A System? A Framework? No, an Invitation

I've been thinking about LYJ and what it is trying to quantify.

Funny enough, I don't want to quantify it too much as to not take away from the cultivation of your own system. I don't want people to have my system, but I do want them to understand that journaling is worth acknowledging as its own entity in the same way that we acknowledge meditation, yoga, therapy and other internal health and wellness practices.

I also want to point out, it's impossible to fully capture what is both rhizomic (a special kind of interconnected infinance) . I can't map out what everything in journaling is or can be. I can only map out what I directly experience. The cartography of journaling is ongoing... I'll be dong this forever.

Anyway, I'm starting to get drostes within my meta-journal. I am zoomed out more and able to see meta-journaling (and the practice of journaling in general) more clearly.

Journaling practices experience

Ever played with a Spirograph? That! that in mind as you read...

The Moiré Effect, hypotrochoid movements, and other conceptual oscillations. They're all harmonious , connected, and are a part of a never ending rhizomic whole.

I can't make that for you. I can't make your art for you or tell you what it "should " look like. I can't spell out what can only be felt and real if you feel it yourself.

So what's the droste here?

Awareness is number one.

I really don't like writing anything about journaling declaratively because at any moment, I can learn more and this idea can change (again, things are rhizomic) .... However, I feel like this is probably one of the more more fixed concepts. If it isn't concrete, it is thick and strong paste like partially dried gesso paste or clay...

You can't improve what you're not aware of. You can't utilize or leverage what you don't know is possible to be leveraged. You can't win a game with an excellent strategy if you don't realize strategy is an option.

You can't really do much if you're only evet the doer and never the observer of your own doing...

I can understand it if that came off very tangled (again, rhizomic, my new favorite word).

So awareness is number one!

I had this demonstrated to me though my gratitude journaling practice. If you think gratitude is amazing just because it makes you feel good and makes you see life with greater appreciation (especially for things that are granted) you're right. In the context of its utility to a meta-journaling practice, it is amazing because it is a practice in awareness.

In it's most simple for, gratitude journaling is using the things you are grateful for as a focal point to practice awareness. Just as how some people use "ohms", bells, or their breath as focal points for their meditation sessions.

What happens when you become aware of the fact that you are aware?

It feeds curiosity.

You notice what awareness is doing for you, and you consider where else you might apply it. (If you aren't doing that, take this as your sign to think: What can I do with this awareness?).

You've probably heard that the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. Nah, I disagree. "Admission" might trigger shame rather than a sense of empowering accountability. Awareness? That's just noticing. Kinda like meditation, your goal isn't to judge the thought, just to have it.

Maybe gratitude journaling does have a power. Does it position you to make you more opportune? So thought that that you had, you choose "how is can I use this for my good?" Instead of "God, what's wrong with me and how can I fix it?"....

I'd think so.

I think gratitude journaling goes from "What's good in my life?" to just expecting things to be good. When you expect opportunity for goodness, you don't have to look for them, they're just there. Your eyes are ready to receive. When you go to a restaurant, you don't look around for your server after you've been seated. You already know the serve is coming. It feels like opportunities are just falling in your lap but really, you're just trusting them to be there.

Anyway, with your openness for opportunity, do you take the opportunity to grow?

The opportunity to grow.

This is where curiosity is super important.

It is not just a cute little trait. It's the fuel that moves you from just writing about stuff, dumping, and not doing anything with it to wondering "what can this awareness do for me?".

Nothing and nobody can make you wonder that. We can't plant the seed of wonder in you. You gotta experience things for yourself and think "maybe this can be applied elsewhere".

It is curiosity that has you start other journaling ventures and that move you to try different journaling prompts and styles to help you grow, understand, learn and discover.

"Opprosensitivity"

Resourcefulness + Awareness = Opprosensitivity → Luck

Opprosensitivity is the newest addition to the lexicon.

Opprosensitivity is the sensitivity to opportunities.

Ever heard "luck is where preparation meets opportunity?". Well, isn't being prepared a skill? Yes! That's called resourcefulness.

If you practice gratitude, you practice recognizing

and,

you practice recognizing resources. This skill of recognizing your resources is an exercise in opprosensitivity.

To meet a goal, there is a degree of luck. The opprosenstivity is no lightening strike, it is a state of being.