into the journal: maggy navin
18
This feature series examines how and why people journal, because no two practices are identical. Appreciating the journal as a sacred inner world for uninhibited wandering and wondering.
If you have a journaling practice that you’d like to share about here, email me at evapberezovsky(at)gmail(dot)com.
maggy navin
Hey, my name is Maggy. I’m an artist, writer, creativity researcher, and creative coach. I’m based in Pittsburgh (for now) with my husband and two cats. I founded Regarding Dew, an online creative studio that supports women from all over the world to move through creative fear with courage and compassion to live in greater alignment with their desires.
origins
My earliest journals date back to when I was 7 years old, the same time I started to make little diaries for my teddy bear, Brownie. I went to a large elementary school and lived on a block with tons of kids, so I loved alone time after playing with friends. Journaling, and creatively expressing myself in general, has always been a way that I come home to myself and decompress after being out in the world.
language
I love many terms — journal, notebook, diary — but journal is the one I use most! When something is topic-specific, I call it a notebook (like my mini movie notebook). Then there’s the digital side, where I also work out ideas in Obsidian, a digital note-taking system that I’m obsessed with. Instead of a digital journal or anything like that, I call it “my Obsidian.”
routine
Writing in bed at the end of a long day with a candle and tea is one of my favorite things... it’s abundant and grounding. I try to do it as often as possible. Part of me wishes I had a consistent routine, but what works for me is creating the conditions so that it can just be spontaneous and familiar. I care about living my life in flow and prioritizing what matters, and having a softer relationship with my journaling practice has meant that I write way more.
purpose
I journal to slow down time. My journal is for so many things: catching ideas, writing quotes, dreaming, listing what I’m grateful for... But mostly, it falls into three main buckets: 1) working through concepts, 2) writing down what I care about most and what I want for my life over and over, and 3) inner-dialoguing, or giving fear and doubt a voice and writing to my present self from my deeper wisdom — usually the woman I imagine being when I’m sixty.
evolution
For so long, I wanted journaling to be more “serious” than what felt natural. I wanted to approach journaling like how I imagine Charlotte York would, daily and put together.
Now, my practice is more chic than I could have designed because it’s totally desire-led. I protect it as a practice of desire. There’s not so much guilt about stretches of non-writing anymore because I trust that I’ll always have my practice and my practice will always have me.
medium & material
I only write in Moleskine’s XL Cahier Journals, the plain cardboard ones. I’m sensitive to visual clutter and tend to make a lot of it through the day (books, clothes, cups), so I decided years ago to go all-in with this style so that they create a uniform stack.
One of the main ways I write about my day-to-day is in my Moleskine Daily Planner, which I always buy in red. I use it to track appointments, but I also write about what I’m feeling, what I noticed, what the tone of the day was like.
Digitally, my note-taking in Obsidian is always open and I’ve completely customized its look.
utensil
I keep it super simple with a Pilot Precise V5 since it has a beautiful flow but doesn’t smudge, important as a lefty! I usually gravitate towards pink or red ink, and always keep a pink V5 in my bag.
rereading
I usually keep my two most recent journals right by my current one to flip through. As I’m working out ideas in my current journal, I like to reference pages from old journals and build on them over time.
When I don’t feel like writing but a small part of me wants to write, I go back to my last entry and that usually stirs something. And every so often, I do a more formal reflection on past entries... a ritual I call harvesting practice. It’s something I’ve done for years.
a recent entry
Wrote this sitting in an airport terminal:
Ideal week strategizing. 19 Zoom calls this week. Year of the fire horse, it’s go time. I’m excited for more more more risks. But this week... I can either go through it clenching my jaw and juggling tasks and feeling frazzled... or practice pivoting toward wholeness — root into my animating and organizing principles. Small choices. I have so much to do and I feel so behind, but this is life right now!! Red flowers on Sunday after cleaning? Herbal bath... Get to knitting club even if I don’t feel like it at first. I really don’t feel like riding the bus that long. Maybe I’ll just watch Marie Antoinette.
@evaberezovsky
evaberezovsky.com
evapberezovsky(at)gmail(dot)com
꩜
 | A guest post by
|
Love reading about Maggy’s process & an actual journal entry! Pen color…. Something to think about 🧡