Guided Journals/Workbooks I Used in 2022




I moved a bit more toward workbook style guided journals than I have used in previous years. I found the ones I used this year to each provide some helpful insights as well as to have some less than insightful points. Whether this is because of where I am in my life journey or a fault of the journals is yours to decide should you decide to try them.


 52 Lists for Calm by Moorea Seal is a list journal with prompts that one fills out weekly rather than daily. Some prompts are better than others. Honestly, I didn't enjoy this list journal as much as I've enjoyed others in past years. I never could quite figure out why. All I know is that instead of making me feel calm, somewhere around the middle of the year it began to feel like a chore. I've really enjoyed list journals in the past, so I'm not so sure if the problem was with the journal or with where I'm at in my life.


 52 Lists for Bravery by Moorea Seal - This is another list journal I started at the beginning of the year. Like the one for Calm, it is a weekly list journal with prompts. The lists in this journal often felt like I was just going through the motions, and I didn't feel like I gained any real insight. Often, I felt like I'd already done this work elsewhere and was wasting my time. So, all in all, this journal might be really insightful for some people. 

I'm still wondering if choosing to do both 52 Lists for Calm and 52 Lists for Bravery in the same year was a bad idea. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do at the beginning of the year, so I did both. They were different enough I thought it would be okay since I was doing one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  They follow the same format as Seal's other list journals, which I enjoyed. So, I would encourage people to judge for themselves, and maybe recommend not doing two of them at the same time...



 The Come As You Are Workbook: A Practical Guide to the Science of Sex by Emily Nagaski, Ph.D. - I finished working through this workbook mid-November. Overall, it was an interesting experience that lead me to think deeply about my relationship with my body and my sexuality. The most interesting thing that arose for me as I neared completion of the workbook was that I am far more comfortable with my body and my sexuality than I thought I was. It was an interesting revelation. The exercises seemed easy for me because I'd either already done the work, had no issues with the exercises, or already did the activities on a regular basis. However, I would recommend this workbook as well as Emily's book Come As You Are to anyone who has questions about sex and even to those, maybe especially to those, who think they have it all figured out.


 Get Untamed: The Journal by Glennon Doyle is a guided journal inspired by Doyle's book, Untamed. I started this journal at the beginning of March. Overall, it was an interesting journal to complete. As I indicated before, I often found myself feeling like I was repeating work I'd already done. I really didn't feel like this journal pushed me the way I expected it to. Someone else, however, at a different point in their life journey might find it great and enlightening! Still, I felt encouraged and inspired all the way through.



  Your Body Is Not An Apology Workbook by Sonya Renee Taylor furthers the work of the book, The Body Is Not An Apology also by Sonya Renee Taylor. The workbook pushes one to delve into whatever issues they might have with their own body and to examine how society, the media, and expectations have contributed to feelings of body shame. I found most of the activities thought-provoking even when not exactly applicable to my experience. I finished the workbook today even though I'd expected to take through March to finish it because of the way many of the sections came together over the past month. I think it's a workbook one could work through at one's own pace. The questions were interesting and pushed me to think about where my answers originated as well as the kind of person I want to be toward myself and others when it comes to how we all live in our bodies. There was one activity in this book that was for the entire year because it was a monthly breast exam. I did end up filling it out over the year and finished it in December. I'm not sure filling it in made me any more likely to do my monthly self-exam, but I could see how it could encourage some people.


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