Category Archives: journal writing

Allowing the Flow

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As many of you know, I am in the process of writing a book. It’s a book that I feel called to write. It’s a book that came about in the most magical, beautiful way.
I always felt that I would write a book one day – an empowering book that inspired others. And I knew that I would write it when I felt that I had something to offer – something that would really help people take steps to live their best lives.

I know that this book is inside of me, and it has started to emerge. It was flowing out, actually – I could hardly keep up. I truly felt like I was taking dictation from the universe. And then it stopped flowing, and I stopped writing.

What I am beginning to realize was that it never stopped flowing. The flow is always there. The flow has always been there, and it will always be there. We are the ones who stop it. We are the ones who put blocks in front of it in the form of fear, doubt, and sabotage. We are the ones who would rather put barricades up and block this flow rather than feeling and experiencing and living.

And that’s exactly what I did.

I worried that what I was writing may not be mainstream enough. I worried that the reader would think it was too “new agey” or too far “out there.”

I was afraid of going to that vulnerable place – the place that I know I need to go within myself to pull this wisdom out of me. The place that is scary and dark and hard to look at.

I sabotaged myself by becoming “too busy” to spend time writing. I created all sorts of tasks and must-dos that would keep me from simply sitting down and writing.

And now that I see this, I can confront each block one by one.

I know that removing each of these barriers will get me that much closer to my book. And even though it can be painful to travel to these deep places in my soul, it’s a necessary part of healing and growing. And hopefully my journey inward will inspire others to do the same. To know that I did it – I’m okay – and I came out the other side stronger and filled with an inner knowing that I never experienced before.

So I will say goodbye for now. I know that it’s time for me to Go for It.
It’s time to write this book. It’s time to let the flow do what it does best: flow.

Planting Some Roots

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It’s a beautiful spring day here in Oregon – the sun is shining and the birds are singing.
Dan and I moved to this area two years ago (wow, time sure flies!), 
and I am so grateful that we did. 
We were living near San Francisco at the time while he finished graduate school. Because we work from home, we really could choose anywhere to live – exciting! We both had a great feeling about southern Oregon. I had never even been here but felt a strong pull to this area. And so we moved. And I have to say that trusting my intuition and planting roots in this area has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
For the first time in my life I truly feel that I have found my forever home. 
I found this writing prompt from our Journaling Within book, which I thought was a perfect exercise for this particular day! 
Describe where you would most like to live. 
If you don’t live there now, 
what steps can you take toward achieving this dream?

Take some time and really think about where you would like to plant roots.
What about this place draws you to it? 
The weather? The people? The landscape? The opportunities? 
Write about what it feels like to live there. 
And then create an action plan to make this dream your reality. 
As long as you are living and breathing, 
you always have the power to make changes and create your ideal life. 
You can make your dreams come true if you visualize, stay on course, and take action. 
Have fun with this exercise! 
Spend this beautiful day dreaming about where you would most like to live.
If you already live there, write about how grateful you are and appreciative you are to live in such a wonderful area that truly reflects your best self. 
This is a great way to get clear about what you want for your life and what you can do to make that happen. 
P.S. – This week’s poll results are in! Most of us read to relax and recharge! Second place went to spending time with pets. Third place was a tie for napping and watching tv or a movie. Thanks to everyone who participated – I love polls, and I think it’s so interesting to see what everyone chooses. (Be on the lookout for a new poll tomorrow!)

50 Words

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This is a fun exercise and a great self-esteem boost!
Write down 50 positive words to describe yourself. 
Easy, right? 
Hopefully! 
But… sometimes we can be really hard on ourselves. Many of us are quick to praise other people and forget to praise ourselves. If we had to come up with 50 words to describe our loved ones, we could easily do this – and probably come up with many more! The powerful part of this exercise comes in when we turn that love back to ourselves. 
If you are able to, it might be helpful to create a special space for yourself before you begin to write. Light a candle – carve out some “you” time. Sit in a comfortable chair. Take some deep breaths to center yourself and get into a positive, loving space. Think about your gifts and strengths. And then write. 
If your inner critic appears while you are writing – just take notice of it. You don’t have to give it power. Recenter yourself and start again. Write down only positive, loving words.
If you are having a hard time with this exercise, think about what words your loved ones would use to describe you (only positive words, though!). 
Once you have your list, remember to go back to it from time to time. Add to it! Hang it up where you’ll see it often! And let the words sink in. 
Feel how powerful they are. 
Feel how wonderful you are.

Keep Dreaming!

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Do you ever wake up from a dream that felt so vivid, so real, and so powerful? 
Do you ever feel like it was trying to tell you something – a message from your soul? 
Have you ever experienced a dream that turned out to be a premonition?

There are all kinds of dreams – some are merely a processing of the previous day’s events – strewn together in a fun way that only our subconscious can do. And some are more meaningful – these are the ones that you can’t seem to shake from your mind when you wake up. They are so vivid and keep coming back to you throughout the day.

These are the dreams that I would suggest you pay close attention to. I believe that these dreams are your soul’s way of communicating what we need to be focusing on. These are messages directly from your soul – maybe giving you clarity on a path to take, a relationship to either end or begin, or giving us direction for our life’s purpose.

You’ll know this kind of dream when it happens.
You’ll feel it beckoning you to pay attention 
and to go within to decipher the message. 

You may want to start a dream journal. Before you go to sleep at night, tell yourself that you’re going to remember your dreams when you wake up. Then before you even get out of bed in the morning, grab your journal and pen and start writing. You’ll be amazed at how much you can remember on most mornings. And if nothing comes to you, that’s okay, too. You can still take that time to write – enjoy this moment when you are still in a half asleep state – when maybe your ego is still sleeping and you can really get to the heart of your emotions without censoring them.

Dreams are an amazing tool to allow us to go within and see what our subconscious is up to. It’s a wonderful way to see what our highest self wants us to know. And once you get the hang of remembering your dreams, you can take it a step further and start asking your highest self questions that you would like answered in your dreams. You always have the answers – and dreams are just another tool to help you find them.

The Importance of Following Through

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If you’re anything like me, your head is usually spinning with lots of ideas, you have started many wonderful projects, and you feel scattered and overwhelmed at times at the prospect of finishing them all. 
Because we are currently restructuring our business, I have had a lot of time to really think about how I work – what tends to happen – and how I can be more efficient and finish all of these fun projects.
Following Through
And while thinking about and talking to each other about all of this, Dan and I realized that it’s not so much the actual projects or goals that are the issue here – it’s really about keeping our word to ourselves – following through and finishing what we started. Because each time we do this, we are building up our self esteem – we are creating a habit for ourselves where in the future we will just assume that we will finish any project we start because that’s what we do. We know that we will keep our word both to ourselves and to others because we will have a proven track record of doing so. 
Creating a Habit
I started this blog exactly three weeks ago with the intent to post every day. In the past, blogging was one of the many projects I wanted to start and had every intention of keeping up with but seemed to get put into the pile of unfinished projects. This time it’s different though. I really feel that I have found my niche, and I am committed to following through and keeping my word to myself. A habit is formed after three weeks of performing it regularly – so yay! I now have created a blogging habit. And a wonderful bonus is that I get to write everyday and create this wonderful community with all of you!
Holding Yourself Accountable
Many of us make resolutions each January only to give them up by February. And this can really do a number on our self esteem. We will start to question whether we are truly able to keep our word at all. When future goals come up, we will wonder if we should even commit to anything given our past track record of not following through. This can be extremely detrimental to our own well being, which is why keeping our word to ourself is so crucial. 
In our Commitment Book, we created a simple system that holds each of us accountable for keeping our word. We emphasize that the goal itself isn’t as important as following through on it – it’s just an added bonus.
We suggest to start really small with your first goal – something that you know you can succeed at. That way you will be creating a habit and building yourself up to where you know you will be able to complete any goal you set for yourself in the future. 
Good ideas are only that without following through and
committing to making them happen. 
Create the habit one goal/project at a time, and you’ll truly be amazed at how good you feel about yourself – and imagine how much lighter you will feel when all of these unfinished projects that have been taking up space in your mind and home are completed!
What do you want to commit to today?

Saturday Selection – A Great Book!

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Every Saturday, we will post a great find that we are excited to share with you all! It may be a book, a fellow blogger, or an artist – something that is inspirational and uplifting – something that we feel great about sharing! 
Today’s selection is a book that one of our customers recommended 
(thanks, Jen from Silver Peanut)!
I have always been a fan of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and I was reintroduced to Jack Canfield when I read The Secret. He is such a positive person with such great ideas on how we can all live our best lives, so I was really happy to learn about this book. I was happily surprised to see that the coauthors were Jeanna Gabellini and Eva Gregory – two wonderful women I have met through Twitter! 
(We even took Eva’s course, Wake Up to the Dream, which I’ll definitely talk about soon.)
Needless to say, I had high hopes for this book and I haven’t been disappointed! 
I am actually still reading it, but I couldn’t wait to share it with you! It’s so good that I wanted it to be my first Saturday Selection!
To let you know more about it, here is the book description directly from Amazon:
Do you ever wonder why some people always seem to be at the right place at the right time, enjoying good fortune, health, the ideal mate, happy kids, and achieve more than the average person could ever imagine? Have you wondered what makes them so ‘lucky’ or well connected? People who enjoy a heightened state of living and have their dreams and goals realized to their fullest potential have tapped into one of the oldest and influential principles for living a fulfilled life–the Law of Attraction. Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction teaches you what you need to know about living the Law of Attraction and how to create your own personal success through its concepts. 

Master coaches and experts in the Law of Attraction Jeanna Gabellini and Eva Gregory and one of the superstar contributors to the The Secret, Jack Canfield, have come together to share with you the powerful and life changing lessons and techniques of the Law of Attraction.

Filled with exercises, lessons, real-life stories, and proven key ingredients, Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction, from the creators of Chicken Soup for the Soul®, reveals how to master the law’s basic tenets, which include: defining moments in life, creating space to create prosperity, acting ‘as if,’ trusting in intuition, transforming thought, having an ‘attitude of gratitude,’ and changing the impossible to possible. People have been using these techniques for thousands of years to attract their desires and now you too will be able to create the life of your dreams.


What I really like about it is how simply it’s written. I think the more you surround yourself with positivity and abundance, the more it will sink into your everyday life and become reality for you. This book reaffirms that – it’s such an easy read but still so powerful at the same time.

I also love that they give you great writing exercises at the end of each section. It’s so helpful to actually write down your dreams and figure out any blocks that are keeping you from reaching them. 
I am looking forward to finishing it, and I know that I will go back and read it over and over. 

If you have any great books to recommend, please let us know!
Happy reading!