Love List

Hey friends. This is the first share of my love list. A list of things to love that is sent out one lovely item at a time. Hmmmm so then I wonder if it’s actually a list? Perhaps not. Instead we can say it’s a drip drop of lovey things coming to you in case you are in need of well…things to love.

This is the book "Syllabus" by Lynda Barry. If you are a listener to my podcast (also titled Finding What’s True) you may have heard me yesterday exclaiming that I'm officially in love with this woman, want to move to Wisconsin immediately, audit all of her classes forever and bring her candy. Apparently she has candy in all her classes, which may be all you need to know to follow her into oblivion. Oh the power of sugar.

Anyhoo. I wanted to share pictures of the inside of the book, because it’s GORGEOUS but alas I looked it up and that would be copyright infringement. Instead I’ve recorded a little video talking a tiny bit about the book and one of the exercises I’ll be playing around with this week. It’s a journaling exercise but it’s super short and has a creative twist (intended to encourage those of us, ME, who tend to roll their eyes at journaling prompts). The reason I love it is that it gets us out of our heads and into the good true stuff that’s happening right in front of us all day long.

Here’s the gist; she has students divide their notebook page into a grid of four squares. Then set a timer for six minutes. Take a deep breath and starting in the top left square you would write what you did today (maybe list seven things), then the top right square what you saw today (another seven), bottom left square what you heard and finally bottom right draw a picture of something you saw. Simple right?! And yet somehow this six minute exercise will make you like people (and yourself) again. Instead of walking through your day as you, yourself, ego head…you are a now a gleeful hunter gatherer and your only job is to be noticing, listening, looking, and crinkling your eyes with warmth and humor as you listen in on a conversation about “individually wrapped soaps” or a man pleading to his wife as he walks down the street “just a slice!!!” It’s good stuff.

I’ll be working with this over the course of the next week and sharing the jottings down of things and images for your amusement. If you try it out be sure to share some of the jewels with me! It'll be fun!!! Lots of love!