November: Gluggaveður

Hello, journaling friends!

In 2025, our monthly Cafe Analog’s friendly journaling challenge, #caprojectme25, will draw its prompts from beautiful words/phrases from various languages around the world. We think it will be a fun way to start the year while also allowing you to design a spread based on the essence of a word/phrase, making it very personal to you! We will also have three journaling prompts for you to choose from, allowing you to connect more deeply with the month’s word/phrase selection. The word for November comes from the Icelandic word “gluggaveður”.

The Icelandic word “Gluggaveður” translates as “window weather” and captures the unique coexistence of the comforts of the indoors and the harshness of the outdoors. It beautifully embodies the notion of appreciating beauty and warmth while recognizing the cold reality outside. This feeling resonates deeply with November—a month when the days grow colder and shorter, prompting a retreat into cozy spaces.

Its philosophy highlights the duality between appearance and reality, reminding us that comfort can only be felt when we know discomfort, and one cannot exist without the other: we need contrast. In life, we also need to accept that comfort and struggle often go hand in hand.

This month, create a spread using your stationery supplies or other materials to capture the essence of the word ‘gluggaveður’ for you. If the word is a journal spread, what would it look like? Here are some creative journaling prompts for you to choose from:

1.

REFLECTION ON COMFORT

Write about a time when you found comfort while the situation you’re facing is uninviting (can be bad weather, bad mood, or emotional turmoil, etc.). What did that experience teach you about finding joy in the small things?

2.

NATURE’S CONTRAST

Describe a day when you observed the contrasting elements of nature through your window. How did the landscape appear, and what feelings did it evoke in you?

3.

CREATIVE ESCAPES

Imagine your ideal indoor activity on a Gluggaveður day. What you would do, who you would spend time with, and what kind of atmosphere you’d want to create?

While working on these prompts, take a look outside your window and scan your body to feel where you feel comfort and discomfort. Just notice things gently, be grateful for the feeling of comfort, and send loving thoughts to areas of discomfort.

Feel free to share your pages and spreads with the hashtag #caprojectme25 if you’d like others who join the project to find yours, and you can also see how others translate Gluggaveður into their journal pages! We hope these prompts will help you remember that contrast is needed in life, and that, one way or the other, life is a wheel that will keep on turning. So enjoy the view while you’re up, and know that while you’re down, it won’t last forever!

love, H.