This post is not sponsored.
Self-growth tools don’t have to be paid. Drawing with colored pencils on a piece of scrap paper, coming up with your own journal prompts, or taking a quick walk in the park can be tools for self-growth, mental clarity, and reflection. I sometimes (i.e. way too often) indulge in personal growth products because the payoff is often worth the price. Here are five of my current obsessions, some paid and some free.
Best for Spiritual Growth: Holly Simple Tarot
I found Holly Simple’s zine-inspired tarot deck at Brooklyn’s PopFuzz, a comic book store, of all places. I am not a big believer in tarot, and in fact this is the first tarot deck that I’ve ever felt inclined to purchase, as fortune-telling can sometimes (not always) limit personal growth, causing one to feel tied to a pre-written, inescapable “destiny.” However, Holly Simple encourages you not to use tarot for fortune telling but instead to use the cards to bring “awakening and awareness.” The hand drawings of major and minor arcana give the deck a personal, hand-made quality, as if drawn by a friend and given as a gift. Moreover, this is Holly Simple’s own personal interpretation of traditional tarot decks, so it acts as more of a self-reflection tool than a tool for divination. The deck allows me to pause think about the meaning behind tarot.
Best for Reflection: Passion Planner Month in Review Free Download
The folks at Passion Planner are kind enough to give out free sample pages of each part of their planner, but my favorite by far is the monthly reflection. I like to write this reflection into my bullet journal. If you want inspiration for how to fill out yours, you can see how I fill out my monthly reflection.
Here are the questions it asks:
- What was the most memorable part of this past month?
- In the past month what were the three biggest lessons you learned?
- Review your planner for the past month and assess your priorities. Are you happy with how you spent your time? If not, why not?
- How are you different between this past month and the month before it?
- What or who are you most grateful for?
- Name three things you can improve on in the next month. What concrete actions can you take to work towards these improvements?
Best for Goal Setting: Poketo Quarterly Goal Planner
This beautiful goal-setting planner encourages goal setting through reflection. I love the fact that it is a quarterly planner, as yearly planners often feel too daunting. Breaking the year into quarters teaches me to do more in three months towards my goals instead of pushing my goals farther out, which I tend to do with a yearly planner. The planner includes monthly, weekly, and daily layouts with prompts in the beginning of the book to establish your quarterly goals as well as prompts each week for maintaining your quarterly goals and reflecting on how the week went.
Best for Creativity: 642 Things to Write About
Although 642 Things to Write About is geared towards creative writers, you could also use it for reflection or I could see someone drawing pictures instead of writing the prompts. I promise I’ll post more about non-writing creative endeavors in the future. This guided writing journal encourages you to keep it short and sweet, with provided writing space only taking up a quarter of a page to a whole page. This allows for a lot of experimentation without the temptation to dwell on a prompt for too long. The prompts are funny but I could see any genre writer using this journal. Quite a few of the prompts are just reflection prompts as well, such as “describe the worst thanksgiving dish you ever had.”
Best for Mindfulness: Color Me Modern Adult Coloring Book
In 2015 the adult coloring book industry exploded, and I am still a big believer in the trend. I also draw and make art to relax, but when I’m really stressed out sometimes I just want to fill in some lines with color and not really think about what I’m drawing. Ruth Adler Schnee’s Color Me Modern is a modernist twist on the mandalas and flowery art that often dominate the adult coloring book scene.
Want more of this content? Poppy’s picks are published weekly, so stay tuned!
