Today I started a new journal and new thoughts. I got up early and took to the national park bush area near our house to sit and reflect, meditate and read, as well as journal new thoughts. It's a New Years resolution and a forgotten practice for me; something I used to do years ago and I'm getting back into.

There's something very healing to the soul about writing your thoughts out in long hand. In our digital age, it's certainly become more rare. It's good for the soul and spirit to write. It unleashes creativity. 

This is one of the main reasons I have released my own 'It's All About Soul' Hard Cover Journal range. I really wanted people to look at the soulful paintings on the covers of these journals and be inspired to write, sketch and dare I say... script a little poetry. Something I too used to do a lot of, but is now a forgotten practice.

At the end of last year I was given a book for Christmas called 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron. It's the 25th year anniversary edition of this hugely popular book. I've never read it before, but I've heard numerous people talk about it over the years. Finally, it's my turn to jump in boots and all. Apparently, it is a very heart wrenching book, uncovering the layers as to why people get creatively blocked. I've only just read the first chapter as I write this blog and already I'm unearthing subconscious lies about my own creativity. 

One of the main keys to reading this book successfully is to undertake a daily practice the author calls 'the morning pages'; three pages of thoughts hand written in a journal first thing every morning. A practice she believes is essential for creative exploration, expression and most importantly, expansion and the unblocking of the creative well, so to speak. 

So blank journals are now my daily 'reach for' first up when I wake each morning. I'm determined to get into the flow and ultimately the habit of 'the morning pages'. 

I do hope our society awakens to the idea that writing in journals is good for the soul and not everything needs to be done on a computer. If our computers crash, are lost or stolen and we haven't backed them up, everything is gone. By contrast, hard copy thoughts in a journal are a wonderful, golden thread of our lives, left in tangible form like a foot print.

On that note, I think I should print out some of my family photos and not leave them all sitting across several computers and phones. 

So I encourage you to write your thoughts in a journal, read 'The Artist's Way', create a poem and print out your family photos. Note to self! Lol.