At it’s most basic, a traveler’s notebook is a notebook cover with an elastic spine that allows you to carry more than one notebook/calendar/sketchbook at a time, and slip them in and out of the cover as needed. However, as you begin to carry one around every day, you’ll come to understand that they can certainly become more than that - they’re a reprieve from the intangible. A way to untangle the mind. Sounds a bit dramatic? Maybe it is... but honestly with all of the (fantastic) technology that surrounds us, don’t you just crave the ability to write something down? No notes on your phone. No text messages. No email. Just a note. Or a sketch. On paper.
There’s a certain helpful therapy about writing things on paper. It slows you down. When I first began to use these notebooks I noticed that my hand could not keep up with my mind. I couldn’t write the thoughts down as fast as I could think them out. It was a big “a ha!” moment for me recognizing that perhaps my monkey mind could really use a sedative once in a while. Writing things down in a traveler’s notebook evens me out, without boxing me in (to one notebook). Creativity abounds.
So I invite you to write things down more. Slip in to a mini-meditative state and untangle your mind. Plan your day, sketch out your home renos, or list your meal plans. Put away the cell phone notes, and embrace the new (old) form of instant gratification, of pen to paper.