A thing I like most about sketchbooks and journals is how they keep moments of time. Even when the sketchbook page contains an imaginary character the page is a snapshot of my mind at that moment.
It's said that we're now living in a very complex, fast paced, high technology world with the brains of Homer. That would be Homer of The Illiad and the Odyssey fame rather than Homer Simpson… but perhaps Simpson fits here too now that I've mentioned…
Anyway, our human brains simply take time to put ideas, thoughts, memories and feelings together. This for me is the main value of and motivation for keeping a sketchbook/notebook - it keeps moments, it becomes a Mason jar of mental moments like the sort of jar that stores, buttons or marbles or…
My most deliberate use of a sketchbook as a storage device, as snapshots of time, is my kitchen sketchbook “Favorites So Far" in which I’ve collected and illustrated favorite family recipes and the memories they inspire. https://www.blurb.com/b/10863384-favorites-so-far
I even made a series of recipe postcards from this book to send to friends and family … which adds another time dimension. 😁 https://www.zazzle.com/collections/recipe_postcards-119528196193002582
Anyhoo, the act of keeping a notebook gives us space in time to put thoughts together. Leisurely and loving conversations with ourselves (and our loved ones) is necessary for our mental health sake. We are time beings. We are time capsules walking. We are time itself.
I draw in my sketchbook in the mornings and in the evening I write in another notebook a sentence or so in response to these 4 questions: What did I do well today? What could I improve on tomorrow? What is something memorable, a pleasant moment, that happened today? What 3 things do I want to do tomorrow that make getting out of bed worth it?
All of my writing and drawing efforts resultin an ongoing time capsule of the time being that I call “me”. Having this written and illustrated record helps me develop my creativity … and to focus my time on what matters to me.
These thoughts about time have been stimulated by my reading: “Time and the Art of Living” by Robert Grudin and “A Sideways Look at Time" by Jay Griffiths https://bookshop.org/a/86356/9781585423064
I hope you have many pleasant moments this week and can store them in the Mason jar of your heart.
“Mason jar of mental moments” This line is poetry!
And your recipe postcards? Brilliant!
I go by this quote on my wall by Günter Kunert: "As long as one writes, ruin is averted. It doesn't all slip away."