Why No Recent Posts from CardinalTouch.blogspot.com?

Dear Reader, thank you so much for visiting my blog site!  Right now I'm on hiatus from blogging in order to create space to speak at events and spread the word about spiritual journaling, which includes book promotion.  Events include poetry readings, book signings, speaking as part of a book panel, spiritual journaling workshops and other similar activities. These things are already happening and will continue to be scheduled.  You may find them on the events page of www.CardinalTouch.net.

I am also asking God* to lead me to a paid position as a column writer about holistic topics.  If anyone has any suggestions or leads, please let me know.

God* wants me to know that I am now sharing my completed idea and therefore am transforming myself, my career (this is an add-on) and my relationships.  What this means to me is that I still need to make time for stillness because it is in this space that I develop a more personal relationship with God*.
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* 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 of Book by Marie Higgins:  Sprouting Spiritual Growth, a Memoir and a Guide is available in print or as an e-book at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.  

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net).

Journaling Brings Possibilities (from the Looking Back Series 1/10/17)

When I look back in my journals so many outcomes result.  It's one of the many blessings of spiritual journaling.

Sometimes I am reminded of a practice and I restart it.  Examples include setting intentions for the day of how I want to feel when I go to sleep at night or restarting the practice of writing gratitude lists.  Sometimes when I look back I am inspired to write a poem.  Right now I am writing a poem whenever I look back and come across an overnight dream I had written about.

Here's a new poem from this dream series called PUSHED.

PUSHED

I know the truth.

My baby fell in the deep end, but,

my arms paralyzed,

I did not reach for him.

I coddled and nourished them,

as was necessary, 

but did I tie their shoes for too long,

or, not long enough?

Their eyes grew big, and 

bigger still, 

as they came to rest

on the bottom.

It is the lifeguard 

who rescued them.

Turns out,

my child is fine.

They had learned to breathe

under water.

When I asked, "God*, what else do I need to know about this?" God wants me to know that I find answers in the stillness.  That's another blessing of spiritual journaling.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I 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.
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Reflective questions:
1.  What ideas come to you when you look back in your journals?

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 by MH, OC NJ 

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net).

Just Keep Trying (from the Looking Back Series 1/6/2017)

I make the same mistakes over and over and over again.  Thankfully, in many instances, I recognize them more quickly or they are far and fewer in between, but I still make them.  They are good reminders of the need to just keep trying.

Here's an example.  When my kids were little, it often happened at the start of my day, that I didn't like how my day began.  It might have been that, in my mind, my children weren't moving quickly enough and I kept pushing and rushing them, even yelling at them.  The circumstances were either that I needed to drop them off at daycare before work or I was behind in my work which was making me grumpy or agitated.  On days when I recognized that this was not how I wanted the day to begin for us, I would ask my kids for a do-over.  They always said "yes" which thankfully gave me the opportunity to begin again.

Now, even though my children are young adults, I sometimes lose myself to to-do items and I snap at them when I'm in the middle of something.  A recent example is that I was working at my computer at the kitchen table when one of my children came out for lunch and wanted to converse.  Instead I kept working.  After the third interruption, I said "what?", with that sarcastic tone that says "what now?"  I immediately regretted it.  It was enough to remind me of what's really important.  I took time to converse.

When I asked, "God*, what else do I need to know about this?" I was compelled to open the Bible to a psalm.  This day, it's Psalm 80, which is very repetitive with words beginning with "re" such as restore, revive, return.  This prefix means to do again.  Restoration, specifically, is about fixing or mending things to their original wholeness.  For me, this includes restoration of relationships, which is exactly what God is asking me to do.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I 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.
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Reflective questions:
1.  Is there a segment of your day, yesterday or today even, or a specific segment of every day in which you'd like a 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.

Photo by MH, Hanging Lake 

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net).

Sensibility (from the Looking Back Series, 1/2/2017)

Are you attached to outcomes?  I know I am.  I'd like things to go a certain way and yet if I'm living a life in which I say, "God*'s will be done," how is it that I don't let go?

Here's one example.  I attended a book writer's club this past weekend and obtained a whole list of things I "should be doing" in order to get the most book sales.  I sent myself four emails of things I "should" do in order to be a successful writer.  After about an hour I decided to leave the meeting early because I didn't want to hear any more.  I had gotten some good nuggets, but more would have been too much, overwhelming even.

Today when I looked at the emails I had sent to myself, I felt that overwhelmed feeling again.  The list of to-do items did not seem relevant to me (learning WordPress, finding free writing events, writing to agent's desires, the #MSWL-manuscript wish lists, etc.).  It's not that the speaker should not have spoken about all these things.  It's that not everything needed to be for me and I did not need to take all of it on.  Sensibly, I needed to take the information that felt helpful to me (what to expect at a book signing, for example) and then get back to the stillness (journaling/meditation/prayer space) that leads me to a simpler, God-filled life.

God wants me to know that I should keep grounded and centered, do the work and follow up when I feel an urge to do so.  (Note:  I picked the "badger" meditation card from Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson, Illustrations by Angela Werneke and James Finnell).
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I 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.
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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.

Photo by MH

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net).