It is always good to learn more about the people you do business with. The article below is one I've written about my favorite notebook. We know some people  keep diaries or journals; but we usually have no idea why. This is why I write in my Ciak Sketchbook.

Autistic Living and Observations

Journaling Thoughts -- Thinking by Ciak

My form of autism makes my original thoughts fuzzy concepts, not words or even clear pictures. As concepts are not made of objective items, I have found that it is impossible for me to develop my thoughts or make sense out of them without help.

I just got in my blue Ciak notebook today. It's big enough be a sketchbook, and I LOVE it. The color bright blue may have had something to do with it, but I didn't know why this book was so meaningful for me. So I used the last four pages of my previous Ciak to explore my feelings by inking the beautiful lines of letters and emotion. After editing, these lines have become what you're reading. These sentences cannot include all the emotion, the overriding, agonizing, awesome emotions of yesterday, because sentences are made of words. Please use your own understanding of emotions to imagine mine.

To develop a thought I must have interaction with either a person or with words. The best way for me to cogitate is to speak my words to another person. I called this "talking to a set of eyes". I can also talk to myself. Speaking enables me to keep tabs on the concepts of what I am doing, what is going on, where I want to go next and what my dreams are. Yes, all the same time. You see, I am not only a conceptual thinker, I am also globally focused and intuitive. It takes quite a bit of conversation for me to pull it all together and do what other folks call "think".

My Ciak journals provide a non-audible method of working with words. Ciak helps me to collect the different aspects of what I am thinking. Sometimes, knowing I may want to come back and edit my thoughts, I even leave a page blank. It may be several months later when I will be flipping through the book to see what I've written. And I will find this empty page. If I have titled that page, then I have an idea what I was intending to think. Often it works out that life has developed sufficiently and I can then go back and fill in the emptiness and work a couple of steps further in the analysis process, which I began earlier without words.

I have used many kinds of notebooks for journaling, but my heart is happiest with Ciak sketchbooks, which I buy from Cindy at http://www.journalingarts.com. I find I think best with one of my own fine-tipped fountain pens. Everybody has their own system. May you find yours and enjoy the wonderful world of self-expression.

Love and Light,

Pat

www.PatsPensAndTreasures.com