I don’t know about you but I love January – largely because I get to buy a crisp new journal.
I confess I have a fairly serious stationery addiction and this is one of its more beneficial manifestations.
I’ve found there is an art to choosing a journal. You have to consider things like size, colour, line spacing, paper thickness… and will it be easy to use no matter where you are.
But even more importantly I like to tune in to the “feeling” of the year ahead and ask myself, does this feel like the journal for this year?
Your Personal Power Numbers
One of the strategies I use is to choose my journals based on the “vibration” of the number of my Personal Year. Within the study of numerology, numbers hold a frequency or vibration which influences our reality. In Pythagorean Numerology we move through a 9 year cycle and our Personal Year number informs where we are in that cycle.
Some may find the idea of numbers holding vibrations a fluffy, new-agey notion with no basis in the rational world. Perhaps this is true, although I’m not sure how you would measure and prove that. Honestly, I don’t really care if it’s “true” or not. I’m more interested in whether or not the tool serves me.
I believe we interpret our reality, and then we believe our interpretations. In other words, we make ourselves right. So if I’m choosing what I make things mean, my only concern is whether the interpretation I’m choosing empowers or disempowers me.
Calculating my personal numbers each year helps me hone my focus for the year. And over the many years that I’ve been doing it, I’ve noticed that I feel like I’m riding a wave when I “work” the energy behind the number, rather than fighting against it.
The only way you’ll know if this idea holds any merit for you is to try it.
Basic Numerology Principles
There are a few basic principles to understand before you start.
- Number are always added individually. Don’t group them together and add the sums.
- Once you have a total, keep reducing it until you get a single digit, unless the total is 11 or 22. These are called Master Numbers. They have a “higher” vibration than their counterparts, 2 and 4 and thus a different influence.
- This system is based on a 9 year cycle. So if 2016 is a 5 personal year for you, 2017 will be a 6 personal year. Your 9 year is the end of a cycle. Your 1 year is the beginning.
Ok. Here’s how to calculate your Personal Year.
Personal Year Number Calculation
- Add together the numbers of the current year. In 2016 it will look like this:
2 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 9 Because 9 is already a single digit, no reduction is necessary. This is the number of the Universal Year and it has a global influence. - To get you Personal Year number, add your birth month and day to the Universal year. (See the examples below.)
- Then reduce the total until you get a single digit (unless it’s 11 or 22)
- The final number is your Personal Year number.
Here are a couple of examples using 2016:
My sister’s birthday is 25 December (12 month)
(Yes, she was a family Christmas present!)
1+2(month)+2+5(day)+2+0+1+6(year)=19 Reduce to 1+9=10 and 1+0=1
She is starting a One Personal Year
This is a year of beginnings, creation, invention and a great year for her to start anything new that she wants to last through the rest of the 9 year cycle. Red is the colour that corresponds to One so choosing a red journal would be appropriate for her this year.
My birthday is 6 March (3 month)
3(month)+6(day)+2+0+1+6(year)=18 Reduced 1+8=9
I’m in a Nine Personal Year at the other end of they cycle. This is a year of endings, completion, and a great opportunity to let go of whatever no longer serves me. It’s also a good year for any humanitarian endeavours; working on anything that serves the world. 9’s colours include all the pastels so this year I chose a lovely coral colour for my 2016 journal.
Once you’ve completed your calculation, go to my Numerology Resource to learn the number’s vibration. This is the energy that is around you this year. If you embrace it rather than resist it, you may be surprised how much more “flow” you experience.
If you want to go deeper and learn how to calculate your Personal Months and Personal Days, download my free how-to guide below. You’ll need to adapt the calculations for the current year.
Discover Your Personal Power Numbers
Journals are magical
They are free-reign territory. You can totally colour outside the lines in your journal. Figuratively or literally. Play with colours and stickers, draw, write, doodle… anything goes. This is one place that is yours and yours alone. No one else need ever see it. Use it to fully express yourself. It’s a great way to invite the insight and inspiration of the Muse, to problem solve, to express your gratitude and to chronicle your life.
There’s also something powerful about handwriting, pen to paper, that is more satisfying than using a keyboard. I find I have easier access to my right brain – my creative side – when I write by hand. There’s an integration of mind and body. And as an added bonus, it allows me to justify buying an array of coloured pens to go with my new journal!
In her wonderful book, The Artist’s Way: 25th Anniversary Edition,
For practical, productive journaling, I really love the Bullet Journal. It’s a brilliant system for organizing and capturing your projects and interests. Watch the video and see if you think this way of organizing yourself will work for you.
I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to add a journaling ritual into your life. Begin this year with a brand new journal and an awareness of your Personal Power Numbers. Give yourself the gift of joyfully expressing yourself while you ride the wave of whatever number vibration is supporting your progress this year.
Expand, Express and Enjoy, and most of all, Happy New Year!
RESOURCES
Here are some other places you can buy journals online. Or visit your favourite local book or stationery store.
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