September 17: Build yourself up instead of tearing yourself down
I’ve been feeling at a loss concerning my writing. It takes other-imposed goals to get me to do something purposeful, which was the reason for my purchase of this course—for motivation. Focus on my limitations and on what I don’t know rather than do keeps the pen silent. My ideas seem too old to appeal to today’s youth-oriented market.
To do instead:
- Look at the advantage of being retired and having more time than ever to spend on my own interests and goals
- Appreciate all the life experience I have to draw from
- Stop making excuses, take the time and put forth the effort
Learn to manage the critical inner voice that tries to keep you small
In January 2022, I chose the word Non-judgment as my focus for the year. My most common negative thoughts are disapproving evaluations of others stemming from negative assessments of myself.
I affirm:
I have the power to substitute Love for Judgment.
September 26: Set healthy boundaries
The class reunion that has occupied much of my time for the past two months is over. The kids’ birthday presents have been purchased and posted. There’s the colonoscopy to get through in two days, but finishing this journey by the weekend should be possible.
Taking stock of my “emotional intelligence”
- I love more than I hate
- I feel happy more often than sad
- I’m calm and contented more often than agitated
Happily, I am finding few issues to deal with in Mari’s exercises. I’m feeling very well adjusted, which I attribute to having completed a dozen of her Journaling Journeys over the ten years since we met online!
I live in a beautiful house with a sunset view of an Up North lake. I am in conflict with no one—in a supportive partnership, with a sister and a son and daughter-in-law who also are there for me. Good friends and even my partner’s kids would offer me a place to land if needed. I couldn’t ask for more physical and emotional support.
September 30: Follow your curiosity and push yourself beyond your comfort zone
Things this program has motivated me to do
- Submit an article on why I write for my writers group’s newsletter
- Work on another draft of the short story from the online class back in May
November will be busy with the Writer’s Digest Poem-a-Day Challenge and creating our Christmas card, as usual.
The outcomes will be limited only by
- Failure to focus
- Lack of faith in my power to imagine
Strive to accept and love who you are, just as you are
Though considering myself very adaptable, 22 years in Texas, even when wearing a cowboy hat and boots, couldn’t change my native Michigan identity. What’s unique about me is the result of the people I’ve known and events I’ve experienced in my own particular times and places. No one else has sat in exactly the same chairs as I have.
I am also a writer. To own that title is imperative in order to avoid the dry spells that inspired my purchase of this workbook. I need to claim my ability to communicate with others through the written word.
I affirm for myself what my loving man tells me about my need to go on a diet:
I love you just the way you are!
Author bio:
Kay Butzin lives with her partner Ron in beautiful northern Michigan, where the oak and maple leaves have turned glorious reds, oranges, and yellows.
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