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Archive for the ‘Thinking Positively’ Category

Let there be light!

Posted in Envisioning the Future, Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Thinking Positively on September 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I must share my immense gratitude this morning. I write this with sleep-filled eyes and pillow-mashed hair. And a huge smile on my face.

I woke at 5AM. Too hot? Downtown train’s brakes extra squealey on the tracks? A cat pushed open the door? Whatever it was, I awoke to find my mind already engrossed in deep conversation with itself (panicked babbling, rather) about Wednesday. Wednesday, you see, is the first day I will be offering workshops in my new writing space, The Writers’ Room at Allen House and in my semi-conscious state at 5AM, Wednesday and everything I still have to get done loomed suddenly very large.

And my muddling little monkey mind, eager for occupation at that early hour, latched onto one thing in particular: Lighting.

Round and round it went, that silly old monkey: What about the lighting? It’s getting darker in the evenings and we have the motion detectors but something needs to be on all the time. Can motion detector lights be turned to be just on? The porch and deck lights will be on, will that be enough? It needs to be light enough for people to walk down the driveway. Surely motion detectors can be adjusted… on and on and on, he went. In England it’s called “mithering” – to fuss about something. Mither. Mither Mither.

Finally I got out of bed to try to escape this brain rattle. I could nothing about the lights at 5AM and I couldn’t go back to sleep. They  was only one thing I could do. Get out my journal, of course. It only took me a few minutes of writing to remember that we actually have a beautiful lamp at the end of our driveway (a neighbor called it a Harry Potter lamp but I think it is more reminiscent of the lamp in Narnia). It was here when we bought the house and I thought it a lovely, but kind of pretentious, addition to our humble front lawn. We rarely turned it on. And then one day we flipped the switch and nothing happened. We were curious what had happened but, oh well, no great loss. For four years that lamp has remained dark.

But, this morning I pondered on my journal page if we could look at it again, maybe get an electrician to see what was wrong. Then I (finally!) moved on from thinking about lighting to considering my potential students. I pondered whether I needed to do some more last minute promotion to fill out my numbers and decided yes, BUT also to allow myself to know that if someone needs to find my workshops, they will. So I did a little envisioning exercise where in my mind’s eye my cozy space was filled with writing, chatting, connected people. And at the end of my driveway the Narnia lamp was glowing brightly.

When I opened my eyes, I thought, what the heck? I walked over to the light switch which hasn’t been touched in four years. I flipped it. From the corner of my eye, through the crack in the curtain I thought I saw a touch of yellow. Just been a car’s passing headlight?  It had to be? But no. When I whipped back the curtain, sure enough the lamp was glowing brightly in the dawn’s grayness. And I beamed as brightly as it did.

I know – such a small thing in the scheme of things. And there are probably a dozen explanations why a lamp that hasn’t worked in years should suddenly do so this very morning, but I am choosing to believe – because I do know these things happen – that envisioning is a powerful thing. For one thing, I have long envisioned our neglected “guest house” one day converted into a writing space and here it is, open and ready for students to come join me! So whatever the reason the lamp decided to light up, I will say “Thank you!”

And Monkey Mind, you can go back to sleep now because All is Well, All is Well, and All Shall be Well.

Prompt: When have you experienced a “miracle”?

—

Workshop info in post below and at the Events tab above.

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The Authentic Voice Project

Posted in Authentic Voice Project, Emerging Voice, Healing, Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Living Authentically, Thinking Positively, tagged , on January 1, 2012 | 3 Comments »

 

For redefinition, I was thrown back to myself, to my inner knowing… Marilyn Sewell, Cries of the Spirit

Words.

Manifestations of our thoughts. Creators of our internal messages. Words have and continue to shape history and people – not always positively and sometimes with devastating consequences. Words have an affect on us, more powerful than we can rationally understand. The words we have heard all our life, depending on the context in which they were originally and/or continue to be delivered, shape our emotional response to them.

If a word has a negative effect on you, it is time to change it. Change its personal meaning – change your (unconscious) emotional reaction. Make it have authentic meaning for you.

So, with the dawn of a new year I am announcing a new writing project: The Authentic Voice Project.

Every two weeks, on the dates of the new and full moons, I will write a post based on a word, starting with A and proceeding through the alphabet until I reach Z on December 28, 2012 (that’s actually only 25 postings/moons so I’ll double up somewhere or just skip X). The words will be “trigger” or “loaded” words (or phrases in some cases), either according to society, women, or to me personally. I will attempt to sum up the general or accepted “meaning” of the word and then re-work it to be more personal, more positive, more helpful, more meaningful and authentic – in my own voice.* (And if you have suggestions for any of these words, please leave a comment.)

Obviously, my personal take on a word or phrase will not speak to everyone. But my hope is that it will get you thinking about your own definitions of words you may not even realize have an unconscious affect on you. Please feel free to comment with you own reactions and redefinitions (or possibly guest blog here or in response on your own blog)- every person’s experience is different and equally important, and may resonate with someone else on a level I may not have reached.

Please join me on this quest for Authentic Voice!

* This idea is loosely based on Kathleen Norris’ book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith.

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Dear Fearful Ones…

Posted in Living Authentically, Thinking Positively on July 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I offer you another recycled post about facing Fear. I wrote this two years ago during a time of transition. In hindsight I can see that 2009 was a pivotal year for me when I was learning that trying to control life (and the emotions that arise in response to it) is like trying to catch mist. As Eliza Doolittle said:

Without pulling it, the tide comes in,
Without your twirling it, the Earth can spin,
Without your pushing them, the clouds roll by…

Let go of the struggle of trying to build wings. Trust when you jump you will grow them.

~~~~

Dear Ones,

I want to tell you a story which I hope will inspire and encourage.

I quit my job this past week; wrote a letter to the Board, “effective immediately.” I came into work at 9AM intending to do my job but instead spent it packing up my small office.

Was I angry? Impulsive? Stupid in this economic environment? No. No. Maybe.

No, not maybe. And let me tell you why.

I never really wanted a job – Little Lady was starting kindergarten full time, Tator was at pre-school a couple morning a week and I had PLANS. But I got afraid. Afraid we wouldn’t make it through the winter without an extra paycheck. So, a year ago I found myself looking for a job and had a horrible time finding one. I then decided not to look and to trust everything was going to be OK; it was then I was given a job.

Although I acted out of fear to begin with, I decided not to be afraid. I made a decision not to be afraid. Goethe says:

“…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence [Serendipity] moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamt would come his way.”

And I got a job. A job I would have created for myself if I didn’t have other plans/dreams. I have learned some valuable skills, done my job well, met a wonderful new friend, supplied the family with health insurance and winter fuel…

… and figured out that my other Plans/Dreams were not about to let me give up on them.

Ten months later Plans/Dreams have become Reality. I am officially a published writer and a certified journal-writing instructor. While I plugged along at my ever-increasingly dream-thwarting job I knew my decision to stay there was one of fear – fear of success.

So, a week ago, after a invitation to be a guest on a local TV show to talk about journaling and a positive meeting with the director of a holistic wellness center where I will be teaching, I drafted an email to my boss telling her I must follow my passion. I gave her a departure date of July 2. I saved the message in my drafts to send when I felt sure of my decision.

Last Tuesday I went to work to discover everything had changed. While the tension in the office had been extremely high over the last month as a controversial change in administration was anticipated, the accountants swarming over everyone’s files was it for me. I had bigger and better things to do. I was poised on the edge of something great, afraid to jump, and here was my shove. Although a seemingly hasty move to resign “effective immediately,” my decision was rewarded immediately.

Serendipity stepped in.

The very next day I met with the director of another wellness center and found instant warmth and acceptance. I also had two phone calls resulting in more teaching engagements and an email letting me know I was to be published again.

And all this just two days after my new office was ready!

I have dreamed of being a writer, a freelance “something” for many years. I never thought my journal writing – which I would never admit was real writing – would one day become my career. And while you may say I am jumping the gun to say that it will be my “career,” I am envisioning it, I am thinking positively, and I know good will come of it – it may look different down the line, but it will still be good.

So, Dear Ones, Be Not Afraid.

Think Positively.

Dream Big.

Envision your future.

Believe in You.

Believe in your Dreams, no matter how unreal they may seem at the time.

And most importantly, make decisions based on Authenticity not Fear.

Tell ‘em Goethe sent you.

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Tolerating Fear

Posted in Envisioning the Future, Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Living Authentically, Thinking Positively, Writing & Career, tagged , , , on July 20, 2011 | 3 Comments »

This is a recycled post from a couple of years ago. With summer in full , hot swing, the kids are home most days of the week leaving me very little chance to write (the beach and my laptop aren’t great friends). I am yearning to write but when I do have a moment I find myself wading through the ever-deeper seas of social media promoting upcoming workshops instead. 

I have chosen this post because of some particular events this week. One: I truly wrote through some fear in my journal – and came out not only unscathed on the other side but feeling much better; and Two, Three and Four: Some amazing things have landed in my lap this week that I wasn’t even looking for after I stopped worrying about, well,  EVERYTHING! Fear is a crazy, life-blocking thing and it’s time to stomp it on the head. I have written many posts about Fear and over the next little while I will re-post them (Recycling is Good!).

Oh, and P.S. Two years later my daughter is a fabulous belly-dancer (I can boast about my own child, right?) and the only one in her class who can balance a sword on her head while standing on one foot! Fear conquered!

“First recognize that you’re afraid and slowly build your tolerance for fear…

… You may still feel it, but you become willing to bear it as you write. You keep your hand moving, you stay there, you move closer and closer to the edge of what scares you.” - Natalie Goldberg, Thunder and Lightning

I have been working on an article for the past couple of months. It’s a biggie for me – the first one for one of the “Glossys” – and I am petrified. First I had to write the query and that scared the bejeezus outta me. But I wrote it and it was accepted. Toe in water. But now I have to swim, and swim damn well. The fear of writing something mediocre and having it rejected has me swearing never to call myself a writer again. I admit I am afraid that I’m not really a writer.

My daughter starts a belly dancing class tonight but she’s scared. What if they don’t like me? What if they laugh at me? It hurts my belly when I hula-hoop – won’t this hurt too? What if I can’t do it right? I try to convince her that everyone has to start somewhere (and sometimes hurt somewhere, like those en pointe ballet dancers who suffer through bloody toes for the love of their craft). I ask her, do you really want to not try this just in case you will have a bad experience? Why are you scared about something you don’t even know about yet?

Um, Mom? Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth? Maybe you need to be having this pep talk with yourself!

Natalie Goldberg was of course referring to writing in the above quote, but isn’t there a message for us all, for our life?  Get close to fear and experience it, feel it. Splash around in it. Like the ocean, its chill eventually becomes tolerable, even enjoyable. Run into a cold sea enough times and you get to know it will get better. Fear turns to “Frust” (faith + trust). And once you have faith there can be no fear.

Recently I experienced some Serendipity that slapped Fear right out the door and allowed Faith back in.

Anxiety and exhaustion over self-promotion, high-achievement, perfectionism, and self-doubt found me standing at the sink blubbering what-ifs over the dirty dishes. The lack of response from one particular cold contact and my insatiable need to save the world ten workshops at a time had triggered the melt-down. I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities and by my own potential to make a difference. What if I was missing opportunities to help people by not following up on every collaboration suggestion? Was I failing at my work by not contacting all the non-profits in town? It was suddenly all too much.

The networking and marketing was taking too much time and producing far too much stress. My name and work was getting known. So, I decided to let it go. To let people come to me.

And they did.

Four days later two lovely ladies walked in to the coffee shop where I was running an informal writing circle. They were from the very non-profit that had unintentionally instigated my fears. And the most amazing thing is that they weren’t there because they had received my email but just because they had seen my brochure somewhere and thought my work would be a good fit for one of their projects.

As I write my article for the “Glossy” I am thoroughly submerging myself in the Fear of it not being good enough. As I slowly let go and just write for the pure joy of writing and spreading my message, the Fear becomes more tolerable and starts to feel a little more like “Frust.” I have to trust that I do have talent and something important to say, and the faith to know that even if the article is rejected it is not a personal failure – rather a lesson for the next time.

Prompt: What are you afraid of? What are you willing to tolerate in order to move to a place of acceptance and growth?

(For my article based on this quote go to Examiner.com)


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Trust the Process (pt 9): The Body Knows

Posted in Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Thinking Positively, Trust the Process (The Goddard Chronicles) on June 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »

As I enter the final week of my first year of graduate school I wonder if, as all Goddard College advisors urge, I have truly trusted the process?

This semester has been a rough one time-wise, emotionally and physically. Those of you who have kept up with this blog over the last couple of years may have noticed a major decline in my postings. And I have missed it. I have missed writing just for the pure joy of it. Don’t get me wrong, my grad work is thrilling and I am writing more than I have ever done before. But there is still that academic standard and deadline hanging over me whenever I write an essay or memoir piece for school. My blog was the place I have always loved to go because writing is my first love. But I have had to neglect that love a little in order to give myself the self-care I needed. As we used say in England, writing this blog became a bit like a busman’s holiday.

And truth is, every time I tried to write something here I immediately gave up. I was thinking too much, wishing myself to write something because I probably should. “Shoulding” on yourself is the best way to get in deep do-do. “Should” implies a standard that “ought” to be met, a criterion to be attended to. I decided to give myself a break and to trust that when I was ready – and needing – to write again, I would, and could.

Yesterday I had to write something for school. I didn’t want to. It was an emotionally-charged piece and I had been avoiding it for weeks. But it was time, no more weeks left to put it off. I recently read John Lee’s Writing from the Body where he suggests doing some physical exercise to get the inspiration flowing (literally, breath-in). When we think about our writing we can get blocked because our real, deep, truth-filled writing comes from feelings, not thoughts; from our body, not our ego. When we write from our bodies, where the breath goes, we are resonating with it, and so then will your readers. Your readers intuitively know when you are writing your truth. So, despite the fact that my Ego was screaming at me that it is only considered Work if you are frowning at the computer screen, I got off my duff and went for a walk.

Having two young kids, walks around the block or into the woods usually include no pensive moments whatsoever. For the first time in years (I’m not kidding!) I walked alone, just my body and my thoughts feelings. After half an hour I felt a strange bubbling inside and my eyes welled up. No specific emotion was attached to the tears but it felt like something had come unfettered and was now free. As I turned back onto my street, I had the first sentence of my memoir-essay. I walked in and wrote (rather, it wrote itself) for the next two hours. I didn’t think  about it at all.

I see now that “Trusting the Process” is really more than that. It is about trusting yourself and your own ability to say what you need to say, learn what you need to learn, and let go of what you need to let go. I left my Head behind when I pulled on my sneakers and headed out the door, it wasn’t needed. Ego, with regret I must inform you that your invitation has been withdrawn.

I wish I had figured that out a year ago! But there has to be a process, a journey first, else you never know you’d gone anywhere.

Prompt: Go for a walk, put on some music and dance, jump… then write whatever comes up.

 

____

Please visit my Examiner.com page for articles on Journaling for Kids, Organization and almost everything in between.
Private coaching - Customized to help you re-INK your own life – available in person or via email.

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When opportunity knocks… and hands you a gift

Posted in Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Living Authentically, Thinking Positively, tagged , , , , , on February 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

credit: Joanna Tebbs Young

Yesterday I received a card through the mail. Inside was a magnet that read: “When opportunity knocks don’t be the one who says, ‘Can somebody get that?’”

This gift was from Kay Adams, founder and director of the Center for Journal Therapy, and it represents a bigger gift which she gave me when she called out of the blue two weeks ago. And, ultimately, it turned out to be a far greater gift than I could have imagined.

Gift #1: Honor and Validation

Three days before the workshop was scheduled to begin, Kay called me to ask if I could substitute for her and teach “Writing Inner Wisdom: Spiritual Growth through Journal Writing” at Kripalu Yoga Center in Stockbridge, MA. Due to a family emergency she could not attend and wondered if I could take her place. What an honor! To be asked to teach in place of this brilliant woman, an inspirational and informative teacher, successful author, and compassionate counselor and facilitator was beyond any dream I had for myself. (However, I had dreamed of teaching at Kripalu, but as a possibility many years down the road…).  What validation of my own path!

Gift #2: A visit to Kripalu

I won’t go into the wonders of Kripalu here, that deserves a post all of its own (stay tuned). But suffice it to say: What a place! If the showers were hotter I might just go live there.

Gift #3: Connection

My weekend spent with 12 beautiful women, sitting in a circle, writing, listening, sharing, crying, laughing… connecting, was the gift I did not anticipate, but by far the most precious.  The serendipities and synchronicities that bought the 13 of us together in themselves were amazing (again, you’ll have to wait for that post) and I have no doubt that this weekend was given to me as part of my own journey of healing.

Gift #4: Belief

When Kay first called me, I couldn’t breathe as I choked on the deluge of inner critics screaming, “YOU CAN’T DO THAT! YOU’RE NOT CAPABLE!” But my Authentic Self knew I could. And Intuition knew this was the opportunity I had been (unknowingly) waiting for. I do believe that the passion and underlying self-belief in the work I do and the powerful benefits of this field has opened doors I didn’t know where there. So I answered the knock. Yes, I was afraid! Afraid of so many possible unknowns. But I didn’t say, ”Can somebody get that?” And that was the gift I gave to myself.

Thank you, Kay, thank you, All. For a greater gift.

Prompt: It was a gift within a gift when…

____

Please visit my Examiner.com page for articles on Journaling for Kids, Organization and almost everything in between.
Private coaching - Customized to help you re-INK your own life – available in person or via email.


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We plan. Life laughs.

Posted in Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Life, Home & Community, Thinking Positively, tagged , , , on January 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »

Well, here we are. Five days into 2011 and I am finally getting to my computer. I had big plans. My goals for work, school, housework, and this blog were all spelled out in my January 1 journal entry. I had my running shoes on and I was just waiting for the starting gun, i.e. the roar of the school bus as it carried my eldest child away for 6 beautiful, peaceful hours. But first I had to pull myself out of bed, clothe and feed two bouncy children and get them out the door to drop the youngest off at pre-school. And that’s when my best-laid plans withered like the poor plants on my window sill.

Puffy-eyed, make-up challenged, and with my mop of hair mashed under my winter hat I said good morning to the too-awake teacher. As I hugged my son goodbye I heard her say, “Did you know you were scheduled to be parent helper this week?” I looked up to see which unprepared mother she was addressing and realized with horror it was me. “And you’re responsible for snack too.”

If I were in a cartoon I would have shook my head to clear my ears because surely I had not heard this correctly. I wasn’t scheduled again until spring. “No, Mrs. Young, it’s right here on the calendar that we gave you at the beginning of the semester. Young. See?”

So, after rushing off to get my eldest to school and then back home to raid the cupboard for a toddler-approved snack (for 15), gulp some coffee, and attempt to do something with my hair, I returned to pre-school, tail between legs, to observe dinosaur vs. race car war games, baby dress-up, circle time, and the nightmare of 15 four-year olds attempting to self-attire in snow-suit, coat, hat, glove and boots. Trying to find the positive in my sabotaged morning, all I came up with was, “One down, only two more mornings to go.”

Then I got sick. It felt like someone was smashing the back of my eyeball with a rock. I woke coughing in the night and my sinuses were goose-stepping behind my face. Then the kids got sick. Croupy coughs echoed around the house. I was going to have to call pre-school and tell them I couldn’t help. I felt guilty. But on a positive note it would be a nice, quiet day reading in bed while the kids lounged around recuperating.

Ha!

While I attempted to breathe through my nose they threw off their croup and began bouncing on the sofa, calling for drinks and snacks, pummeling each other, and asking why we can’t go out for lunch. After I croaked my way through two story books, I decided it was movie time. So, here I am. Finally in bed and all is quiet.

I had planned that my first post of the year would one of new positive thoughts for a new year – a fresh start. But life has a way of letting us know we have to roll with whatever is sent our way, be it involuntary volunteering, the croup, or a blizzard on your wedding day. I am searching for the positive in this delayed start to my new work/writing year… and it is that I got to read to my kids by the fire and I have the chance to write about my silly “misfortunes” while in my jammies and eating Christmas chocolate. The early evening sun is pouring through my window onto my bed. I would have been battling my way through the grocery store aisles on my “planned” day. I have to learn to slow down and take each moment as a blessing. It may not be the moment I had planned for but it is still a moment I have been given to be made the best of and thankful for.

Prompt: The positive in my latest “negative” is…

____

Please visit my Examiner.com page for articles on Journaling for Kids, Organization and almost everything in between.
Private coaching - Customized to help you re-INK your own life – available in person or via email.

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A time to reflect

Posted in Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Thinking Positively on December 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. — Anne Bradstreet

 

Dear Readers,

It is four days before Christmas and my to-do list is long. My children finish school for Christmas break as of 3:15 today. For the next two weeks, out of self-preservation, my mommy hat will be the only one firmly planted on my head. While I crave to sit at my computer and write (I have so many things I want to reflect upon in writing and to share with you, dear readers!), it is not in the cards for now.

But I will be taking the time with my private journal to reflect upon my own journey, to ponder the paths I have taken, the ones I have been lead down, and to envision those I have yet to take. So, at this Solstice – the turning towards Light, Newness, Beginnings, and Growth – I invite you to open your journal and take some time to consider your paths of the past year(s). Be kind to yourself. Do not judge your decisions or your emotions regarding them. Accept them and yourself. Let the feelings flow through you to your pen and onto the page. And leave them there. Write your story but don’t live it over and over again. Write a new story. An exciting one, a challenging one, an open-minded one, a creative one, a lovely one.

And then live it.

This is where I have been …. and I have learned this… Thank you!

This is where I am…. and I accept myself and my feelings unconditionally. Thank you!

This is where I shall go next…. and I do so with courage and faith in myself. Thank you!

My next step is… and I can’t wait to see what I can do!

I wish you Joy and Peace at this junction of Darkness and Light. Until next year…

Namaste ~

joanna

____

Please visit my Examiner.com page for articles on Journaling for Kids, Organization and almost everything in between.
Private coaching - Customized to help you re-INK your own life – available in person or via email.

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Trust the Process, pt 3 (The Question)

Posted in Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Living Authentically, Looking for the Spiritual, Thinking Positively, Trust the Process (The Goddard Chronicles), tagged on August 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

credit: Yoly Mancilla

Tweet This Blog Post!The mantra at Goddard College is “Trust the process.” Every day one or more faculty advisors included in their discussion, “… and, well, trust the process. It works.” With no syllabus or course curriculum most of us newbies, those who had been educated in a strictly outlined, non-critically-thinking fashion (oh, that would be all of us who went through the American education system), were beginning to feel like we’d been thrown in a whirlpool. Nothing to grab onto, just whirling round and round, trying not to drown in our own possibilities. We were overwhelmed by the very freedom of intellect for which we had come to Goddard in the first place.

Over and over again I heard my fellow students express the fear or concern that they were doing “it” wrong. What is the right way to do…? How are we supposed to be do…? How do they want us to do…? But there was no right way. Our way was the the right way and we would find it if we just let go of all the perfectionism and societal expectations, and to tell those critics in our head telling us we were obviously doing something wrong to shut the hell up! And the faculty kept telling us, Trust the process! But what did that mean?

Some of my cohorts became obsessed very concerned with their study plan. They stayed up until all hours of the morning early in the week just to get it “right.” I was so caught up in the fact that I didn’t yet have My Question (a point on the map towards which I could point my nose and begin my journey, but would not necessarily be the final destination) that constructing a plan seemed as impossible as plotting a travel itinerary before knowing to which continent I was headed.  The pages of my journal began to look like the brain-storming session of a mission-less board of directors: mind-maps here, lists there, circles, arrows, question marks – lots of question marks… and plenty of self-doubt.

Monday, the fourth day, marked the height of my anxiety. All around me I heard fellow students ask, Have you found your Question yet? The reality that I did in fact need to have a succinct question in mind and a study plan submitted in less than three days, one with a full bibliography and a schedule of what I would read and critique over the course of the next six months when I could no longer even tell you what I initially planned to study, had me seeing stars.

But at the same time I was in heaven. Surrounded by intellectual, insightful, free-thinking, accepting, gentle, fun and talented writers, musicians and artists I felt at home. Completely and utterly HOME. And, inspired by them, I wrote:

I’m so anxious to begin. But terrified to begin at the same time. This little bubble of intellectual energy, it’s enticing, bewildering, intoxicating.

I did finally find My Question and I was able to put my plan together – what a relief! I got out of my own way and just let the thoughts and ideas come. My journal let me thrash around, never judging what I came up with, never laughing or doubting my ideas. The one thing I wanted to know came to me because I let it come. I trusted myself.

And that’s what trusting the process meant: trusting yourself to find the answers. To find your own way.

Although the water was still deep and the whirlpool circling faster with all the new questions that sprang from The Question, I felt like I had found a foot-hold. Something to hang onto as I made my way through to An Answer. It had happened. I had trusted myself and the process, I had found my question and I was on my way.

Prompt: Worry can be debilitating. What do I need to let go of – to trust the process – so I can move forward to something positive and exciting?

_______

 

Please visit my Examiner.com page for articles on Journaling for Kids, Organization and almost everything in between.

Private coaching - Customized to help you re-INK your own life – available in person or via email.

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New Writing and Wellness Center Opens

Posted in Envisioning the Future, Journaling Techniques & Prompts, Thinking Positively, Writing & Career, tagged , on May 19, 2010 | 12 Comments »

New Writing and Wellness Center Opens

By: Joanna Young, Reporter for Wisdom Within, Ink

Rutland, Vermont: In the midst of Rutland City, there is a tiny haven. It stands behind a fence on a residential street and started life as a garage. However, it now heeds a higher calling.

The Writer’s Refuge is a place of healing and creativity. It is a place where you can come to write your novel or write through pain, grief, trauma, joys and transitions. It is a place where, surrounded by flowers in the summer or by a cozy fire in the winter, you can unleash your creativity and ideas, discover your authentic self and reinvent yourself according to your hidden dreams and aspirations. It is a place where self-reflection and self-expression will lead to self-discovery, helping you ultimately gain self-confidence.

Founded by writer and certified journaling instructor, Joanna Young, the Writer’s Refuge is itself a dream manifested, first in writing, then in reality. As a husband-wife team, Joanna and Brad, an adult psychotherapist, provide workshops, classes and counseling for those ready to manifest their potential and who are searching for a fulfilled life.

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The above article is about a place that has not yet been created. The building exists and, most importantly, so does the vision. While I teach self-discovery workshops now, the Writer’s Refuge (which in various forms has been a dream of mine for almost 20 years) itself is still a work in progress. The building is so close to functional but there are still vital things that need to be done (new flooring, a heat source and a new bathroom, for example). At this moment the only obstacle is financial, but with less than $2,000 and some TLC this vision will become a reality.

Look for it soon! The Writer’s Refuge will be open for business in the near future!

Prompt: Write about a dream you want to see realized as if it has already happened.


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