Reflecting on Reflecting

My favourite picture of Pepper who died in July. He was such a poser!

What happens when a cat is confronted by a mirror? Absolutely bugger all. In fact what I'd always pegged as a dislike of mirrors is more likely a complete disregard. But my cat's aren't to be trusted with this sort of thing...Dizzy's scared of the blue vase in our living room and Pepper was an unashamed camera whore.

Jonathan's analogy was basically saying yesterday that unlike cats we reflect on the reflection we see in the mirror. Reflective writing is a way of thinking through things, it's a way of finding links and meaning in our design practice. It forces you to think about what's happened and what may come out of that or come before it.

Reflective Journals are confusing...or at least I find that they are because of their contradictory nature. They're personal and private but their also public and revealing...that's weird. Now, I've kept a diary since I was at school in one form or another. I've also kept sketchbooks since I started college (at school they were discouraged because you couldn't send them to the SQA). However, the two have rarely met. I've always kept them separate because my diary is private, my private view on the world, it's the way I vented troubling issues with friends and family. My own personal issue too...I'd hate it if someone read it. My sketchbooks were my public ideas which needed input, but any writing was usually quotes or formal and stunted.

I've always wanted to combine the two, but there's just something about that need for privacy. Sometimes, as with the Rituals Project Journal, sometimes my thoughts felt to personal to document, other times too mundane...

I need to find the balance!