Someone asks how you are, and you genuinely don't know. Not sad exactly. Not happy. Not angry. Something blurred and heavy, or restless and vague, that doesn't fit any word.
It happens to everyone. And the usual journaling question, "How do I feel today?", isn't much help when the answer is "I don't know."
The trick is to come at the feeling sideways: through the body, through images, through art. Here are some prompts to try. Choose two or three; don't answer them all.
Through the body
1. Where in my body do I notice something right now? Chest, throat, stomach, shoulders? 2. If that sensation had a temperature, would it be warm or cold? 3. Is it heavy or light? Still or moving?
Through images
4. If my mood were weather, what would it be? 5. If it were a color, which one? 6. If it were a room, what would that room look like? 7. If it were a piece of music, would it be fast or slow, loud or quiet?
Through a painting
8. Choose a painting that matches how you feel today, without thinking too hard. A postcard, a museum image, anything. What made you choose it? 9. Which figure or detail in the painting feels most like you? 10. What would you need to step out of the painting, or to stay in it more comfortably?
Through gentle questions
11. What happened in the last few days that I haven't had time to think about? 12. What am I tired of? 13. What am I quietly hoping for? 14. What would feel kind right now?
After writing
Read what you wrote. Often, a word appears that you didn't expect: tired, lonely, nostalgic, anxious, grateful. You don't need to fix it. Naming it is often enough to soften it.
A journal that starts with art
The Collector's Diary is a free printable journal with a short guided meditation built around a work of art: where you met it, what you noticed first, what your senses took in, how it made you feel. When your own feelings are blurry, starting with a painting can make them clearer.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi