In the early days of writing You & Your Guitar, I had the idea that a daily journal and practice log would make a helpful companion for the book. Once You & Your Guitar began to take shape, though, it became obvious that the DAILY was going to be more than a nice option. Instead, the DAILY is integral to the process described in You & Your Guitar! And so, I made the decision to only sell the two books as a set. Now that I have them in my possession, I wonder how I could have ever seen them separately.
I love how the DAILY looks. (Thank you, Martha Durke, designer!) I like the size of the book, the weight and surface of the paper and the binding—all features that combined, draw the user into its pages, just as I originally envisioned. But now I have discovered something else: it is a magical book.
I discovered the magic by making my first entry in it last weekend. I opened up my copy of the DAILY and began at the beginning. In writing the answers to the first questions (you have to actually write them for the magic to happen), I made some unexpected discoveries about myself and my current relationship to the guitar. I also brought into focus the steps I will be taking to reconnect with my guitars after many months of pouring my time and emotional energy into the new books, website, and Virtual Studio. As I point out in You & Your Guitar, writing is a powerful tool and that was proven to me once again. After taking a few minutes to write out my weekly plan, I enjoyed the most satisfying and productive week of practice I can remember!
In addition to the personal and musical discoveries I made with the help of the DAILY, I got the answer to something I had wondered about regarding subsequent DAILY’s: Would the pre-log pages—especially those relating to self discovery—be relevant year after year? After taking time to answer questions I had answered long ago, I realized that we do need to revisit those questions repeatedly throughout our lives. Like any vital relationship, the one with the guitar requires us to show up each day (and certainly each year!) as a new person and with openness and authenticity. That’s how we become limitless!
