forestiera

Plant of the Day

Friday 16 May 2025

The clump-forming perennial Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno' (white bachelor's buttons, double fair maids of France, aconite-leaved buttercup) is a much loved plant of an Orkney cottage garden. This cultivar carries bouquets of small, perfectly formed double-white buttercups, with green centres on widely branched stems. It thrives in humus-rich, fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade.

I’m not going to lie, when I first realised just how much of my thought process is comprised of these kinds of thoughts, I started panicking. I was labelling myself (as ‘pathetic’/‘stupid’/‘bloody miserable’); overgeneralising (‘ohmygod this is my entire internal monologue summarised in ten boxes’) and generally all-or-nothing-ing/mind-reading/catastrophising (‘I’ll never be happy, everyone will hate me for being so negative and I’ll die sad and alone without even a cat for company’).

The thing is, experiencing negative or unhelpful thoughts at least some of the time is unfortunately pretty much part of being human. Our brains have evolved to be highly conscious of threats (real or perceived) and, as highly social primates, we sometimes can’t help but try and predict what others are thinking about us. But although we don’t like to admit it, these automatic thoughts are often either completely wrong or highly exaggerated. And yet, even if deep down we realise this, they can still send us into a state of stress if we don’t consciously try to counterbalance them. 

The trick is to start noticing when your brain is throwing this stuff at you, try to consciously acknowledge it and begin to challenge the thoughts. Do not judge yourself for them - no one actively chooses to think this way, it just happens. We can however try to focus on countering these automatic assumptions with more positive/rational thoughts:

How can I know what someone else is thinking about me? However much I would like to be able to, I can’t.

I’m not ‘weak’/'pathetic’/'useless’ - I’m only human and sometimes I need to cry/sleep/rely on others’ help. 

Am I really 'a totally idiotic moron’ or did I just make a mistake? Are the consequences of this really as bad as I feel they are?

Would I verbally abuse someone else the way I attack myself in my head? Almost certainly not.

have i eaten?

have i had water?

have i showered?

-bullet journalling was invented by a man with a learning disability (99% sure it was ADHD but his website now just says learning disability so I can't be 100%) as a system for organizing his life/way to work WITH his learning disability

-the general concept is bullet point the important things you need to do and use a simple system of symbols to mark whether it's done, rescheduled, cancelled, etc. with very little fanfare, keeping it all in one notebook so you know where to easily find the information at a glance

-people pick it up and it starts getting popular

-bullet journaling becomes an aesthetic movement largely populated by white neurotypicals

-bullet journaling has turned into creating an extremely pretty notebook that has some function, but largely depends on complicated decoration and aesthetic function that takes more time to set up than is tenable for the people it was created for

-new entries to bullet journaling feel pressure to shop at particular stores, use particular brands, purchase lots of stationery purely for its aesthetic value, and prioritize the artistry of the pages rather than the information being stored on them

-people who would massively benefit from the original system can only really find information on it from members of the aesthetic movement. There is now a barrier to entry for ppl with ADHD and other similar conditions, as bullet journaling now requires a focus and motivation to start that these same people often lack or struggle to maintain consistently

This is the original guide from the person who made bullet journalling. Super simple. Not at all high maintenance.