Hands up if you’ve ever had a truly rubbish day…..
What if you’re unlucky and have had a series of rubbish days? These things start to bog you down. They make you tired, you feel low and it may become harder and harder to see the positives that are going on around you because you’re too busy wallowing or fighting through the negatives.
This is where the My Perfect journal comes in. The brainchild of Ali Gill, this fun journal merges calming colouring (if you want to) with actively searching out a positive or a perfect in every day. I have this journal and have to say that once you’ve started using it, you subconsciously seek out something good in your day or even several somethings. It changes your outlook and encourages you to be more mindful of what is truly going on around you.
Take last week for instance. I spent most of it in a mad panic as Christmas is fast approaching and I have a ridiculous amount of work to do. I have a bad foot and it ached with the cold pretty much all of the time, everyone seemed to be getting grumpy and a load of bills hit my doormat. All in all, a pretty crappy week. Or was it? T had a fabulous week at school, K was happy, I had a lovely breakfast catch-up with friends and one had fabulous news. I enjoyed a lovely half an hour with just me and my book and another fab morning with a super friend and her daughter. By focusing on the positives and recording them I was able to completely change the way my week went, and how I felt about it.
I’m now entering a ridiculously busy week. I finish for Christmas at midnight (and it will be midnight!) on Thursday. I have a ridiculous amount of work to do, still have some Christmas stuff to sort, it’s still cold and I have to fit a hair appointment in too. I’m already seeing the potential perfects for the week ahead. I know that when I finish piece of work x,y or z that I’m going to feel great. I’m excited about Christmas. My hair appointment might be time out of the working day but the salon I go to treats everyone as a VIP and rather than simply a haircut it’s an opportunity for some pampering.
All of this from a journal? Yes, actually! There’s flexibility in how you use My Perfect, however, I would say try and do something daily as doing so helps you form a positive habit. I’m a complete stationery tart as many of you know and this journal just feels nice! I’m not a big one for colouring however even I’ve been tempted to doodle and colour a little. On days where I haven’t, that’s ok too. There are no rules, it’s all about creating a bank of perfects for you to reflect on in the present and to look back on in the future.
If you are looking for a gift for yourself or for anyone else the My Perfect Journal is available via Amazon and is a wonderful treat, worth everything penny and many more asides.
*I was sent a review copy of this journal and fell in love with it. I’ve already mentioned it in my stationery gift guide but decided to do a bigger write-up, purely because I rate it so highly. Be assured that any reviews I do, I write up based on my experiences only, and nothing is written from a brand crib-sheet or similar.
As some of you might know, in recent years I’ve started to look differently at things. “Things” is a very general turn of phrase, however, the only suitable other word would be “everything”. I’ve always been a keen advocate for self-development and seeing as I have been self-studying Buddhism, mindfulness and meditation, taking on a mindfulness diploma seemed like a great idea, especially when New Skills Academy got in touch and asked if I would like to take one of their courses (for free) and review the process.