I have a soft spot for technicians, probably because I want to be one. Rarely do I come across rude technicians. Today, after receiving a technician visit yesterday, my record still holds that 90% of the time my work is completed by competent and polite people.

happy circumstances

a day early

After I finished working online at a restaurant, I went home to do a few things before Sunday’s for the technician to maybe make an appearance, between 8 and 8. I was unlocking my door when my cell rang and it was the AT&T technician, a live person, calling to say he was on his way to work on my phone. Talk about fortuitous! I put my things away and before I knew it, he was at my door.

a familiar face

I always have a hesitation about people coming to my door. But, this man had a uniform, announced himself and the company before he moved to enter, and I recognized his face from helping me some years prior. So, I was okay with letting him in.

great tech service is a wonderful thing

He was nice, efficient, thorough. He fixed the break in the equipment outside and came back in to check the phone jacks before he left. He even checked and told me that my modem is still good for the internet (coming soon). In spite of all my frustration in getting help, this man made up for it and he didn’t even know it. His only effort toward this was doing his job well.

I’m pleased to say that my face-to-face experience was as good as I expected it would be. We chatted for a bit and he was on his way. And my phone works!

resigned to automated mediocrity

While the run-around on the telephone is always an unpleasant experience, I think it may be a symptom of the way the world will be for a while to come. When you say someone will call you back, and set a recorded message to play thinking that’s appropriate, I know there’s no way this company’s going to change soon.

My blogs are my friends because they give me a forum to write about things that are important or insignificant. They present me with space to write about topics I consider worthy. Whether I’m imparting ideas based on where I’ve been or those spawned by where I’m heading, the choice is mine alone.

That’s powerful and frightening too. There’s no one to keep me out of trouble, or to blame when things go seriously awry. In part because of these things, I blog very happily. It’s fulfilling and helpful to me to have a record of ideas when they happen. It’s a great reference tool. There’s another reason, too…

Ultimately, I do it because I’m grateful. Gratitude is my overarching motivation for much of what I do. It permeates my efforts here.

…for writing in my life

I started this blog to share my insights and adventures in writing, editing and living in a creative and grateful manner. Gratitude informs every aspect of my life and is my main motivation for sharing. Instead of keeping it to myself, I want to let it out and hope that others catch the feeling.

It’s a joy to share the things that inspire and motivate me, like the practices I’ve developed and collected, which help me.

…for people who share with me

Another reason for continuing this project is that I’m hoping to grow it into a community when time permits. Along the way, it’s interesting to hear from people with interesting and thought-provoking ideas. Hopefully, together we’ll do some growing as we share.

…for the chance to make a difference

When I write a post, I’m hoping that others might benefit from what I have experienced. Hitting the publishing button is a pleasure when I have worked up a post that meets the expectations I have. Before it’s out for people to read, I have said yes, this may help somebody. It’s a good feeling. Whether it sparks an idea or a answers a question, if it falls on the plus side, then I’ve done a good thing.

…for the chance to have some fun

Writing is great for many reasons including discovery. In writing this blog and others, I am ever on a journey inward through myself in life. It can be daunting and fun too. But overall, to write about things that move me is a way of cherishing, which brings me full circle to the beginning where I started all this, at being grateful.

Does blogging make you happy? If it doesn’t make you happy, why do you blog? Even if it’s for money, it’s a good idea blog about something meaningful if you have a choice. Try it out, and tell me what you think.

As technology advances, information and people can reach us wherever we are if we let it. Most cell phones let you receive text messages. Some phones let you read your email while you await your flight. I surf the web on my iPhone and it blows me away. That’s a lot of connectivity. And it’s a great help in professional writing.

After the research is done, though, some time should be spent in thought. It’s necessary to be clear in your personal thoughts to get your best writing. Disconnecting is a way to do that.

Disconnect to Reconnect

Disconnecting is a tough choice these days what with all the ways and people that you need to be in touch with. From time to time you have to relax your collection of data and communication with others, so that you can hear yourself.

Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a remarkable book a few years back, When God is Silent. Her’s is a brief discourse on the reason we sometimes think we can’t hear God. She contends, fairly, that it’s because we’re making too much noise with our own insights, plans and choices.

That’s a really cheesy nutshell review of a splendid book. The point is I think it’s true, that we make so much mental noise and are bombarded with so much data until we can hardly understand how we interpret it all. Disconnecting gives us space to think things through.

Personal Journals

Disconnecting will afford you time to find where you stand. Keeping a personal journal can actually help you with this so that you can reconnect to your most authentic self. It’s this best version of yourself that you want to bring to the work at hand. Here are some things you can get out of keeping a personal journal.

1. Relieve stress

When you make time to keep a personal journal, you are making time for yourself. That’s one of the reasons journaling is often overlooked—how often is it that the last person on your agenda is you? How often are you left off the list completely? Journaling doesn’t take a long time, or it can. But the time it takes is well worth it. After my journal times, I find myself refreshed and more peaceful. Calmness and openness that I gain make me more amenable to what the day will bring.

2. Achieve greater clarity

Writing out the thoughts in your head, means you get to focus just on them—without receiving new input from the news, friends, the internet. Just you and your thoughts. You can write them down and make connections and separations that are overlooked in the usual fast pace that you may be keeping. After reviewing ideas and thoughts more closely, you may even change your stance on a matter or two.

You can step outside yourself. Playing a role other than your usual position, can be a way of walking in someone else’s shoes. This can be a very powerful aid when you have the need to really express empathy. You may come to empathy where you had no hint of it before, if you write your way through.

3. Express creative ideas

When you write for you, it’s like pulling your thoughts out and making something concrete of them. The very action of writing in a personal journal can be quite freeing. And, with the benefit of relieving stress, comes the freedom to express yourself creatively. If you’re moved to draw, or list or diagram or stick in a photograph, by all means do it. You may want to write a poem or short story, this is your space to be all that you are.

4. It can be an invaluable record of events in your life

Where was your head at a particular time in your life. It’s really an interesting to get a mental snapshot of who you are and look back at it down the line. You can track your life changes and growth as a person by writing a personal journal, and looking back from time to time. Tracking may be too formal. You can get an idea of your present and future self, by having a clearer understanding of your past self.

And if you never look back through your old journals, (I once read about a lady who would periodically burn her old journals in a magnificent bonfire), just keeping them, creates something intangible inside. Often in ways that I can’t define, writing in my journal can inform me about who I am and have me grounded in my life. And when I look back at them, I have found myself laughing out loud sometimes at just where my head was.

5. Journaling is a form of cherishing

In my life, gratitude is very important. I have countless things and people to be grateful for and I never want to overlook that. Writing in your journal, reviewing your life sometimes moment by moment or in much larger chunks, lets you hold it more closely, more deliberately. It can be a joyous and amazing experience.

I wrote through my maternal grandmother’s illness. There were times when I would be writing and I would find myself crying, so accurate were the words I’d written. And I was fine with that. In fact I was grateful. In my notebook I created an accurate picture of what I was going through and that meant everything to me. Because, the last days that she and I shared were priceless.

Without reading those entries, I can call up the memories that we made in that time and smile or be moved to tears of joy, of appreciation, of gratitude. You can have these memories without keeping a journal. But I think writing them can do something empowering for you, as it does for me. Gratitude is one of the most powerful things that you can do for yourself. I have no idea how it works only proof in my life experiences that it does work.

How to Keep a Personal Journal

There are a number of ways that you can keep a personal journal. What I’m presenting here, is the frame for journaling sessions that have worked for me.

• Prepare to write:

One variation on this practice is to use meditation. I find that many times my thoughts will run together, crawling over each other the get to the page. When I have the patience and discipline, it seems to help to quiet my thoughts, reducing or removing any sense of frenzied hurry to write.

• What to write:

Explore your thoughts freely and fully, writing what comes to you. Switch your perspective and position on a topic, and write quickly. Write what comes seemingly from your hands and not your head. Try to write quickly for five minutes to ten minutes.

After the initial quick writing, take your time and go wherever your thoughts take you.

• When to write:

Books say to write daily. Many people who keep journals don’t write in them daily. I fall into the latter, though I try to write daily. More important, I think, than writing daily is to date each entry.

I try to write first thing in the morning, before new information enters, before my inner critic wakes. And if there’s anything pressing me, I will write in the evening as well.

• Where to write:

Some people are now keeping online journals. I’ve tried this and it worked for a while. However, my favorite process is to keep my thoughts in a composition notebook. My assessment is that I’m better connected when I write longhand.

As you get into the habit of keeping a personal journal, you will find that some things done differently will work better for you. Do what works, and keep writing.

If you don’t keep a personal journal already, I hope I’ve managed to get you thinking about it at least. Let me know what you think. If you do keep a personal journal, I’d love to hear how it benefits you.

A good resource:
Inspiration For You to Keep a Personal Journal

Related entries:

what’s allowed to feed the writing fire
at least take notes
creativity tapped out? i think not

I want to share with you the story of how I re-learned what’s allowed to feed the writing fires. It may be something you’ve experienced, and will inspire you to find out or rediscover what can feed your writing fires.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. – Albert Schweitzer

The Whole World is Mine to Draw From

You ever wonder how writers come up with ideas for their material? I wondered that too. Part of my quandary has to do with the label of writer and all the dread that title brings with it. It’s something I’ve turned over in my head from time to time, and a lot lately. In fact, on my last trip to my hometown I gave it a lot of attention and came up with an answer.

The Memory that Brought the Answer

I have a good friend who is a minister. One day, several years ago, he told me God loves you, to which I replied, Yes, I know. That’s what you’re supposed to say if you believe that, right? I think there must’ve been hesitation in my voice.

- Do you really know that?

- Yes…I guess.

- You don’t know that. But you can. What would you do if you really, really knew that God loves you?

For a moment I thought about it, the largeness of that truth. I responded.

- Pass out on the floor.

In our conversations there was always a lot of food for thought, fodder for the musing days. It was this memory that came to me on my vacation, while I was considering how I filter what informs my writing.

Extrapolating from the Memory

I thought for a moment about what informs my writing and then left it because it was time to go out. What I did carry with me was the idea to collect threads from the fabric of times spent hanging with my friends. After all, everything that comes to mind is fodder.

Wait! What?! Everything?

Going with that, in that moment, my plan was to catch everything I could remember or note.

Daydreaming, brainstorming, organizing, researching, editing are all part of the process, sure. But before that, comes the sparks of experiences that need to be fueled by imagination.

Some Things Happened on My Last Vacation

I felt a lot of conscious appreciation and cherishing this trip, of every little thing with my family and friends; more immediately than usual. I felt a lot of gratitude in the moments, as opposed to waiting until I got back to Houston to reflect on my time at home, in New Orleans. Gratitude plays a powerful part in good things that happen in life. I believe this for everyone, I know it for me.

Another thing that happen during this trip was that my nasty little inner critic’s hand was revealed, and his spell was broken.  I saw that he would discount many ideas as just not right before they had the chance to catch on. Many ideas didn’t make it to my notes.

I always understood intellectually that everything was fodder. But my sneaky inner critic lulled me and lead me away from that truth. Now, everything was coming awake in me and it was exhilarating. I want to say I grokked the truth of it.

Everything was talking to me; all my synapses were firing. I had to be open to going out and doing things (setting aside my couch potato habits) so I just let down my guard. It had the unexpected result of opening me up to other possibilities.

So, the question is What do I do if I really, really, know that everything I experience is mine to use?

My answer is Keep all I can catch. Whatever comes to mind, it’s okay in fact necessary to hear it, even the outlandish.

What’s Come of All This?

It was akin to a rebirth of my creativity. And it was greatly needed. Being truly open to everything was like being fully immersed in emotive sensory awareness. It felt safe and bounteous, if a little daunting. And it immediately fruitful.

Several poems came from the experience, and many new ideas to pursue.

I have a renewed vigor regarding everything I write. What was ash and smoke has been stoked to smoldering embers… pretty soon, I will be on fire again! Yes, I am smiling at this.

Everything is possibly material for a post, poem or other project. That holds true for all of us. Do you know this to be true for you? Do you water sparks before they catch?

New Orleans fireworks on the Mississippi River, 2009

It’s the first of the year, and a good day to begin things anew. Blogging is at the top of my list, along with some other things I’ve been considering. I’ve been exploding with ideas over the last few months. It seemed fitting to start now to put them in place.

It’s time to be about the business of doing what is important to me. And beginning this month, I will be investing more time in salvaging my blogs and making changes to my website.

Do Something

In my habit of gratitude for all that I have and all that I’m capable of doing, I always am returned to the words, do something. So in taking that to heart, my personal theme to push me through my lazy times is Do Something! We’ll see how far this takes me into 2009. Truthfully, I expect it will take me to 2010 and beyond!

It may seem like a nondescript resolution to plan to do something. But consider all that can fall under something. With the things listed, I would like to have 10 completed and continued by the end of the year. But rather than stating what I’m going to do, I’ve decided to do them and add them to the list as I go along. My reasoning is simple: I’m not trying to put any undue pressure on myself, only to guide myself.

Trying Trumps Failing Every Time

You see, I know from past experience that sometimes things happen to push my plans out of the way, off the table or postponed beyond my target date. So, I’ve come up with this process to carry me through the year:

1. Select a goal
2. Plot the course to reach the goal
3. Set a target date
4. Track my progress and tweak where needed
5. Determine the success or failure at the end assess the flaws
6. Add it to the appropriate list
7. Replace it with a new goal

This is my way of getting around the tradition of failing at New Year’s resolutions: I treat the failures as learning events. And I try not to beat myself up too badly over any of it—I said I try.

How do you work yourself into keeping your resolutions?