Journaling: A Practice of Self-Awareness

At the 2020 Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference, I attended Marley Peifer’s workshop titled “Nature Journaling Mindset: Tips, Tricks, Techniques for Growth, Learning and Motivation. Some of the key points I jotted down in my notebook.

Nature journaling is a practice of self-awareness involving intentionality, feedback loops, and practice. Go out, put all judgements aside. Stop the negative self-talk.

Journaling is not about making pretty pictures. Making a drawing is a powerful way to understand something. It helps you notice more. You can learn to draw well by simply drawing A LOT (also known as Pencil Miles.)

Draw to See, Wonder, and Remember, making room for brain growth. Some feedback loops so you can grow and improve: go out and nature journal with others, share your work with each other to learn from each others page compositions or how you each interpret the same item uniquely and differently. You will develop your own style different from others.

Celebrate the EVIDENCE of the product that you produced in your journal and the process that you experienced while in Nature. Nature Journaling provides focused observation. Each place holds unique mysteries and little wonders. The evidence of your progress with consistent routine should provide motivation to make this a practice. Meeting up to journal with others helps provide accountability, motivation, and commitment increase your to pencil miles.

In the field, slow down and deepen your relationship with the place through studying the species, narrowing your focus on patterns and processes. As you tune into the processes at work around you, you will slowly deepen your understanding of how the natural world works. De-romanticize the work. Focus on practice. Quantity over quality….pencil miles.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your journal is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your will evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does. Have a Growth Mindset that learning is fun!