Life Between the Lines

Dear Lovely,

When I was in Paris on my creative retreat,

the very first class we took—which was conveniently my favorite—was a journaling class. We met our instructor, who is a writing professor in California, at the Tuileries, and she warmed us up by asking us to write what each of our senses was experiencing in that moment. It was a beautiful early fall day in Paris. Not overly hot, with blue skies, and a pleasant breeze. Here is what I wrote:

I see fall leaves, crumbling. I see green chairs, denim, dusty shoes. I see blue skies and shredded cotton clouds promising there is no rain ahead.

I hear a siren, the European kind. Muffled chatter, twigs breaking and gravel scattering from steps. A motorcycle. A car. The crank of some machine nearby.

I smell fresh air. Remnants of perfume. Dust. Earthyness.

I feel breeze and cool air. Soft denim and a belt around my waist. My rings feel tight on my fingers.

I taste the bitterness of rich coffee from the cup I made in my room. The desire for a piece of minty gum and Champagne bubbles.

If you are new to journaling and you have a desire to try it, let this be your first exercise. Sit somewhere quiet and take yourself through the five senses. It is an excellent way to become present in the moment and leave behind the coating of numbness that modern life coats brings. (FYI: My favorite journals are Moleskin, but you use whatever you want. And since we’re on the topic of favorites, these are my favorite pens.)

I’m not going to tell you every detail of this workshop, because friends, you really should experience the Creative Renaissance with A Taste of Paris yourself. It was incredible! I do, however, want to share one other prompt we went through because it shows why journaling is such a powerful tool. Here was the prompt:

Share a food memory.

It was so simple. The memory could be from any time or place. It could be good or bad. Nastalgic or recent. We all went to work describing the memory, using our heightened five senses from the previous prompt to bring the memory to life.

Because we only had about 10 minutes or so for this exercise, I decided to go with whatever food first popped into my mind, and I imagine you will be just as surprised as I was: Strawberry Poptarts, a sugary processed delight that I hadn’t eaten in over 20 years.

Here is what I wrote:

Strawberry Poptarts: The edges were never as tasty as the interior. The puffy surface was coated with a pink icing that hardened into a candy-like shell. Prior to this chemical reaction, a dusting of granular sugar, colored and possibly flavored was generously sprinkled across the top. This addtion of texture and faceted sugar made the surface of the PopTart look like candy…or jewelry.

Would you bite the corner and have to eat some of the crust that had so little flavor? Or, would you break the processed pastry in half to gain access to the strawberry jam that filled the thin pastry packet? Always the latter. In the commercials, I feel like the kid who ate PopTarts was cool: grabbing the PopTart, running out the door with a skateboard.

I wanted to be cool like that kid with the PopTart. Independent. Agency. And a life that looked fun. I never buy PopTarts for my kids. Too much sugar. But still try to give them independence, agency, and a life that is fun.

What stands out the most to me about this memory is what a Strawberry PopTart represented to me: freedom and autonomy. The kid was young but capable, and he had agency over his life. His life was fun and he stumbled his way through it. He handled his problem with relative ease and kept a good attitude. This is what I wanted as a kid. It’s what I want now. It’s what I have now.

Journaling Class

Journaling en plein air is a wonderful way to awaken the senses. En plein air is a French term that means out in the open air. Getting outdoors into the elements is an immediate connection to nature which is a simple way to access Eden. (Reference my blog post and the foundation of The Art of Living Beautifully, The Eden Factor.)

Again, my reason for sharing this with you is to encourage you to journal. A relatively innocuous prompt can turn into something interesting. I gave myself a journal prompt when I was in Provence in 2023, and look what happened. It turned into a novel! The France Dance. This recent journal prompt in Paris brought forth a memory from my youth that reminded me that one of my dreams came true: agency over a really fun life.

This, to me, is part of the art of living beautifully. Journaling asks us to slow down long enough to notice the life God has already given us—to pay attention to what we love, what matters to us, and what we might otherwise rush past. And the more we notice, the more intentionally we can cultivate a life that reflects those things.

Inspired to try journaling yourself?
Join me for The Weekender, my Friday letter on living beautifully, and I'll send my FREE Life Between the Lines journaling page complete with a week’s worth of journaling prompts straight to your inbox. If you’re already a subscriber and want a copy, just comment below and I’ll send it to you. ❤️

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