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Exploring the journal as journey — and finding the truth in your self.

    Where are you going, anyway?
    What do you have to say for your self?
    Where have you been?
    What do you care about?

And finally, given all that, what does it mean — to you, to others, to the direction of your life? And your contributions to others, the planet, the community of the world — your work, where are you going?

Good questions, actually. And I surely don’t have the answers. You do. But I’m exploring them in the construct of my own experience.

I believe in the journey — and I believe in the documentation of the journey — in journal. How do you go some place? And how do you get there?

As a creative, I find myself incessantly contemplating, nay — fretting, about the state of my work. That is: what am I doing, and what do I care about it? Invariably, in the busyness of the work world and the committed actions that link to it, you are constantly thrumming with the energy of action. But what calls you back to the place of the heart from which your first inspirations came?

And if you’re not, literally, paying attention, being attuned, then how are you getting there — back to the heart of things? The things, the thread, the measured music, that inspires the coursing of your experience — where is that, where did it go?

And how might these learnings offer some clues to the future?

What I might offer is that you need recounting. You need to step back. And you need to step in, now. And what I might really suggest is that if you are exploring the realm of the heart, your life — and what you are doing about it — then it’s crucial that you consider this kind of exploratory.

The Journal —

It’s a kind of life collage. It’s notes from the path taken — it’s snapshots of the meander. And if there’s no real documentation, than, say, writing down project notes, then you are letting life pass you by. Moreover, to my experience — we, as designers, brand managers, creatives, writers, bloggers, executives, leaders, students, artists — need to be practicing what we preach. If you’re so creative, then what is there to show — or to sow — for it?

I ask that question of my self — rather, I berate my self about it.

When I talk about the idea the journal and creative development and evolution, I’m talking about contemplation — that is, what is the meditation on the work that evolves? Here’s where that goes, in meditative absorption in the grouping of studies, and ideas, that lead to the continuing formation of the concept of my keynote at the International Retail Design Conference in Seattle, sponsored by Visual Merchandising & Store Design publishing group.

This is the journal of ideas, notations, explorations.

Now, what will you do? Where’s your journal? Send me the URL of your meditations. I’d like to see what you’re exploring.

To wit:
http://www.tim.girvin.com/journals/index.html

yours,
tsg | seattle