Journal What's On Your Own Heart

This morning when I wrote in my journal I was thinking about someone I haven't heard from in a while and wondered why.  The true answer is I don't know why.  I can speculate but speculation can take me to a place of judgment, of trying to figure out what is in someone else's mind or on their heart. The answer then, for me, is to pick up the phone, send an email or text them.  So I emailed them at the last known email address I have for them.  I hope I hear back.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Is there someone you have lost touch with?

2.  What else is on your heart today?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Photo by MH

Repeating Themes (Fox Take II)

I draft my latest post at least a few days ahead of time.  Then on the day I post I just double check it to make sure its content is understandable and spell-checked.  The last post was about the fox theme and on the same day that I needed to make sure it was good to go, I had three fox "sightings."  All three had to do with the earlier lesson from fox; that is, it's OK to spend money.  Here's what happened Monday:

1.  At breakfast I read the latest issue of Organic Life and they had a feature on organic clothing, specifically organic underwear.  The sample children's underwear had a fox on it.  The sample men's underwear is the kind I started buying my husband last year (made by Pact, he loves them!) and it made me think that I should buy myself some of the ones they feature for women.
2.  I purchased tickets for the theatre for this weekend called "A Fox on the Fairway."
3.  I was at Women Entrepreneurs Connect at a member's home and a fox ran through her yard as I watched out the window; I almost missed it but someone else called it out just in time.  At these meetings we talk about what's been working.  I had just mentioned that I had purchased a membership to Natural Life Business Partnerships last week.
4.  I posted the January 23 post about the earlier fox theme.

Do you think maybe I got confirmation that I am following God's lead?  Thank you God*!
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Have you been revisited by an earlier theme in your life??

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Photo and Artwork by MH

Paying Attention to Themes II (Fox)

On May 28, 2012 there was a fox in our yard.  Later that day we went to a dance lesson with friends who were getting married and the dance they chose for all of us to learn was the fox trot. On June 4 of that week, I walked through my neighborhood, simultaneously forwarding an email to my husband confirming I wanted to put in a deposit for my trip to Scotland.  When I looked up there was a fox on the sidewalk walking towards me.  When it saw me it darted between the houses in the direction of my house.  Within days after committing to the trip I went to get a book about birds within the British Isles and all the store had was a book on both the birds and animals there.  On the front cover was a fox!

These events gave me pause.  What could this mean?  I needed to give it consideration.  At the end of much reflection and some passing of time I figured out that the message was go ahead and spend money on things that were life giving to me.  The irony is that I haven't yet been to Scotland because that trip was canceled by the organizer, but I have been to many other places locally, nationally and abroad since then.  I spent money on things that have been life giving to me.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you have a theme or some recurring item or thought running in your life right now?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Photo and Artwork by MH

Paying Attention to Themes (Faith)

One thing that has become evident to me from writing about my day to day experiences is that there are themes that run in front of me.  For example, back in September 2011, a year after starting my business, there were days when I was down, wondering how it was ever going to work.  This type of negativity is what went through my head a lot of the time.

Fortunately, God* can help turn this negative brain chatter into something more positive.  Often I notice that the message comes in batches of threes; in other words, there is a theme running and I just need to catch up with it in time to take notice.

At this particular time the theme was HAVE FAITH!.  And it came from three different sources within five days time.  On Saturday, I watched Nanny McPhee, a movie with Emma Thompson in which her nanny character taught the children life lessons and the fifth lesson was faith.  At that time I was reading the Bible regularly and on Wednesday I read Matthew 21, verse 22 which reads "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."  On the same day my client's first name happened to be Faith.

It was just what I needed to hear!  The amazing part is that this doesn't just happen some of the time, it happens often.  We just need to pay attention.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  What's your negative brain chatter about lately?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

PHOTO:  Front yard, pumpkins MH

Creative Learning Steps

Fox, Print from Mosaic, MH

Recently on a January Friday evening, my family went to the Philadelphia Art Museum to listen to some jazz.  The concert was in the Great Stair Hall where the seats are, you guessed it, the steps of the great staircase.  Because the bottom steps were crowded, we went to the top.  It didn't sound melodious at all.  The acoustics there were terrible.  We discussed it among ourselves that the sound was probably better at the bottom, which is probably why it was much more crowded there, and we would not be able to find a seat there this night.  We would have to use our experience to pick a better spot next time.

The same goes with creativity.  We usually can't make a masterpiece the first time we attempt to make something with a new medium.  We must take learning steps.  Hopefully my family will be able to go back to another evening concert at the art museum and put our knowledge to work to improve our experience.
Hopefully I will also keep going back to the various mediums I enjoy and keep learning from the various nuances that each presents.

I think I put these words together because of something I read earlier in the week from The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron on page 72:  "even if you have made a truly rotten piece of art, it may be a necessary stepping-stone to your next work."
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Are you a creative being?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Deciding When We're Strong Enough

PERT, MH

My new year's resolution for 2016 was to give up french fries.  I think I am addicted to them. Addicted in the sense that I can't have just one and I must finish all of them, mine and any that my children would leave behind on their plates.  So for the entire year I did not make fries at home.  If my family wanted them, they had to order them while they were out.  If I was out with them, I chose a different side.

It was in 2017 that the magic happened.  The magic is me feeling strong.  The fries do not have power over me anymore.  If my family would like fries for dinner, I can bake some for them and leave the rest behind.  I do not feel their pull any longer.  As a result, I choose to have an apple or something else healthy.  I can make this decision because I am strong enough now.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1. Are you addicted to someone or something?  

2.  Do you feel strong or weak when it/they are around?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Gratitude in Verse (Journaling Brings Possibilities)

Backyard, MH

I love going back through my journals and reading what I have long forgotten.  Even the gratitude lists are interesting to me, revealing some of the most wondrous items from a specific point in time. A few months ago I decided to write a poem based on a gratitude list in a previous journal. Now when I come across other gratitude lists of the past I do the same.  It might be something you get inspired to do as you look back.  Here's one of mine.

PASSING THROUGH

The white-throated sparrow still sings

So content am I it wasn't quickly passing.

The early flowering plants pop through the softening earth

Bleeding hearts, wild ginger, bluebells

Hostas and ferns, too.

One child still gathers at our meals,

The first child's time so quickly passing.

New and old recipes nourish this life of ours

Friends and acquaintances, too.

Constant is the God who blesses me.

Please keep me in my passing.

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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1. What comes to you to consider when you look back in your journal? (If you don't keep a journal, pick the last holiday or the last week or yesterday).

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Just Keep Trying

Photo by MH, PERT

Sometimes I find the Bible to be harsh.  For example 1 John 3:10 says "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are:  Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." - Study Bible, (Zondervan) New International Version

On the day that I read this verse it was during my reflective time and I journaled about it. What I wrote is that this seems like an impossible task.  It's asking us for perfection. I also wrote what I think God* put on my heart in answer which was "just keep trying."

It reminds me of when my kids were little and I was off to a terrible start to my day.  It might be that the kids weren't moving quickly enough to get to daycare or that I didn't do enough prep for work the night before so I was grumpy.  If I recognized that it was not how I wanted the day to begin, I would ask my kids for a do-over.  They always said yes which would give me the opportunity to try again.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1. Is there a segment of your day today or yesterday or every day that you'd like to do over?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Sensibility

Photo of PERT by MH

     One of the things that has changed for me as I have aged, and because of my journaling I recognize it, is sensibility.  I have asked for it in my labyrinth walks (Lord* teach me sensibility). It has come in the form of letting go of established doctrines and learned behaviors.
     For example, I have recognized that setting up the boundary that I do not work on Sundays is beneficial as a sacred call to rest and to be in community; however, if I am away for a few days vacation earlier in the week, work on Sunday may be sensible.
     Another example is that I do not always have to finish what I've started.  Amazingly, during the same week that I had asked for sensibility while walking in the labyrinth, I was walking the labyrinth again and one of my children called me and asked me to come home.  Sensibility* taught me that I should not take time to do the ceremonial walk out of the labyrinth, but simply go.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you feel a call to change something in your life but can't let go of it because of some previous notion that holds you to it?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.