After a day of conversations about community, connection, and care, someone grabbed my arm as I walked out of a session.

“I just wanted to show you something,” he said, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out a pen and his notebook.
It wasn’t just any pen—it was one of those old-school click pens with four colours: black, red, blue, and green. The kind you might have used in grade school, clicking the little sliders down depending on what you were trying to do.

“I use each colour for something different,” he said, flipping through pages of his notebook, eager to explain.
“Black is for notes. Red is for actions I need to take. Green is for ideas. Blue is for questions I want to follow up on.” He wanted me to see how much red and green were used during my session.

Then he said something that stuck with me:
“It helps me keep track of what matters.”

In a world full of noise, a color-coded pen might not seem like much. But that small act of organizing thoughts, of paying attention with intention—it’s everything.

As facilitators, organizers, neighbours, and change-makers, we often seek big answers. What’s the system change? What’s the strategic framework? Where’s the funding going to come from?

But sometimes, the most meaningful shifts come from something as simple as how we take notes. Or how we show up.

This man wasn’t just taking notes.
He was mapping his learning, colour by colour.
And he was preparing himself to act.

May we all bring that kind of presence to our work.
May we all leave with a few more questions than we came with.
Let’s keep noticing what matters—and what colour it shows up in.

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