the atmosphere around your goals about to break, giving way to the cool reprieve following the storm? Or is there a front coming in?
The fruits of your labors.
Reap what you have sown and share the gifts of your harvest with others.
Recording in your journal the new found truths of your year’s journey thus far.
Turning inwards to reflect on your goals and be grateful.
The First Harvest is the time to set your patterns for the coming winter months with intention. You may already feel the shift and the winds of change, this is a time of change & transformation for the year. These cooler nights and days are perfect for camping. While around the campfire, reflect on your journey so far this year. How far have you come? How far do you have still to go? Release what is ready to leave you or what already has, and receive with gratitude what comes your way this time of year.
To bring your First Harvest Goal Setting Journaling Practice to a close, choose a mantra to guide you into this season of change from the First Harvest to the Second Harvest in late September.
First Harvest Mantras & Intention Prompts:
I Distribute My Lessons & Learnings: I Disseminate, Convey, & Share the wisdom by ____.
I see more clearly and express gratitude for the shadows coming to light, I am ____.
I feel grateful that my intention is coming into form in the perfect way. I receive with gratitude.
Find Confidence & Connection By Living In Sync With The Seasons
Celebrate The Seasons with Journaling Prompts & Pages. This download will guide you as you reflect on The First Harvest of the year at the Summer's end. Download this FREE printable below!
