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 I love teaching journaling workshops. I basically tell everyone to throw out any idea that they have about journaling and start fresh. There are so many different opportunities in journaling, one of them is to practice gratitude. Studies show that by doing this simple exercise daily you will have more alertness, enthusiasm, optimism, attentiveness, energy, more motivated, likeable, generous, helpful, more likely to volunteer and give back. I think that those are all qualities that we would appreciate being described as - so my challenge for you is for the 31 days in August to share three things that you are grateful for. I even created a printable that you can print off for yourself to be accountable for the next month. Think about how beneficial this will be for you, your marriage and your family. Print off a few copies and share them with your children, your friends, even your husband and grow together on this journey of creating a grateful heart and life.    Life is full of chaos and noise. It has gotten to the point where we are afraid of quiet. Whenever there is quiet our thoughts take over and those thoughts can scared us sometimes. So we keep adding to our lives. Tonight our daughters were working on homework assignment, my husband was at band practice so I finished up the dishes and thought I would go and sit down and rest for a few minutes. While I was sitting down to relax I turned on the TV to watch the news, then I thought that I hadn't read the paper today. When I finished the paper I picked up my cell phone and started to play a game on it. When all of a sudden I realized what I was doing. I had planned to sit down and relax for a few minutes and now I was bombarding my brain into overload. Why do we willingly do this to ourselves? It is time my friends, to embrace quietness and stillness and learn to just 'Be'. It takes time and practice, it will not be easy for me - I can tell you that! But it is something that I know I need to do. The first step I believe is to find a place where you can find quiet. Also, if you have children that would include a time as well. I have friends who get up at obscene hours in the morning just to guarantee their quiet time. I am not a morning person. I get up because of necessity to take care of my family and get ready for work. I like dusk, the girls have quieted down for the night and I have time to think about my activities of the day - the conversations that took place - and what did I learn today? Use those precious moments during your day to pause and "Be". I am told that your quality of life will increase dramatically. Life throws so much at you each day - I want to be able to treasure those moments of silence and solitude, and use them to become a better wife, mother and friend. Anyone want to join me on this journey? I am going to need all the encouragement I can get!   “Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.” Albert Einstein My husband is always reminding me to write things down. I tend to have millions ideas and thoughts running through my head continuously. Sometimes I can’t sleep because I am so excited about the things that are going through my head. My husband told me that he heard a story about Albert Einstein and how he would write everything down. Anything that came to mind he would write down. He had many journals of thoughts and ideas that he kept record of. He did even memorize his phone number, if he needed it he knew where he wrote it down and he could look it up. Why did he do this? Because when you write down all the things that are running through your mind it opens your mind to new ideas and thoughts! No wonder Einstein is known as a brilliant man! So this is my new mission, I want to keep my mind open to new ideas and thoughts. I want to have the space to be creative and to give time and energy to the things in life that matter, not what I perceive as demanding my time.   Depending by which standards you measure life from - I could say that 2018 was a horrible year. I had people come into my life that caused me such deep pain that I am still learning how to cope and move forward. I had situations that stretched me further than I ever thought possible. I saw things in people that I wish I could unsee. 2018 had so many plots twists the best fiction writer couldn't have wound this plot together. As 2018 is coming to an end I find that I have two choices. I can drag this "horrible year" into 2019 or I can change my perspective. I do not look at 2018 as a horrible year. I have learned so much about myself and where my place is in this world. I would have chosen to learn the lessons another way, but unfortunately the easy way is usually not the best way. I had a situation in 2018 that changed me - it through me for a loop that I wasn't expecting and was not prepared for. I didn't know how to feel, I didn't know how to cope or move forward. It broke me and shook who I thought I was to my core. So how do I move forward for 2019? Easy! No actually it's not easy, there are not a magical amount of steps that will make it all shiny and new. As with anything that has the greatest rewards is the amount of effort you put in to make it a success. I am choosing that my 2019 will be a success story to the lessons I have learned in 2018. (I am sure that 2019 will have new lessons for me to learn😊 ) I have a saying for my experiences in 2018. Years ago I made the choice to stop looking at situation based on a good or bad scale. Everything is a "character building exercise". Each day there is something to be learned and to be gained. Once you change your perspective, then your life situations start to look differently. Once the situations start to look different then you start to change your reactions and how you feel about life and your place in it starts to become clearer. And thankfulness and gratitude become a part of these experiences. A few questions I ask myself on this last day of 2018:
I am looking forward to journeying with you in 2019!   I have been traveling around and teaching journaling workshops - some would describe it more as a party. However you look at it - it is fun! It is an afternoon of learn new things about yourself, scripture, fellowship worship and food! The number 1 response I have received about the "My Journey" journal is that they wished they would have started it years ago. No need to run away to a cafe in Paris (unless you really want to), the "My Journey" journal is a great place to start to get who you have been created to be and why you have been created for such a time as this. I recently traveled to a community to lead a workshop and it was my favorite one so far! Why? Because it had teen girls up to Grandma's - to see the generations working together and getting to know each other was a beautiful sight!!!! Seriously my heart exploded seeing all the open Bibles, pens and pencil crayons creating beautiful and washi tape being unrolled by the yard. Some were creative, some were not :) but everyone was getting involved and having a wonderful time. The group of attendees from the church already decided to meet once a month to continue on the practice of "My Journey" journal and Bible Journaling. My heart was so filled with joy and the smile on my face lasted the long drive home. This event was also a great opportunity for a test drive with the teen journal, and the girls really liked it from what I heard from the girls that attended. Here is a little more information on the teen girl journal:
I now have the 2018 "My Journey" Journal available for pre-order! This spiral bound 8.5 x 11 workbook gives you a place to find peace and gratitude as you spend time weekly writing your thoughts and heart messages. I will have pre-orders open only until November 25th, then they will be available for shipping the first week of December. So get your Christmas orders in! 
Special bonus! Join me on my Facebook page for a Facebook live on Friday, November 10th! Be sure to "like" my page so that you will be notified when I go live! It should be entertaining since I have never done one before! :) For anyone that purchases a 2018 journal will have access to videos posted in the members only section on my website, so be sure to register for your free account! There are so many exciting things going on, make sure to join me on Facebook and Instagram, and share the news with your friends. I have worked through this journal for almost a year and I can't believe how much I have changed. My thoughts are more positive, my attitude is more reflective than reactive now and my prayer life has flourished. I am so excited to finally share this with the world!!!!!  Each morning as we put our feet on the floor we have a day full of opportunites ahead of us. Make them count! Here is a list of ways that you can make the best of our life! Enjoy every day! 
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