With a strong belief in the possibilities and potentials that bloom in each of us when given the space, resources, and invitation, we're excited to be back with more beautifully designed, sustainably printed self-reflection journals...and our all-new cards!

This is the humble mission of the Bloom Journals, to:

empower a wise, compassionate, and reverent society through the gift of self-reflection.

We do this by sharing accessible, mental-health-informed, and beautifully designed contemplative tools, supporting individuals in restoring agency, meaning, and connection: in our lives, leadership, and communities. 

In a time such as now, it doesn't take too much to feel the complexity of our collective distress. Whether it be the peril of too-many-options, the grief of our climate disaster, longing for lost connections and belonging in a fragmented culture, or the uncertainty as to how to respond to the world we find ourselves within. 

Bloom journals are designed to be an accessible, empowering, honouring, and hope-giving companion to support you in this practice of coming home to yourself, building insight, sensemaking, and wayfinding in our world. 

...and, they are designed to be gifted. 

Share the gift of reflection and support your own practice, and the practice of your community by pre-ordering your set of journals, or cards.

(Photo by Xander Sanbrook)

Bloom's Model

As a not-for-profit, community project based in Naarm/Melbourne, James and Al intend for Bloom to become a regenerative engine, fuelling the production of beautiful and ethically made tools for empowering wisdom and compassion in our everyday lives. 

With a once-a-year production schedule and campaign, we raise funds through the sharing of contemplative gifts for a local organisation. Each of our 'contemplative offerings' only has a small margin, which is donated directly to each year's organisation: this year, Greening Australia. 

In this way, we hope to both share the gift of self- and community-reflection, while supporting a local organisation we believe in wholeheartedly.

Our 2022 Contemplative Gifts

We're excited to introduce you to this year's editions of the Bloom Journals, and our all-new Reflection Cards.

Both our journals and cards are printed locally in Naarm/Melbourne, on 100% recycled paper, and with non-toxic inks through Sustainable Printing Co. Let's not have our reflective practices come at the expense of this one beautiful planet we share!

Yearly Reflection Journals (for your end-of-year reflection)

(Yearly Journal example with Wheel of Life)

These are our staple journals designed to make end-of-year self-reflection accessible and enjoyable. 

A beautifully designed, A6, saddle-stitched, 42-page journal with 1 guided Bloom self-reflection process, fit for one year.

These journals guide you through a simple and enriching Bloom process of Hindsight, Insight & Foresight: looking back, looking in, and looking forward.

These journals cover wide-ranging questions, supporting you in cultivating:

- a sense of gratitude for the people, events, and moments from the year that was;

- an acknowledgment of achievement for how you met the moments in your year;

- insight into meaningful lessons and revelations about yourself, your relationships, purpose, and the world abound;

- clarity on your values and how you might live in greater congruence with these;

- support in building ritual and intention into your daily life;

- clear intentions and a sense of direction for the year to come.

💥  Exciting changes to our 2022 journals!

This year we have not only updated our questions, quotes, and design of the journals to match our theme of 'possibility,' we have also added:

- QR linking to a 10-minute centering practice to support you in beginning your reflective practice

- QR code to curated playlists for your practice

- QR code to extra prompts per section for those who would like to take their reflections a little deeper

- a resource list for supportive services and practices

Bloom Yearly journals are designed to be gifted and can be purchased at a very affordable $7ea and in packs of 10 or more. 

$2 from every journal goes to Greening Australia.

OUR TARGET: We need to reach a minimum of 1,500 yearly journals pre-ordered to go ahead with our print run. 

👉  Share the gift of reflection, they make amazing gifts to friends, family, and colleagues!

Reflection Cards (for your throughout-the-year reflection)

Through a co-design process with community, we have created a set of 70 reflection cards! For both self- and relational-reflective processes. 

These are designed to support you in reconnecting throughout the year, whenever you might find a small amount of structure, light invitations, and space for coming home supportive.

What we heard our community wanted:

- a diversity of prompts and invitations to deepen their own reflective practice, without it being too structured

- a process that still offered an appropriate amount of structure to support the process, such as the Bloom Process (Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight)

- cards that not only invite cognitive (top-down) reflection but also prompts for practice (bottom-up), creative expression or ways to invite wider perspectives.

Here are the specs:

- 70 cards

- 3 categories beautifully coded for our 'Reflection Lenses' (hindsight, insight, and foresight)

- 10 subcategories covering each 'Spoke' on our Wheel of Life (see above in the Yearly Journal example image)

- 4 questions per Spoke and Lens combo (ie. "I'm looking at my Emotional Health in Hindsight")

+ 10 Relational Reflection Cards!

Beyond 'get to know you' conversation cards, we've included 10 reflection cards to support friends, partners, and colleagues share in reflections on the relationship itself.

"A time I felt grateful for you was..."

"I'm noticing a tendency I have in relationship is to..."

These also follow the Bloom process structure of Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight to help cultivate empathy, wisdom, and clarity.

[suggested use image]

A model for how they might be used:

Included is an 'Intention and Invitation' card, outlining a suggested way of using the cards. 

Of course, though, the beauty of cards is that you can use them however you feel!

It might look like this though:

- Feel like you want to take a moment to come back to clarity?

- You might begin with the Wheel of Life and rate how you feel on each Spoke from 1-10

- Then, you might want to reflect more specifically on your physical and creative health

- Choose one card from Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight for both Physical and Creative Health

- Take some time to reflect on these prompts

$5 from every pack of cards goes to support Greening Australia. 

OUR TARGET: We need to reach a minimum of 200 pre-ordered packs of cards to go ahead with our print run. 

👉  Deepen your practice, and continually find new ways of looking at yourself, your relationships, and our world. Share the gift of reflection with yourself or your near and dear!

*if we happen not to meet our minimum print-run (which we have full trust and hope we will!), you will of course simply be refunded your order amount in full. 

A little about Greening Australia: 

Greening Australia has been restoring Australia’s unique landscapes and protecting biodiversity at scale through collaborative, science-based programs for over 40 years. Greening Australia is committed to tackling Australia’s greatest environmental challenges in ways that work for communities, economies, and nature; planting millions of native trees and plants, protecting hundreds of native species, and supporting Traditional Owners’ aspirations for restoring country. 

Know that by supporting Bloom, you are also supporting Greening Australia in their necessary work!

Connect with, and learn more about Greening Australia here.

2022 Production and Impact Targets (join us!)

This year we are aiming to have over 2,000 Bloom yearly journals gifted to community, which would also mean $4,000 to Greening Australia. 

We're also hoping to reach our minimum of 200 packs of cards, which would also mean $1,000 to Greening Australia. 

2022 Production Timeline ("when will I have my journals?")

3rd October - 30th October: Campaign Open

31st October - 4th November: Collection of Payments

7th November - 11th November: Printing and Production

15th November - 19th November: Distribution

All orders will be shipped from Melbourne/Naarm, Australia no later than 21st November. 

👇 👇 👇 👇

WILL YOU BLOOM WITH US THIS YEAR?

Share the gift of reflection, and support your own practice and the practice of your loved ones by pre-ordering your set of journals and cards.

Together, we can empower a wise, compassionate and reverent society. We can humbly contribute to a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. 

Community Acknowledgments

Bloom reverently acknowledges the Traditional Custodians, the Wurundjeri, and Woiwurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation on whose land we live, learn, and create. We are committed to ongoing practices of decolonisation and support of right-relationship with this land, and the self-determination and leadership of traditional owners.

Community of Illustrators:

Leyla Bulmer
Vadim Ragozin
Sarah Masson

Frieden Rike

Music:

Rituals by Rohne (from his new album, Forms out now!)

In the spirit of transparency, we wanted to share the exact cost structure of this year's production run. 

Journal costs

Yearly journals cost $4 each to print.

Cards cost $15/pack to print (if we meet our minimum of 250).

Product Packages Cost-Breakdown

Yearly Journals:

- $7 each (includes $4 production + $2 to Greening Australia + $1 for packaging)

Reflective Cards:

- $25 each (includes $15 production + $5 to Greening Australia + $3 for packaging + $2 for sampling)

This is an all-or-nothing campaign, meaning that in the event that we don't reach our target your funds will be returned to you. As mentioned, we also need to reach a minimum of 200 packs of cards to be able to proceed with printing (we can do it!).