gratitude

Writing Through Gratitude: The 31-Day Gratitude Journaling Challenge

November 23, 2010

This time of year is a great time to begin a gratitude journal. And since it takes at least three weeks to form a new habit, I’d like to challenge all of you would-be gratitude journal writers to a 31-day challenge. – The challenge is this: Each day, from December 1st through December 31st, write [...]

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Writing Through Gratitude: What it Means

July 20, 2010

A FRIEND recently told me that she keeps a journal only during the tough times and that she finds it difficult to write when everything seems to be going well. And she’s not the first person to have told me that. I’ve noticed that when things are difficult, we’ll write the things we can’t find [...]

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Clover Heaven

March 1, 2010

ON A RECENT WALK, the afternoon light filtered softly through a thick web of oak branches and leaves, the tree branches forming an archway that beckoned me into nature’s hall and to some magical place beyond. Spider web filaments, stretching from branch to branch, danced in the breeze. Beneath my feet, a delicate carpet of [...]

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Seasons

February 17, 2010

IT RAINED ALL NIGHT last night. These forever gray skies are beginning to get me down a little, and I long for sunshine and warmth. Not the kind of warmth that comes from sweaters and heating vents, but the soak-into-my-bones kind of warmth that comes only from the sun—or a tanning bed, and I am [...]

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New Year’s Traditions

January 1, 2010

OUR LIVES ARE MARKED by months, seasons, and years. To celebrate these turning points and rites of passage, we’ve created traditions and formal rituals. We celebrate birthdays, religious holidays, weddings, and graduation from kindergarten, high school and college. We memorialize those we love through funeral services. And every year, at the end of the old [...]

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Practices for Restoring a Tired Mind

December 17, 2009

I SPEND MY DAYS engaged in creative activities: writing, photography, editing, course development, and marketing. I start early and end late, usually rising to my alarm at 6:30 am and going to bed between 10:30 and midnight. (I allow myself to sleep in at least one weekend morning each weekend to catch up on lost [...]

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Making Meaning Through Journal Writing: A Meditation on Simplicity

October 20, 2009

Simplicity. The word conjures up images of ease, a sense of effortlessness, a lightness of being. It implies leaving things in their natural states, decorating sparsely, and having furniture with clean, straight lines. It yearns for straightforward communication. My life has never been simple, though I’ve often longed for it to be so. Family, friendships, [...]

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