THE MOON IS A METAPHOR:
We make workbooks, ask questions, share prompts, and create tools to inspire different ways of thinking.
What's the point?
Observing inner life in this format can be useful for both addressing the specific (ie: starting a new project or addressing an emotional block) or more generally distilling the magnitude of ongoingness into tangible examples.
Perhaps the prompts can just be a “better” way to waste time than idle scrolling...
WHY JOURNALING?
Journaling can synthesize our idea of who we appear to be and who we actually are, serving as a hinge between our abstract ideas of personhood versus the tangible details of our days.
In other words, the things you pay attention to are what you become.
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“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”
How to use the Moon Lists:
“Artists, poets, whatever you want to call those people whose job is “making” take in the commonplace and are forever recognizing it as worthwhile.
I think I am always collecting in a way, walking down a street with my eyes open, looking through a magazine, viewing a movie, visiting a museum or grocery store.
Some of the things I collect are tangible and mount into piles of many layers and when the time comes to use those saved images I dig like an archaeologist and sometimes find what I want and sometimes don’t.”
— Sister Corita Kent
Example Prompts:
- Mystery
What happened that doesn't have an explanation?
- Proud
What were you proud of?
- Theme
Any themes?
- Nostalgia
What was felt more deeply because it took you back to your past?
- Detail
James Salter wrote: "Life is weather, life is meals."
Describe a meaningful moment involving each in the last month.
- Adjust
What are you amid that is almost (but not quite) right? A draft, a relationship, an injury—what needs refinement and attention?
Sensory Inventory
A TASTE:
Passion fruit pavlova
Image: Via Rochelle Canteen
A SOUND:
Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” played loud with the windows open.
A SCENT:
Gjusta Bakery’s sprouted rye bread picked up in Venice; a loaf that satisfyingly weighs a pound and is dense as a rock.
A FEELING:
Crossing stuff off
A SIGHT:
Bird watching with new binoculars
Recommendation from "The Best Binoculars for Birding," via worldbirds.org
Why Moon
Think about seeing the Earth from the moon. If you can see a thing more as a whole you can better understand it or see that it’s beautiful, or necessary, or stupid. But when you’re too close to the dirt you lose the landscape. The moon is a metaphor for vantage. It’s a reminder that we are guided by months and seasons, a system of order and natural rhythm that exists outside of ourselves. A sort of compass for reflection.
Why Lists
A list can be a device for giving deep thinking concise guardrails. Lists require us to think with specificity and to articulate. They distill the wantings, the nuance, and the singularities inside life’s relentless routines. These lists are highly subjective, and that’s the point!