review – One of the unexpected but truly beneficial outcomes of the pandemic has been a new focus by some companies on the mental health of their employees. For example, my employer goes to great lengths to provide us with numerous resources to improve and maintain our mental health. Personally, I’ve found that journaling really helps me develop mindfulness, and I’ve done it since I was old enough to write on paper.
once i found out bullet journal, I was also able to apply a lot of this mindfulness to my work life. I encourage everyone to learn bullet journaling on their own, but if I had to describe it in its simplest form, it’s a system that utilizes symbols to help organize information. Recently, I had the opportunity to try out a similar logging system that relies on symbols but is specifically designed to help workers with mental challenges, the MUA log.
The MUA Journal System is focused on helping you improve productivity and relationships at work and in life, as well as reduce stress and break negative routines. I used the MUA journal for the entire 28 day cycle, and while I struggled to justify the $31.90 price tag, I did find the system to be unique, insightful, and very effective.
What is it?
The MUA Journal itself is a 120-page paperback notebook with guided exercises and a blank section for note-taking or journaling. The MUA system stands for “Me, Us, All,” and in the company’s own words is “a guided process designed for office workers to release stress and reduce bad habits.” The process is based on three symbols; the heart of positive emotions , the flame of negative emotions, the line of neutral emotions.
The basic gist is that you list your daily activities and to-dos and assign one of three symbols to each. An example would be to list your morning work meeting, then circle the heart symbol to indicate that it brought you positive emotions (if morning meetings are your thing).
MUA Magazine is sent to you in a simple recycled paper envelope stating that it is made from 95% “post-consumer” waste. Isn’t all waste “post-consumer”?
What’s in the box?
Hardware Specifications
- Pages: 120
- Page size: 9 x 6 inches, rounded corners
- Sheet weight: 100 g/m2
- Cover paper weight: 240 g/m2
- Paper Composition: Chlorine Free
- Ink Composition: Plant Based
- A country of manufacture: Germany
Design and Features
To me, the physical design of a journal is as important as the structure of the organizational system used in that journal. MUA diary, though not as solid as my beloved Lighthouse 1917 Notebook, works well.
The company makes every effort to inform users that all MUA journals and their shipping materials are sourced from 100% recycled “post-consumer” waste. If that’s important to you, it might help soften the blow of the journal’s $31.90 cost.
The front and back covers are heavy enough to survive being tossed into a backpack, tossed around the office, or rolled into a pocket.The weight of the paper prevents my favorite ink from oozing in RIIND Compact Pen I reviewed it in November 2021.
In addition to being made from recycled materials, the MUA journal itself is easy to recycle after use as it has no spiral binding, lamination, foreign cover material or extra plastic.
Even without these extra features, MUA journals are designed to be very functional and intuitive.
I especially like the pre-grooves on the edges, which prevent the cover from tearing and the pages detaching from the spine.
Performance
MUA journals are best used for more than 28 days without revealing too much of the MUA patent system, as there are only four sets of 7-day reviews and exercises. It’s important to use a journal every day and make sure you attribute your emotions to each event without overthinking it.
For me, it took me a few days to feel comfortable choosing which interactions to log, since there are only 15 lines of activity and 10 lines of to-do each day. If I log every meeting, conversation, and task every day, I’ll quickly run out of space.
The blank note section between days isn’t of much use to me because I record all my daily notes in a bullet journal, and I prefer horizontal pages to dashed pages. This is not to say that these sections are not useful to those who exclusively use MUA journals.
At the end of each 7-day segment, you add up your heart, fire, and line emotions and take some time to record and reflect on the most important events. At first it was a bit of a pain to add everything up, especially at the end of a long week, but it became easier since the problems at the end of the week were the same two weeks later.
At the end of the 28 days, you add up all the results and try to graph the progress since the beginning of the experience. By week four, though, I pretty much knew what my overall results would be. This is because acknowledging my emotions about certain events helps me make more conscious decisions throughout the day after I have found a good balance of what to record. I can predict which of my daily habits are causing me to have negative emotions, so I find myself building my day around activities that I know will make me happier.
While the MUA system helps me be more focused each day, I wish I had more guidance at the end of the program than simply adding up all the hearts, flames and lines. Because of this, I think MUA journals are probably best for people who are just starting out exploring mindfulness or journaling, as long as they’re okay with the high price tag.
what do I like
- quality journals
- System suitable for work and/or personal life
- Focus on the use of recycled materials
Areas for improvement
- If the journaling method is already used, the comment section will be useless
- Not much guidance other than encouraging mindfulness
- Aggregating can be a bit laborious at times
final thoughts
Using the MUA journal for 28 days has definitely made me pay more attention to my mood, energy and the things that have a big impact on them. The system is simple enough to instantly understand and integrate into your daily work or personal life, especially if you have any previous journaling experience. As a first step towards developing mindfulness in your life, I thought the MUA journal would be very beneficial. However, beyond identifying triggers for positive and negative emotions, the MUA system doesn’t offer much guidance to change your life. The high price of $31.90 is likely the result of the company’s strong commitment to using sustainable materials and reducing its carbon footprint, but it’s still a bit steep for what you can do yourself with a $1 notebook. Although I do think spending that much money on journals can be a compulsion for some to actually stick with it. But at the end of the day, I would see buying MUA journals as a good investment in improving mental health.
price: $31.90
where to buy: MUA
source: This product sample is provided by MUA.
