“Write, Collage, and Play Your way to Living the Life of Your Dreams”
By Lisa Hammond

I love journaling, and I generally have three or four journals going at the same time; a dream journal, a goals journal, daily life, etc.

So, when I received “Permission to Dream” by Lisa Hammond, I was pretty excited. And this is no ordinary journal. It’s an interactive journey through your life, loves and dreams.

Lisa starts off the journal by saying “Believing in the impossible and affirming our intentions is an ongoing process. It takes work and it takes play - that’s right, play!”

When I opened this journal, the first thing I noticed about it was that it is totally focused on play! It is bright pink and brown (playful colors), there are pockets for storing pictures and letters, plenty of space for writing, and it’s filled with beautiful, inspirational quotes from some of my favorite authors and teachers (Oprah, Elizabeth Gilbert, Maya Angelou & Madeleine L’Engle). In fact, one of my favorite quotes was “Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.” ~ Annie Dillard ~

The journal is divided into five sections:

Discover the World Around You & Within You
Create Meaningful Work that Matters to You
Consider This Your Leisure Permission Slip
Your Inner Circle of Friends and Family
Your Vision for Your Dream Home.

Almost every page has either a question or quote designed to make you think about that particular section. I really liked this aspect of the journal as so often I’ll be working on something, for instance, creating meaningful work, and then get stuck on step one because I don’t know where to take it after I’ve written what I want to accomplish.

In the section on creating meaningful work, Lisa asks questions not only about what you may enjoy doing, but under what circumstances do you work best – with a team, or alone? Do you need structure? Are you a self starter, or do you need someone to tell you what to do? And these are questions we need to be really honest about! Many of us think that self-employment is the way to go, and then find that we don’t want to bother to get dressed before 10am LOL!

I particularly enjoyed the section “Your Inner Circle of Friends and Family.” In this section Lisa asks us to take a good look at those in our lives already, and what kind of relationships we would like to have in our lives.

The journal itself is made of thick cardstock, and is the size of a typical journal, with plenty of room for writing and reflecting (and of course, plenty of pockets for storing thoughts and inspirations).

I would highly recommend this journal to anyone wishing to follow a path of self discovery. I have thoroughly enjoyed going through its pages and discovering a few things about my own self.