The Reflective

We are a press that publishes journals to calm the inner life. Every title is built around a single experience and grounded in psychological research.

The inner life ought to be taken seriously.

When something hard happens, anxiety, a loss, burnout, the end of a relationship, most of what is offered comes in one of two tones. Clinical and cold, treating a person as a set of symptoms. Or bright and reassuring, treating a real difficulty as something delicate to be smoothed over.

We started The Reflective because neither met the person we kept thinking about, an adult living through a real moment who wanted to be spoken to plainly. The press exists to make books that take that person, and their inner life, seriously.

How we began.

Tension

The Reflective began with a frustration shared between people who work in psychology and people who care about how books are made. The journals on offer for a hard time tended to be the same object, a printed schedule of trackers and affirmations, regardless of what the reader was actually going through.

Changing things

So we set a different rule for ourselves. One book, one experience, shaped by the research that bears on it, and stripped of everything that turns a journal into a worksheet.

How we began.

Tension

Changing things

So we set a different rule for ourselves. One book, one experience, shaped by the research that bears on it, and stripped of everything that turns a journal into a worksheet.

What goes into each title.

Grounded in research

The reflections draw on established traditions, cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness, self compassion, continuing bonds, and meaning reconstruction, depending on the title.

Grounded in research

The reflections draw on established traditions, cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness, self compassion, continuing bonds, and meaning reconstruction, depending on the title.

Read first, written second

Each title is read into its literature, with meta analyses and primary studies, before a single reflection is drafted.

Read first, written second

Each title is read into its literature, with meta analyses and primary studies, before a single reflection is drafted.

Written by people

The reflections and the passages are written by people, not generated. Every title is published with no AI generated content.

Written by people

The reflections and the passages are written by people, not generated. Every title is published with no AI generated content.

Made as objects

Each journal is a matte case laminate hardcover on cream paper, made to sit on a bedside table for a season rather than be finished in a weekend.

Made as objects

Each journal is a matte case laminate hardcover on cream paper, made to sit on a bedside table for a season rather than be finished in a weekend.

FAQs

What is The Reflective?

What kind of journal is this?

What do the movements mean?

Where can I buy The Reflective?

Are the journals based on research?

Who writes them, and who is the author?

What is the inside like?

How long is each journal?

Which title should I choose?

Can I give one as a gift?

Where can I buy The Reflective?

Can I customize the questions and answers?

What is The Reflective?

What kind of journal is this?

What do the movements mean?

Where can I buy The Reflective?

Are the journals based on research?

Who writes them, and who is the author?

What is the inside like?

How long is each journal?

Which title should I choose?

Can I give one as a gift?

Where can I buy The Reflective?

Do I have to write every day?

What if I do not know what to write?

What happens if I stop for a while?

Can I use it while I am in therapy?

Is reflective writing actually helpful?

Is this a substitute for therapy?

We are based near Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia.