I stood in the office store and stared at the beautifully artsy notebooks. Covers with hand-drawn birds or stylized print. I said to the older woman next to me: “I just love new notebooks – they represent such possibility!” I think she muttered, “Mm-hhm,” then moved to another aisle. Well, it’s true. Something about the blank pages, the open question, the clear slate on which to think and create! The hardest part seems to be shutting down the clutter in my brain to give me room to think. Isn’t that one reason we love vacations, to stop daily life that crowds around us so we can enjoy a refreshed heart and mind?
Getting Things Done guru David Allen says never to carry anything around in your brain — the brain is not to manage the logistics of your life (clean kitchen, change oil, check on mom), but the screen on which you interact with life as it comes at you. Instead, “dump” your brain into a system from which you can manage your tasks (calendar, task manager). Then your brain is free to create. That’s what notebooks represent to me: the blank space on which to create. I knew I loved them for a reason. Perhaps notebooks are not so much for to-do lists, what with everything is on computer now. But maybe that’s all the more reason to have a clean, crisp notebook. Just a place to write, draw, create.
Sometimes I collect quotes in notebooks. Sometimes I’ve just written because I like the flowing pen over the white pages. Other times I’ve drawn, though it’s nothing anyone would want to look at!
What would you do with a beautiful, fresh notebook? Or what have you done? Please comment below and tell me: what would you like to create, or what have you created?
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