The Creative Notebook

So often when we right in our journals, it’s about the problems in life. Things that don’t go our way, losses, frustrations, yearnings fill the pages of my book. So today I want to throw a little twist into your journaling. In the tradition of Thankful Thursday, number your paper from one to ten.

As quickly as you can, without thought, write down ten accomplishments you’ve made. Could be big things, like graduating college, saving someone’s life, getting the big promotion. It can be little things like finally decluttering your bathroom, or making your way all the way through the backlog of your inbox. Whatever it is, whatever you’ve accomplished, write it down. Big or small, no matter how insignificant it may seem.

Now, take a look at that list. You did great! Look at all you’ve done with your life, with your time. You ROCK!!!!!!

Leave a note in the comments directing us to your blog and link this post back, or leave your list in the comments as a whole if you don’t have a blog.

Just hit good ole Mister Linky! He’s waiting to be inspired by your accomplishments great or small.

How do you feel about your body?  Do you have a negative or positive body image?  If you could change the way your body looked to your ideal body, what else would it change in your life?  How you acted?  How you dressed?

If you have a positive body image, why do you think you have overcome this obstacle?  What do you love about your body?  What would you say to help someone who isn’t comfortable in your body?

How does the American Ideal of body image make you feel?    Do you have an opinion on the message the media, movies, and music videos are sending us about the ideal body and self worth?

If you have a negative body image, what do you think contributed to that?  Was there someone in your life that made you feel less than or made comments about your physical appearance?  Are you naturally insecure?  Explore this topic in depth, especially in your health journal.

I think this one would make a great visual journal prompt, too.  I’m going to thumb through some magazines and vintage pictures I have for things that depict my dream job and work up a collag.

What is your dream job?  Do you want to work for yourself?  Do you want to be one of the movers and shakers behind the executive desks?  Do you want to write?  Make art?  Teach?  Saves lives?  Put out Fires?  Chase the bad guy?  If time, education, and money were no object, what would you do?  Could you combine your passion and your career, or are they separate? 

Sometimes we all get so bogged down in the daily stresses and anxieties of life that we tend to focus too much on the negative in our life.

Today, date the top of your page and number from one to ten. Write down ten things you have to be grateful for this week. It doesn’t matter how trivial it seems. Even if the best thing that happened was your morning cup of coffee, put it down.

You’ll be surprised because the more you do this the more you’ll find you have to be thankful for. It may be a struggle at first, but it will help you see what you do have versus what you don’t.

You can leave your list in the comments, or post a link to your list if you have a blog. Just hit good ole Mister Linky! He’s waiting to be inspired by your gratitude.

Working from home can be such a pain sometimes.  See that mailbox?  Huh?  I have a client that has hit my mailbox three times now.  THREE times.  Don’t have a door.

Doesn’t have a flag.(Ignore the neighbor’s trash.  We get a jump on trash day around here.)  I guess it’s time to go shopping again.  Do they make iron mailboxes?  My plastic one didn’t do any damage to her car.  She keeps hitting it with her side mirror.  Now, an iron mailbox…………….be she’d be more careful after one encounter with that.

It’s called: The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

Here’s a bit of the description from Amazon.

“In one of the most unique memoirs of addiction ever published, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx shares mesmerizing diary entries from the year he spiraled out of control in a haze of heroin and cocaine, presented alongside riveting commentary from people who were there at the time, and from Nikki himself.”

I love to read diaries and memoirs that have been published.  I might pick this up when it’s released.  I was not a big fan, but there “hay days” were my teen years.   Not sure if he chronicles drug rehab or not, but it does mention his decision to pick himself up and start living again.

More thoughts of travel today……………….this really is off topic and I have a few more way off topic posts to make, but such is life.  Been playing on google earth looking at places I’d love to go.  My son and I want to take an RV trip across the country.  We looked at the Grand Canyon, than came back to our side of the country and looked through Tennessee and over to the Carolinas, the mountains and Outer Banks.  Sort of a virtual road trip.  If I had a month off and could pay my bills and have the cash to do it, we’d travel around in a big ole R.V., just site seeing and taking pictures.  Writing, drawing, enjoying the country and nature.  I really need some time off, don’t I?

For some schools here in Indiana, it’s already here.  We had some that didn’t meet a certain criteria that started Monday.  I will be going back to college, probably with the beginning of the winter semester.  It’s been a long time since I’ve dealt with enrollment, financial aid, student loans, student loan consolidation, buying books, and all that goes along with attending university.  Twenty years to be exact.  It’s bringing back a lot of memories. 

What are your back to school or college memories?  Did you haggle with the bursar or was it smooth sailing?  How did all the financial ramifications affect your life after college?  If you didn’t attend college, what was back to school time like in your family as a child?  Was school supplies and new clothes time fun or stressful for your family?  This year I’ll be taking care of my kids first, then hopefully my own in January.  I love back to school time.  So do the kids. 

Write about it.  You’ll be amazed the memories it will bring back.