Did you ever doodle on your notebooks in high school, scribbling your crush’s name or sketching eyeballs and geometric patterns? If so, you might enjoy using a creative journal. Not just a notebook for chronicling life’s happenings, a creativity journal is a book of pages designed to elevate your approach to thinking in general. Interested, but not sure where to start? We’ve done some research (read: got high and had fun) to find the best creativity journal on the market to help you find the right one for you. Let’s dive in.
What Is a Creativity Journal?
A creativity journal is a place to explore writing prompts, draw, doodle, or play games. The purpose of a creativity journal is to engage your imagination and allow your inner creativity to come forth. Creativity is like a muscle. The more it’s used, the stronger it becomes. There are plenty of areas in life that require outside-the-box thinking, and creativity is not simply for artists. Many successful endeavors have been launched because of creative thinking that leads the way to innovation. Additionally, taking time out of your day to use a creative journal is a positive way to relieve stress and unwind.
“Creative Thinking is a competitive edge in so many aspects of life and work. It is about reinventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” -Shawn Gold, Founder of Pilgrim Soul
Why Use Creative Journals While High?
Cannabis is like a life coach for creativity. It helps you ease into a state of being that draws you into the present moment. When stoned, outside noises are almost muffled as you sharpen your focus on the task at hand. In our busy lives, it’s often difficult to shut out the noise that swirls in our minds. Thoughts of work, family, the world we live in can be all-consuming at times. But smoking weed (or eating, vaping, etc.) alleviates these burdensome thoughts and lifts the cloud of heavy thinking. When in this state, our minds are elevated to a new wave of divergent thinking, and we can access creative portals within ourselves. Scientifically speaking, cannabis stimulates blood flow to the frontal lobe in the brain, which allows neurons to fire more freely. The frontal lobe is where our creative and divergent thinking is born.
What to Look For in Creative Thinking Journals
Sure, you can use a blank notebook to scribble your thoughts and get feelings out onto the page. Writing works wonders for bringing plans to action and releasing emotion. But to fully engage your creativity, reach for a creative thinking journal. There are several options to choose from, each designed to help unleash your inner wellspring of creativity through various activities and exercises. From writing prompts to crossword puzzles, games, coloring pages, and bizarre tasks, we’ve reviewed some of the most popular creative thinking journals to offer a side-by-side comparison.
Pilgrim Soul Creative Thinking Journal
Summary
The Pilgrim Soul journal has the look and feel of a classic go-to notebook. It has a hardcover with a silk ribbon for a placeholder so you can remember what page you wanted to do next. An elastic band wraps around the cover to hold it closed. The body and pages are all black and white, leaving room for you to add a splash of color inside. It’s broken down into four main sections of creative challenges — Imagination, Focus, Awareness, and Reflection. For $29.95, this journal provides countless hours of creative exercises.
Pros
Simply put — this journal rocks. Each page contains a different exercise and an explanation of how and why it inspires creativity. For example, a “Place Personality” exercise prompts you to define a famous global city as though it were a person by giving it physical and emotional characteristics. This task pushes you beyond linear thinking to force your mind to imagine a new concept through its inherent essence. The Pilgrim Soul journal is fun to do alone but would be a great book to share with family and friends. Work together on creative metaphors, generate new band names, or draw squiggle birds.
Cons
While this creativity journal is a ton of fun, it’s not as easy as you might think. Several of the exercises take a while to start churning creatively. So if you are looking for a mindless journal, this certainly isn’t it.
Wreck This Journal
Summary
Wreck This Journal is more action-based than it is thought-based in terms of creativity. It has a look and feel that makes you want to throw it in the backseat of your car before a road trip, not concerned if it ends up on the floorboard with a boot print on it. In fact, that might make it better. The journal is a softcover book with a warning on the first page that reads:
WARNING: During the process of this book you will get dirty. You may find yourself covered in paint, or any other number of foreign substances. You will get wet. You may be asked to do things you question. You may grieve for the perfect state that you found the book in. You may begin to see creative destruction everywhere. You may begin to live more recklessly.
Intended to be used anywhere you like, flip to a random page and dive in. For example, one page instructs you to make a funnel by cutting out the outlined shape on the page, rolling it into a funnel and taping it together. Final instruction? Fill it up with water and take a drink. Another page instructs you to rip out the page, put it in your pocket, run it through the washing machine, and stick it back in the book. Wreck This Journal is available on Amazon and in many bookstores for anywhere from $11-$15.
Pros
This creativity journal is hilarious! While some of the prompts are silly — “Find a Way to Wear This Journal” — their often nonsensical nature is what makes it such an enjoyable activity. This is the perfect thing to do with a few spare minutes or during a much-needed work break. Just flip to a page and follow the instructions. This book is a creativity journal because it pushes you to step out of your comfort zone and embrace these often bizarre, yet entertaining tasks.
Cons
This journal may be too scattered for some people. It is primarily action-based, and many of those actions may seem too silly to be intentional. If your intention is to dig deep into your creative thinking process, Wreck This Journal is not the right choice.
Stoner Activity Book
Summary
The Stoner Activity Book is in a coloring book format, with a psychedelic pot leaf smoking a joint on the cover. This is the most artistically creative book of them all, with several pages for coloring pre-designed art like astronauts and aliens passing a joint in space, or a page full of magic mushrooms floating around a bunch of bongs. In addition, there are plenty of sudoku and crossword puzzles, mazes, word search, and other activities — but of course, with a stoner theme. As for prompts, you’ll find pages like “How High Am I?” where you rank your high on a rating scale and document what you’re doing, what you’re eating, and how you’re feeling. You can find the Stoner Activity Book on Amazon for $8.99.
Pros
If you are looking to relax and chill, this is a great choice. Turn on some tunes, light a doobie, and let your mind wander while you read “Weed Fun Facts” and color three-eyed cats. Sometimes all it takes is a little downtime to let your creative juices flow, and there is plenty of space for free-thought writing or doodling in this book.
Cons
If games and coloring aren’t your idea of a fun activity, this probably isn’t your best choice. However, at this price, it’s worth having around in case the mood strikes.
Each of these books is sure to provide engaging stoner entertainment. When looking for the best creative thinking journal for you, consider the above information. Here’s our final rating:
