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Capture Your Creativity With a Notebook Like the Great da Vinci

Everywhere you are you think. Either all of your ideas and thoughts are worth keeping or are things you need to process. This is why you should carry a notebook like Leonardo da Vinci to embrace your creativity.

If your thoughts are great ideas or something artistic, you want to remember it later. By all means, write them down. If you are thinking about your life, how to organize better, or how to change a pattern, write. You should write everything down to have a better perspective.

The result of writing things is to have a better viewpoint for resolving them. For example, you can observe your activities through time. You can address things and think about whether or not they are worth your time.

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

Leonardo da Vinci

You can also use the notebook as a way to declutter your mind. If you have a project in mind, put it on paper and you can deal with it later. Also, you can work on a plan to come up with a solution.

Stop ruminating over thoughts, write instead in your notebook. Using tools like brainstorming, timelines, delegating, managing appointments, make your mind less crowded.

carry notebooks like da Vinci
Photo by Julia Joppien on Unsplash

This study shows why you should carry a notebook. The main conclusion of the study shows that being reflective of our performance enhances confidence. For this reason, you want to carry a notebook like da Vinci to improve the quality of your thoughts. Most importantly, you will cherish the only thing you control: your mind.

Look at the following six ways (inspired by Leonardo da Vinci) you can fill a notebook to convince yourself even more.

It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

Leonardo da Vinci

How to enhance your creativity carrying a notebook all the time

  1. Study and learn
  2. Draw or paint
  3. Create a coding system
  4. Observe, analyze the world
  5. Dedicate some time to review your life
  6. Set goals, dream big

1. Study and learn

You can start to learn a new language or you can write in your notebook in any language you want. For example, use your imagination and incorporate words in other languages to your daily annotations.

Learning never exhausts the mind.

Leonardo da Vinci

Also, you can combine drawings with words in other languages and you will create your visual dictionary. All this, while you practice your drawing abilities.

Try this exercise using one of da Vinci’s drawings: the bell. Look at the bell and write all the words that come to your mind about it. Think about the mechanism, the sound, the material, where it is placed, etc.

campana da Vinci learn languages
Draw like da Vinci and Learn by Sepia Flora

Write the words in various languages and notice similarities and differences between the languages. For example, are there languages that employ the same word?

You can also learn about things that you are passionate about. Because you are carrying a notebook like da Vinci, there will be many opportunities to study your notes. Also, you can add things that come up that you want to research further.

2. Embrace the functions of the eye

Painting embraces all the ten functions of the eye; that is to say, darkness, light, body and colour, shape and location, distance and closeness, motion and rest.

Leonardo da Vinci

When you draw or paint you are being mindful. Science proves that art is good for you. Now, all you have to do is choose what you want to draw or paint. In other words, grab your notebook and start a wonderful creative process by inspiring yourself with all the objects around you.

flowers da Vinci by sepia flora
Embrace your Observation like da Vinci by Sepia Flora

As da Vinci mentioned, you embrace ten functions of your eye and you start observing with a critical eye. Above all, you will be aware of the things around you, thus develop a mindful mindset.

3. A unique diary

A lot of people believe that da Vinci was messy. But, it could also mean he had a unique system of taking notes. He valued his thoughts and not the way they were written.

For example, you could see a grocery shopping list next to a drawing of the human body. That was what was on his mind at the time. You can recognize that because he wrote the grocery list. He didn’t have to think anymore about what he needed to buy. This allowed him to concentrate solely on the study of the human body.

He also invented new words and used shorthand symbols. That is because he was making the notebooks for him and not for others. That also explains why he used mirror writing. He wasn’t trying to protect his work, he was making it more comfortable for him to write. It is believed he was left-handed. Mirror writing prevented him from touching the ink with his hand while writing.

mirror writing sepia flora
Create a Unique Journal by Sepia Flora

If he would have wanted to protect his work, he definitely would have invented his language. Certainly, his intelligence is never been questioned.

Taking da Vinci’s example, you can create your coding system for a notebook. Also, you could invent symbols or write distinctively. Doing this will take your imagination further motivating you to have a creative mindset. Doing so will benefit you mentally in a tremendous way.

4. Observe and immerse in the world

Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.

Leonardo da Vinci

Just as you can draw or paint, you should reflect and write next to your drawings. For instance, the notebook you carry like da Vinci is the best companion for this.

Observe what is going on in the world, what you can do about it. You might realize that you control almost nothing. To clarify, the one thing you control is your thoughts.

Reflecting on the world, on human behavior, has the powerful ability to enhance your emotional intelligence. You start to question the importance of things and start to build empathy and care about other living things.

Being selfish is not a pleasant feeling to cultivate. Caring about others and what you can do for the world has the power to fulfill you emotionally.

5. Review your life

There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.

Leonardo da Vinci

You want to be the person who sees. The person that observes his or her life. Remember that reflecting on your life and your surroundings is a healthy habit because you learn from your mistakes. It helps you cultivate gratitude, and it helps you gain perspective over the importance of your thoughts.

review your life with a notebook
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

You will reflect on your actions and what you could change in the future. This will make you a more thoughtful person and more comfortable with your self.

Within the notebook, you carry like da Vinci, reflect on the way you want to live your life. Make note of the things that bother you and make you happy. Next time you are tempted to do something you don’t like, you will think twice before doing it.

For example, look at how people who lost weight succeed more by writing everything they ate in a day. It is a form of reflection. One that helps you be aware of the things that harm you or make you fit.

6. Set goals, dream big

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.

Leonardo da Vinci

This article explains why writing your goals makes you more prone to succeed. It turns out, that if you write down your goals and expectations you are more aware of them. Consciously you develop the ability to work towards achieving your expectations.

You direct your energy and time towards the things you want to accomplish when you carry a notebook. Write down and look every day at your goals. As a consequence, you will succeed in your expectations.

blank page notebook
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

Don’t live your life expecting things, that is the best advice you can receive. Live your life in the present and work towards your well being. Be aware of your thoughts and of the things you can control. Direct your life and attention to the things that matter, for example, towards your tranquility and peace of mind.

Above all, the objective of the notebook is to write things so your mind will be present. Don’t expect to achieve your dreams and goals to be happy, you will never feel fulfilled. Carry a notebook like da Vinci to reflect. Be grateful and cultivate the one thing that matters: your mind and your choices.

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