Tag: #writerswillwrite

Working and Writing

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I’ve heard you don’t have to be ‘in the mood’ to write. You can just sit down at any time and write, but I believe the mood will reflect in your writing.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not about finding time, because we all have the same amount of time. It’s sitting down everyday and writing until the words run out. Running out of words doesn’t come easy for me, but we are keenly aware of running out of time. It’s precious.

Saturday was cold and rainy, but I decided to accept it for what it was. I lit a candle, and turned on our heater that resembles a woodstove. My work got done, but with it being the Saturday after Thanksgiving it didn’t have the sense of urgency it has during the week.

Photo by Kam Pratt on Pexels.com

I do this quite often. Work a little while and then come over to WordPress and write. If I’m having a challenging day with work, WordPress tends to be my happy spot. Responding to your comments, or fixing a cup of tea and taking time out to read your Blogs are important to me.

I love to write, and when I spend time on the page, other areas of my life become better. When I don’t write, it feels like a part of me is missing.

I was overly focused on work, so my writing and Blog suffered. I knew there had to be a balance, so one day while working, I pulled up my Blog and started to write. I left two tabs open. One for work and one for writing and I’d go back and forth between the two. Writing brings joy that spills over into my work.

That’s how I found balance between working from home and writing. They became equally important.

Self Care Sunday

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I texted my daughter, “When you walk out of Whole Foods with a French baguette, hearts of Romaine, and Stumptown Chocolate cold brew?” She replied, “Sounds like self-care to me!”

Sunday feels like an appropriate day for self care as it was planned to be. My work doesn’t offer much time off on Sunday, so I’ve been watching for windows of time on Monday or Wednesday. Have to admit though, Self Care Monday doesn’t sound the same! 

Writing is a form of self care because if I see an hour of sacred space opening up, I’m gonna write. I wait for it and start typing. For me, it’s not about finding the time to write, it’s about finding the sacred space. We will make time for what’s important, and writing is like breathing to me. It hasn’t always been that way, but it became that way after clicking publish 100’s of times.

A good gauge for selfcare is my neighbor. The more often I can walk over and spend time with him, the better. If I don’t see him all week, it’s time to look at my week. Sitting with him on his front porch, he took one look at his dog and said, “I’m taking an hour this week just for me.” He gives a lotta love to dogs and they are spoiled, but he knows he needs some time without them.

I was happy to hear him say that.

He knows taking time for himself, even for an hour, will make him a better person to be around. Maybe we can’t take a full day and call it Selfcare Sunday, but we can carve out some time for ourselves when it’s important, and I believe it’s vital.

There are seven days in the week to choose from, so pick one. Name it and claim it as your very own self care Sunday.

One More Time

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The most gratifying part of Blogging is the readers.

You never know who you’re gong to reach, or who your words will touch. The phrase, “I’m just gonna write in hopes that someone needs to read it”, has served me well. The good night’s sleep series was fun to write, but my reward was you reading it. You encouraged me with your comments to continue the path.

To just write about it one more time.

This wasn’t a planned series. What began as an experiment in August to find out why I wasn’t sleeping good was fun to share. So, I started with the main one being a good night’s sleep, and then you nudged me on toward the next one, until there were five!

A lot of you could relate to watching TV before bed, and there were a few that recalled those early days of the Twilight Zone. The original Twilight Zone, in black and white from the early 60’s, still haunts us. Maybe there was an episode entitled, ‘2020’ that never aired because it was too unbelievable. 🙂

Photo by Shelby Miller on Unsplash

What truly thrills my soul is when you become inspired. You read something and feel a spark, and then you fan it until it grows into a flame to light the page. That is what happened with one of my Reader’s, and here’s part of his comment, “I’ve always been blessed with good sleep. In fact, I now wonder why I haven’t ever written about it. One thing for sure, placing a “do not disturb” rule on you phone doesn’t hurt!”~ Des from Think Ahead.

I don’t know many people who sleep good, so I encouraged him to teach us his ways by writing about it, and he did.

You can read Des’ Blog post entitled, Thankful For Every Good Night’s Sleep, here. Our list of sleep snatchers are similar, but Des showed me it really comes down to being thankful for every good sleep. It won’t be perfect and it doesn’t happen every night, but by doing what’s best to ensure it, it happens one more time.

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A Simple Habit

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There’s a purple, leather notebook laying open all day. A silver and purple pen rests on top of the pages ready to write. The dark purple ribbon lays across the page marked with today’s date.

This is where I write my tiny things attributing to the self-trust cultivator, or as you fondly call it, The Done List. I’m moving into week 4 of self trust, and week 3 was THE best week. It was the week that I could see it becoming a habit.

Procrastination has left the building. Now, to stick with it.

success

They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit, and I believe that. What they don’t elaborate on is how long it takes to instill it. How long do we have to continue before it becomes a new portion on our plate of life? Well my darlings…it takes months.

Week 4 will be interesting. That is the week the newness wears off, and the excuses arise. I’m going to stick with it though because I’m building to Month 2, where I get to do it all over again!

After 2 months, it will be a habit, and feel natural.

I’ve been thinking a lot about habits. What works for me is to start off small. I would like to have more physical activity in my life, like walking. Yes, it’s been hot, but that shouldn’t keep me from walking. I start out small, and tell myself, “Just walk to the end of the street Barb.” To the end of the street is simple.

As a matter of fact, I did that, but got to the end of the street, and the over achiever in me showed up. Instead of turning around and walking back home, I took a left and walked another few blocks. That killed it because it started to feel like exercise. Here I was with no water bottle, sweating and panting my way home!

Round 2: Barb tries again and keeps it simple.

consistency

I walked to the end of the street, turned around and walked home. No hesitation at the intersection this time, just followed the simple instruction. Victory! It was amazing the difference in the way I felt. It wasn’t that I had completed a marathon, it was that I kept my word, and didn’t disappoint.

We make it a priority to keep our word to others, but what about ourselves? I encourage you to stop putting your desires last on the list. You get this one life, so make room by creating and implementing a simple habit.

You Be You

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In Walk like Wind, I wrote about my hesitation of being tall. That’s what I was really getting at with yesterday’s post. Wearing the boots make me even taller, but I’m embracing it.

We are each uniquely made, so we don’t have to try and be different. We already are.

beyourself

I came home to a vase full of sunflowers sitting on the table. I saw these the other day at the market and thought about buying them for my daughter. They have always been her favorite flower, but now that she’s 20, I thought she may have outgrown them and didn’t buy them.

Her father had the same idea, and he bought them for her. There’s still that little girl inside of her that loves them. Where’s that kid inside of you? What do they still want to be? You’re not too old and your time hasn’t passed.

sunflowers

It’s time to embrace that unique quality and you be you.

Two of Everything

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When my daughter and I first began living this life together, you could look around and see two of everything. The house has two bedrooms. There’s two overstuffed chairs in the den. Two blankets on a nearby shelf readily available.

We created a life for two.

built

It’s time to open my heart for more.

I have these two bowls. They each have a plate that matches and I bought them years ago.

While shopping, I pay attention to other bowls that might match. The shape is so hard to find. They are shallow and wide. I wasn’t overly focused on the color, as long as they complimented one another. Then it happened. Strolling by a shelf full of bowls, that color caught my eye.

There was only one on the shelf.

bowls

My daughter and I always use place-mats, cloth napkins and real dinnerware. We set the table for every meal, but maybe that’s not normal for most. What’s normal to us may look like a lot effort to others.

Today my darlings, if you set down at our table and see a bowl that fits, but doesn’t quite match…that’s the extra effort. I’m adding to the two of everything.

Quiet and Stillness

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I want to listen for Him more.

He’s not loud, nor does He speak with a booming voice to try and rise above the noise. He doesn’t have to. For me, God whispers to my heart in the quiet and stillness.

It’s difficult to find quiet and stillness, but you can create it. There’s a lot to be heard in the quiet and you can see more clearly when everything is still. This meme aligns with this particular part of my journey.

Don’t miss Him in the quiet looking for Him in the loud. Hello Friday and November my lovelies.

intheloud