How 6 of Noted's Readers Use Diaries to Support Rituals
Anniversary Post V
I love a ritual—from copying out quotes every morning to drawing mandalas at night—I find it grounds my day in meaningful moments that help absorb whatever chaos happens to befall a particular day. My favorite part of rituals is (of course) documenting them.
Since September, I’ve enjoyed the monthly ritual of spending time with notes taken by Noted’s readers for our second anniversary edition (which blossomed into five posts). This ritual invigorated me as it re-affirmed the profound importance of note-taking, and how many of us rely on it in our lives. I’m looking forward to celebrating Noted’s third anniversary in the same manner.
So, here we are with our final installment of Noted’s anniversary post. I’m excited to share six more diary practices grounded in ritual to inspire your new-year journalling habit!
Recycled Journal Pages
Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages” is one of the most wide-spread journaling practices. Her directions are simple: write three handwritten, stream-of-consciousness pages first thing in the morning. The Morning Pages ritual is designed to empty one’s mind onto the page, without self-editing or concern for style. Often, what flows out of our minds can be rather embarrassing. I know I’m not alone in hoping that no one ever reads my morning pages. Even Cameron directs us not to read what we’ve written. But, what are we to do with all that paper? A few of Noted’s readers have come up with brilliant ways to recycle their diaries into artistic projects.
’s 3-D Diary Pages
Jeri Gale writes in her journals daily. The words are important, even if she doesn’t want anyone else to read them. Her brilliant solution? Turn the pages into artwork! Jeri explains:
My daily journals are too personal to share, but they do matter so I turn them into papier mache artwork. They are torn pages and cannot be read.
You can learn more about Jeri by visiting her website and her newsletter,
.’s Emotional Alchemy
As an artist Leila “uses textiles and multimedia collage with second-hand materials as mediums to explore diasporic archives, ancestral veneration, and grief.” She extends this practice to her personal diary pages. She explains:
If I'm writing something more personal like morning pages, journaling, or brain dumps then I'll collage on top for privacy and as a form of art therapy or emotional alchemy.
Learn more about Leila’s work at
.Calls her Notebooks “Home”
Another artist, Jessica Maybury, uses her notebooks for multiple reasons. She fills them with
… collage art, poetry, instant photos, brain-dumps, bitch-sessions, shopping lists ...and everything in-between.
I also love that Jessica binds her own notebooks—it’s all part of making her notebooks feel like home:
Sometimes I bind the notebook myself, like in some of these pictures. I like being able to call a notebook 'home': I can't write in it if it doesn't feel right. I've kept notebooks since I was 12-ish, and my practice is essential to my life: I can get everything out of my head and onto the page, where at least I can see it clearly! A lot of the time it's easier to externalise or express my feelings in visual art, which is what happens here. My notebook helps me both to think and to clear my head out when it's too full of junky thoughts.
Spend more time with Jessica’s art at
.Tracking Rituals
If you want to start a new ritual, I highly recommend finding a way to track it. It’s amazing how satisfying it feels to mark progress towards a goal. Even just a small checkmark after a bit of writing can be rewarding.
’s Training Journal
Maaika Brinkhof uses her journal to keep her accountable at the gym. It’s also a great way to mark progress with activities like powerlifting. She explains:
I've been writing in notebooks for as long as I can remember, but my recent discovery is that journaling while I'm in the gym is super helpful to improve my focus and technique. I'm into powerlifting, and having good technique while executing the lifts is crucial to keep progressing your strength. Your mental state also directly influences the quality of your lifts, so I figured I would try journaling immediately after doing a working set. I write down how the last set felt and if I notice any technique breakdown. I can apply the observations I just made on my next set. It's been working well!
Read more of Maikka’s work and her experiences with powerlifting at
.’s Conversion Journal
Jennifer Lauck uses her journal as part of her journey back to Catholicism. She writes,
I’ve finally given up all pretense of being on the line between Buddhism and the Catholicism of my childhood.
Here is how Jennifer explains her practice:
This is a conversion journal. Simple, lined, oversized, cheap. I’m fully back having read Scripture and the Catechism. Each AM I do Liturgy of the Hours and then Lectio. I keep track of daily insights with swirls, and JMJ (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). I use the cover to capture my main quotes. In the back is a prayer list. Right now, I am praying most for my daughter who finds my conversion “troubling” and prefers me as a Buddhist. “I don’t know you anymore,” she sometimes laments. When I pray, I use photos tucked in a back pocket to remember the child who loved me no matter what I believed because in the end, I always believed in her…so, that’s helpful. You probably cannot see the tear stains on the pages.
Read more of Jennifer’s work at
.’s “Kindergarten Self-Care Chart”
Who doesn’t want to get stickers for a job well-done? Now that we’re out of elementary school, if we want stickers we’ll have to give them to ourselves! This is what Caroline does to motivate self-care rituals.
I use a blank, paper calendar and colored dot stickers, which I code according to whatever I’d like to incorporate into my life at the time. (These are things not tied to my livelihood, like meditation, reading, different forms of movement, personal projects, etc.) The goal is simply to do something each day. When I do, I get a sticker. It is wildly effective.
In a world full of data, I relish this tactile, analog approach. Despite sporting a watch that might be smarter than me and countless apps that promise to track my every breath, my Kindergarten Self-Care Chart allows for flexibility and gentleness. With apps, I tend to become competitive (with myself) to get MORE STEPS, ALL THE STEPS, NOT BREAK THE STREAK, etc. Here, I gently show up for myself, in small but meaningful ways.
Read more of Caroline’s writing
and discover more of her self-care practices in this post.I hope this post offered some new practices to help you cultivate rituals in your own life!
Noted is fueled by you. Your ❤️’s and comments inspire me. As always, I’d love to know your thoughts: which of these methods inspired you? What practices would you like to borrow? Do you have any rituals that you document in your notebooks?
Yours in Note-Taking,
P.S. These days, I’m loving the ritual of sharing quotes in our Commonplace Book Club. Paid subscribers, head over to the chat to see our gorgeous communal commonplace book. While you’re there, feel free to add a quote of your own!
This year Ive pared back my journaling practice to just one medium sized spiral-bound daily planner that allows me to write in the date and what I want to record. I can pretend its a bullet journal but the measuring and structure is already done for me. Facing each day's planner-page is a blank page for journaling. I am using this to record the big ideas of the day, particularly headlines that I feel are worth witnessing. The act of thinking about what I want to witness, is a ritual in itself. The other daily rituals I record are mundane: my daily writing and reading goals, my vitamins, my daily tasks. But each week I make a point to write a letter, send a note, or call some friend far away. (Most of my friends live far away.) This is a great ritual. As for your examples, the sticker journal is brilliant as long as the coding is simple. I instituted something similar for a loved one who was hospitalized with a broken hip and didn't think she could do the hard work of recovering. I knew she was a goal-oriented person so I made a wall-sized calendar and bought big gold stars. Each day she did her PT she got a gold star. Despite pain and not wanting to do it--despite telling me the calendar was stupid and an eyesore--she worked hard everyday for her gold stars!
One of the most important discoveries in 2024 was your work, your posts, your insights and ideas. And I was pleased to be a small part of that. As we go into a new year, I’m thrilled to see you are still going and bringing new perspectives to Notes, notetaking And the whole business of writing things down. Well done and happy New Year.