THE MOON IS A METAPHOR:
We make workbooks, ask questions, share prompts, and create tools to inspire different ways of thinking.
Observing inner life in this format can be useful for both addressing the specific (ie: starting a new project or addressing an emotional block) or more generally distilling the magnitude of ongoingness into tangible examples.
Perhaps the prompts can just be a “better” way to waste time than idle scrolling...
Journaling can synthesize our idea of who we appear to be and who we actually are, serving as a hinge between our abstract ideas of personhood versus the tangible details of our days.
In other words, the things you pay attention to are what you become.
“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”
“Artists, poets, whatever you want to call those people whose job is “making” take in the commonplace and are forever recognizing it as worthwhile.
I think I am always collecting in a way, walking down a street with my eyes open, looking through a magazine, viewing a movie, visiting a museum or grocery store.
Some of the things I collect are tangible and mount into piles of many layers and when the time comes to use those saved images I dig like an archaeologist and sometimes find what I want and sometimes don’t.”
— Sister Corita Kent
What happened that doesn't have an explanation?
What were you proud of?
Any themes?
What was felt more deeply because it took you back to your past?
James Salter wrote: "Life is weather, life is meals."
Describe a meaningful moment involving each in the last month.
What are you amid that is almost (but not quite) right? A draft, a relationship, an injury—what needs refinement and attention?
Think about seeing the Earth from the moon. If you can see a thing more as a whole you can better understand it or see that it’s beautiful, or necessary, or stupid. But when you’re too close to the dirt you lose the landscape. The moon is a metaphor for vantage. It’s a reminder that we are guided by months and seasons, a system of order and natural rhythm that exists outside of ourselves. A sort of compass for reflection.
A list can be a device for giving deep thinking concise guardrails. Lists require us to think with specificity and to articulate. They distill the wantings, the nuance, and the singularities inside life’s relentless routines. These lists are highly subjective, and that’s the point!