D192: whose journal is rainbows and butterflies?


what's in this email:

what kind of journaler are you?

can be the same as:
what kind of THINKER are you?

"perhaps at the end of a life one can see mostly flowers"

Thursday July 16, 2026

morning, 9:30 am

Greetings Thinkers,

I did wash the beach out of my hair

It was time. It was pretty gross actually. Every time I scratched my scalp I got sand under my finger nails. That wasn't the gross part. It just felt heavy and knotty (I don't use a brush, something that shocks most people). Anyway, it was time. And I did it.

I already don't wash my hair that often. I used to be an every day washer. That was a long long time ago. I showered and washed my hair, and dried it, and flat ironed it, every day. This was of a time I also DYED it. Gosh I am so glad I am not that person anymore.

Now, I'm a NOT every day washer or a dyer (obviously) and every time I go to the beach, I bring that ("dirty") beach hair home with me for awhile.

This morning I was journaling, the usual, Morning Pages, and there's this thing I do, that when I naturally get to the end of a page, sometimes I feel unsure if it's time to stop. So in true SOC style I write something like - "what else? be done at the end of this page or stay here for another?" Today the line that followed that one was - "what am I feeling? anything interesting or more lamenting of the same?"

turns out I stayed for another page

And the writing that came out of that, became our topic for today.

I think I'll actually include the page, for those of you who wonder what stream of consciousness writing looks like, or what my journaling really literally looks like. See the end of this page for that.

And for here, I'll go on some about the thoughts.

someone whose journal is dominantly positive

I think I would like to meet someone whose journal is predominantly positive. Someone who naturally and regularly writes about all the good things that happen in a day, positively laments excitement and appreciation and things of lookforwardtoness.

Am I naive to think that's unusual? Am I the rare one sitting in pools of anxiety and stress and worry, concern and figuring and never ending to do lists of all over the place ness? This makes it sound like I'm a highly stressed Negative Nancy. But I don't think I'm that either. However I can't say the writing in my journal is flowery and optimistic, that's not the main thread. And it never has been.

My journal writing is where I go to write what's in my head, and what's in my head isn't rainbows and flowers, although I did once do a drawing to that effect.

It's doubts and worries, struggles big and small, spilled milk and washed away trouses. It's being overwhelmed and all over the place and wondering if I'm doing it right. It is life. It's where I go to work stuff out, to figure, to suss.

When I have heard and read about other people's journal experiences, it seems similar. Never have I ever read that someone worried all the thoughts they put on paper down would be too positive or optimistic. Instead people who are considering journaling typically feel - if they write their thoughts down, they will be overly negative, pessimistic, mundane, boring, and even scary.

But maybe I have this miscategorized? Will you tell me? Which camp are you in? If you started a journal, or if you already journal, is it "rainbows and butterflies" or dimmer and darker things? And what to say, so this translates. I'm not suggesting the norm is to have dark under the bed thoughts, more so that they are more "negative" than "positive". A better way to juxtapose this... ?

What kind of journaler are you,
is kin to what kind of thinker are you

Is it like the question - do you dream in color?
Do you think in "rainbows and butterflies" or do you think in grey-er colors and have some worms in there?

And why does the expression "rainbows and butterflies" cover so much?

In my written pages this morning I thought about what kind of person might have "the positive writing" as their norm?

What kind of person's journal is dominantly positive?
When in a person's life, is what they are journaling about, wonderful things as the norm?

I thought of these instances:

  • newly in love
  • a conscious exercise (which an exercise is not dominant or the norm)
  • end of life "perhaps by the end of a life one can see mostly flowers"

What do you think?

What are your pages like? What would they be like if you wrote pages?

The countdown to Christmas: 9 days (PINK) Christmas in July

What does this have to do with you today?

🔺

KG

All the emails in a list

standouts / other thoughts

Soon it will be August,
soon it will be Fall,
soon it will be Christmas in December

word of the day

oh my gosh how did I not know this word!

bibelot (BEE-buh-loh)

A bibelot is a small householdornament or decorative object.

"The English language, it would seem, can’t get enough of synonyms for trinket, including gewgaw, gimcrack, and knickknack, just as lovers of tchotchkes can’t get enough of such ornamental trifles.
Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-1895) was just such a lover of baubles and bric-a-brac. She amassed collections of everything from porcelain to playing cards, which she ultimately donated to museums. We also have Guest to thank for the first known use in English of the French word for “trinket,” bibelot, which she recorded in a journal entry in 1873 while in Paris: “After 3, walked up to Lady Hopetoun’s to amuse her with some of our little bibelots.”

PS now I know how to smell chochskyies! (tchotchkes)

PS PS - the note about Guest journaling that mundane detail definitely goes with today's thoughts!

quote

who are you if you don't collect seashells at the beach?

I thought of this some time over the last few years. I was at the beach with someone who had no interest in looking for shells. I had never encountered such a person and I was appalled. I don't right now recall WHO the who was, but the sentiment stayed with me and it came back up yesterday on the type writer.

I think the who was Joe

Energy to you.

prompt:

What kind of journal are you? What kind of thinker are you? What are your dominant thoughts? How would you categorize them?

reminders:

do your desires

you can become the kind of person who doesn't require certainty before acting

the things we do, do things to us

write that down

YES, YOU CAN SHARE THIS. If you know someone who you think would like this, please forward this email.
If you're receiving this work from a link or a forwarded message and would like to sign up to receive these directly, you can sign up for that here: sign up here.

What happens when you reply to this email? I reply to you.

ALSO - this is your open ended invite to
point out all my errors, contradictions, typos, and math mistakes! At the risk of being annoying or helpful, please do it!

What would Idgie (pronounced Eddie )and Ouiser (pronounced Weezie) do?

Things you could know about me:

Newest added to oldest

I am not the person who gives "responsible advice" ref: D190: taking the leap before it will work, IS what makes it work

revere what you say

I don't know. I continue to wonder about life and the meaning of it and if I'm doing it right, spending it well. These are normal and regular thoughts for me... nothing to feel concern for me about.

when did I become a person with a "good dog"?

I don't understand or like people who don't look for sea shells at the beach

I LIKE rules and I value integrity, authenticity, honesty.

ever green perennial Kym

I make things bigger than they are, and I use them.

Camp burritos and dog food are the most labor intensive things I make

you should never say "just my thoughts" about your thoughts

how is a process, what is a thing

To be close to me in this life, you run the risk of having your life be part of me and I exhibit about mine. The folks who are close, are close in part because they know that and accept it.

I have never been CAGEY about my age and I don't like people who are.

Old plants are special. plants given to you from people you love, plants that out live those people. God help me when one of those plants dies.

"man made" doesn't bother me

I will do spider surgery before I "put them out of their misery"

I'd rather be dirty or wash out of a mixing bowl than shower somewhere else (sorry Mom)

I was not a whiskey drinker. I don't know when I become a whiskey drinker. I have hated whiskey and all dark liquor all my life. Now I drink old fashioneds. Who have I become?

You will often find me "wrapping my head around that good thought"

vague. I don't like vague. don't be vague with me, I won't be vague with you. at least not on purpose.

defines WEIGHT as: the quality of the quantity of matter you are carrying

I like to antagonize common sayings and typical perspectives

Everything is a choice and authenticity is supreme.

Reflecting on my life whether it's looking back at the last month or doing a "this time last year" thing, shorter or longer time frames, doing this at all is a reflection of who I am. That I care to consider who I am, who I have been, what I have done, so that I may use all of that to inform what I do and who I am in the present and the future. That I reflect is a reflection of who I am.

running with turtles

I know, I'm a horror to say anything to some times..

when all my identities are umbrellas

I love a good double negative!

Plan in quotes because I'm so averse to "plans" and "goals".

I chunk out my days, to the minute, in Gcal.

I love to putter so if it becomes "I puttered my life away" so be it.

I'm not a cherry picker, of anything. I like to use things that exist rather than start from new or scratch.

I am an ostrich about politics, news, current events, pop culture and media.

I dislike clichés and most positive quotes, under thought things meant well, commonly said quotes and phrases.

Don't tell me what to do, don't ask me "how how are you?" or say "I'm sorry for your loss" unless you want to annoy me or you really, really mean it. And know it can be hard to tell which it is, and I'm wrong not infrequently.

30 Day Challenges are my thing. I have a tendency to make things every day things. This is where 30 Day Challenges come from!

Like yourself. Know yourself. Express that self.
Think about things. Don't feel like you have to dance in the rain to have a good life.
Don't have a plan. Stand for what matters. Read when you want to. Don't smile when people tell you to.
Don't have goal. Tend plants. Leave marks. Do what you say. Change YOUR world. And your mind!
Be a friend and a daughter and a partner and a sister and a dog mom.
In a world full of "accept who you are" messages, don't forget to be a "work on that" kind of person.
Don't put kindness above truth. Try new things. Be honest. Live by ideals. Have some whimsy.
What you do for money matters; strive to like what you do for money. (job)
If you have a hobby you need a life.
Use what attracts you and let what you care about matter!

Peepers are my favorite sound.

Triangles are my favorite shape.

54 is my number.

I never need to talk but thank you for offering to listen.

If you say I'm overthinking it, I'll probably say you are underthinkig it.

why I do what I do: I want to "make you" THINK. I don't mind if your experience and perception of me "makes you" be more mindful, use your brain more, "think too much" or consider something more carefully, or differently, or moves you to be (more) thoughtful or intentional or authentic.

I am a hugger and I mean my hugs.

I don't like to have scheduled things. The days where I have something scheduled are a certain category of feeling. I'm not very fond of pre sign ups, committing to things in advance externally. My favorite days are the ones I call "blank slate days". Nothing scheduled, nothing formally EXTERNALLY committed (I am full of internal commitment and ideas all the time, so no day is truly uncommitted).

use the moons

I love rules and I am a ruler follower.

I like a cup to fill.

So which is it Kym. Do you like wide open clean slate no commitment things?
Or you "need" want and thrive in containers, defined spaces, rules and limits?

Geez what a walking contradiction. A biggest when to which Witch!?

SOC life - what you allow in, turns into what you spend your time on. Can you see it?

Tomb raider hot is my favorite kind of girl hot, my favorite hot to be.

Resources

A list of links for the quick and easy clicking

Thank you for being here. Energy to you. 🔺

Ciao for now!

KG

Snail Mail

I "love" snail mail. If want to send me snail mail or a prezzy "just because", you can always reach me here:
PO Box 549 Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.

If you're subscribed to me on Substack too and get stuff twice or feel unclear about what's coming from where, me too! Thanks for being here while I sort it out.

You're receiving this email because at some point you signed up for Kymology Stuff and or The Audience back in the day. If for any reason you don't want to be here anymore, you can unsubscribe by using the button below. I will notice, but you can still go.

Kymology

Check out the energy and content I offer below and sign up for the emails!

Read more from Kymology

what's in this email: tired thoughts matter too Friday July 17, 2026 night time, 9:45 pm Greetings Thinkers, An end of day email when I like it in the mornings. Folks I am TIRED! I am tired but I am here. Streaks count. I'm on a streak. Maybe I AM a streak. Streaks motivate. Streaks go both ways. 193 days in, it's easy not to miss. I woke up tired. I'm ready for bed tired. I asked Joe today - "have I been saying I'm unusually tired a lot recently?". I think I have. What is that about? Is it...

Kymology

what's in this email: I think it's time to wash the beach out of my hair. Collect orientations, not answers. Shells and things that stand out.Answers expire. Orientations endure. Shells remind. Wednesday July 15, 2026 morning, 9:30 am Greetings Thinkers, Wednesday, the day after a New Moon 🌑. Did you do anything with the beginnings energy? Mid July. I've been saying it's mid July for a few days now, but it really is mid July now. Almost exactly the center of 31 days in the month. Soon it will...

what's in this email: I am not the person who gives "responsible advice" stupid questions, stupid things to think and feel to whatever unreasonable extent you "can", do the things you want to do! Do you have a favorite way you like to be experienced by others or affect people? Tuesday July 14, 2026 morning, 9 am Greetings Thinkers, Tuesday, New Moon 🌑. Day 190 of this. A round number but not round enough to matter once you're in the hundreds. Mid July. How is it mid July already? A stupid...