The Journaling Muse – Issue #18 When the World Feels Too Loud
A soft space to reflect, reconnect, and create with feeling. My intention is to help you slow down and soothe your nervous system — through colour, texture, and expressive journaling that speaks gently to your inner world.
Not long ago, I stood in a gallery in Warsaw, watching Andrea Fraser’s short films.
One piece showed the flood of mass tourism through sacred spaces — crowds moving shoulder to shoulder, guided by headsets, eyes glazed, cameras raised. It felt disorienting. Chaotic. Too much to take in — too little to truly feel.
And I realized: That’s how the world feels lately.
Not just in museums, but in daily life. Endless voices. Conflicting messages. The heaviness of headlines. The ache of seeing injustice unfold, again and again, and feeling powerless to stop it.
Even when we try to look away, something in us still trembles.
We carry so much. And often, there's no safe place to put it down.
That’s why I return to the page. To the brush. To the softness of colors and shapes that don’t ask me to understand everything — only to feel what’s true.
This letter is my offering to you. A pause. A breath. A softer space inside the noise.
I’m lucky—there are trees in every city I call home, and our garden has become a small sanctuary. Some days, I sit among branches, listening only to birdsong or the wind in the leaves. On other days, I skip the news, and let my brush speak instead.
I still don’t watch TV.
These are my ways of protecting my nervous system.
How do you defend yourself? Where do you go when everything feels too loud?
This week, let’s create a quiet space—on paper, in color, or just in thought.
This Week’s Invitations
Journal Prompts
What overstimulates you lately—emotionally, mentally, digitally?
What helps you return to yourself when the noise gets too much?
What would your sanctuary look and feel like if you could create one today?
Creative Invitations
Make a visual “quiet space” in your journal—use soft lines, muted tones, or whatever feels safe.
Sketch the trees (real or imagined) that have supported you this year.
Choose one news headline from this week and “rewrite it” as a poem or prayer of peace.
Bonus Gift for You
If you need a gentle pause this week, I’ve included a gift from the Feel Lighter Ritual:
🧘♀️5-Minute Visualisation Exercise to help you come back to yourself
Sometimes the most radical act is to listen inward. To paint without performance. To feel without filtering. To let the whisper matter more than the shout.
I hope this week brings you a pocket of stillness— A quiet moment that becomes your compass again.
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No matter what you choose, I’m thankful our paths have touched. 🌿
