I Know the MAGIC We Call Life — Journal
Out on 15th August! Pre-orders 08th July to 05th August
Some of you might have read about this journal already. I’ve been working on it for years. The idea came during Covid, and then it was tested, then developed, then we had another little test, and now, here it is. Finally done. It even has an ISBN.
Like all things in life, it is not suitable for everybody, there’s no point lying about that. I’ve been really lucky with people who chose to take part in the testing, they all liked it. However, they are all into balance in life rather than being positive all the time, or being grateful and focusing on things to be grateful for, or finding that one thing that would make today great. These are all fantastic things, and if you are into that, if that works for you, that’s great.
I Know the Magic We Call Life is more about being honest with yourself. Sometimes, life is just sh*t. It is. But, that’s OK. That’s how we learn, how we grow, become stronger. However, if you think your life is always sh*t, you’re missing something. People in warzones don’t think their life is always sh*t. Even in war zones people have good days and bad days.
Part of the problem might be that we fail to value things that are common. It’s almost like the ‘supply and demand’ effect has gone into all areas of our lives and hence, if something is in huge supply, it must be cheap, i.e. worthless. We need to step away from that. Love, knowledge — just two things in life that increase in value the more we have them. And two things that are very common.
At the same time, we all have precious moments. But, for some reason, we forget those, as if time (or worries or something) makes them fade away. These precious moments are likely to pop up when we face a loss. Almost like they are our body’s natural defense against the hardship of grief. Well, if that is the case, then we could practice the habit of keeping those precious moments to tackle any kind of hardships that might come our way.
Then we have expectations. Most disappointments are just faulty expectations. Some people choose not to have expectations at all. For me, that’s tough. I have not managed it. However, I have noticed that facing the truth leads to better expectations. I still get it wrong, but not so often. Plus, accepting the truth has made me feel settled. Even when the truth feels like a kick in the gut, it still puts the pieces of the puzzle in place, and ends up being a relief in many ways.
So, if you are tired of trying to make your life sound great by removing some bits and promoting others, maybe this journal is for you.
If you are tired of looking for those things that you are grateful for, and you find that things keep repeating, maybe this journal is for you.
If you’re tired of putting a positive spin on everything, maybe this journal is for you.
If you’re tired of being forced into change, this journal is for you. You need to want to change. You need to know why you need a change, what you need to change, and how. And even then it takes time, patience and persistence.
In short, this journal is for those who appreciate balance, and value things by how they feel about them, not by how society tells them they should feel. People who do not want their life to be an advert. It’s not about making it sound good for other people (or even for yourself), it’s about the truth. And the truth is almost never just positive or just negative, yet it will always lead to a feeling akin to belonging.
Seeing the truth doesn’t take much time, remembering the truth is it tricky part. I.e. it’ll take about 5–10 minutes of your day to fill in this journal. After that, finding your reminders should be easy. The journal is created to focus on one to a few key words for the day. So, if, at some point in the future, you feel like there is no love in your life, flick through the pages, find the days where you circled or highlighted the word love, read why you chose that word. It should spark the emotion right back into the present moment. Or you feel like you are anxious all the time. Find the days where you did not circle the word anxious, then read what you did circle and why. That should help you deal with the anxiety you might be feeling in that moment.
Good deed of the day is one of the main things that can make us feel better about ourselves. However, if you find that ALL your good deeds are about other people, that might not make you feel so good. Equally, if all your good deeds are about about you, that’s also not going to make you feel good. Good deeds are about being good to others as well as to yourself. So keep an eye out for that.
And then there is something you don’t want to forget about the day. When you finish your year, it is highly likely that you will find all kinds of surprises there. And as the time goes on, this part becomes even more surprising. How and why we forget things we don’t mean to forget is strange. But we do. And these are really helpful when you think your life is dull. Opening the journal to random pages, finding the things you wanted to remember, should give you a strange and unique variety of big and small events that meant something to you. If they meant something to you one day, they should mean something any time.
So if you are the kind of person who just wants the truth, who is willing to work on themselves, but only after they have figure out their unique life and circumstances, give it a try.
I am tired of exaggerated adverts, so I am not going to use that. The journal is easy to use, 5 to 10 minutes of your day. I’ve had very positive feedback. It looks nice. Lovely to hold. I like the cover — faded stars in the top right corner, mirror imaged to the right bottom corner into a stain, or a spill of some sort; I think that’s how most of us are, somewhere between a star and a spill, in fact, some days we’re a star, and other days we’re more like a spill. The cover is simple, black and gold, with space for you to put your name — you’re filling it in, so your name should go on the cover, but only if you want it to.
The journal is available to pre-order from today, 08th July 2024 to 05th August 2024. You’ll get 25% discount if you pre-order your copy, and everyone who pre-orders a copy should get it before the book comes out on 15th August 2024. I will strive to get the pre-orders out as soon as possible.
Pre-orders are currently only available from my website. The payment is through Stripe, so I don’t get your details except for the delivery address. However, if you’re still iffy about ordering through my website, I completely understand. Let me know and I’ll make it available on e-bay or wix, or somewhere.
Otherwise, I am planning to sit around London and ask people to fill in a page. I think it might be fun to collect how are people feeling, what kind of things they don’t want to forget, and what kind of good deeds have they done. Just the thought of having a collection of these from random strangers in London makes me smile. So if you’re around, let me know. I’ll share my location and you can see the journal for yourself.
More information available on my website:
https://www.meliha.uk/books/i-know-the-magic-we-call-life-journal
As always, best wishes, and thank you for reading.