Celebrating 2023: A Month of Gratitude – Day 1

Gratitude is like food for the soul. I am celebrating 2023 by spending each day in December reflecting on and, being grateful for, my blessings this year. Join me. Perhaps you will be inspired to do the same.

Wow, here we are again. Day 1 of the final month of the year. I have so much to reflect on and lots to be grateful for.

2023 has been a journey like no other. A few dreams have come true. Some are on their way there. The losses have been learnings and the near misses have been eye openers. I mean where do I even begin?

Let’s start at the beginning. Reaching 50 has been a wonderful blessing. I said that my 50’s are going to be my best decade yet at the beginning of this year and it has definitely started well! I feel like this year I really came into myself. I still have lots of work to do but I have never been as comfortable in my own skin or as happy to be as I have been this year.

Image: Canva

The reality is that not much has changed materially in my world but I have changed and that has made all the difference.

Wishing you abundant blessings in every moment.

Lessons about Writing

Bloganuary day 29

Today’s Prompt: What is something you learned recently?

What a great question! I am probably what is known as an epistomophile as I am constantly reading and absorbing information. This is a great opportunity to take a step back and think about about what I have actually learnt and how much I have implemented. After all, as Dale Carnegie says: “Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied.”

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

The value of morning pages

If you have read “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron then you would have come across the term “morning pages”. Julia Cameron recommends that, every morning, we get up and write out 3 pages of conscious streaming writing by hand. It is a clearing exercise that allows you to dump all the thoughts that are rolling around in your mind. I find that it is easier to meditate after writing these pages as I have now dealt with all the thoughts that usually pop up in my writing. I also often find that by the 3rd page (although I don’t always get there), I start coming up with new ideas, especially for work, which is pretty awesome. There is no right or wrong way to do this exercise and it is often a grump fest and can look like a to-do list. It’s a really great tool that helps you create space for your creativity.

How to easily calculate the readability of my text

This is I learnt today on Tetyana’s blog, #teachisfun, here on WordPress. You can find out more about to do this too at this link. I have always wanted to understand how to calculate the readability score of my blog posts as I am aware of how important it is but I have never taken the time to find out. Tetyana’s post also taught me about important rules that need to be followed for the best chance of creating a successful blog and includes very useful tips on creating a captivating heading for my posts. I suspect I am going to need a lot more practice with headings in particular. πŸ˜…

That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Bye for now.

I

31 Days of Gratitude – Day 27

6 more sleeps until the New Year and 2 more sleeps until my son comes home! I have lots to be excited about! My little desk also arrived today. This one will be dedicated to my writing. I am so gratefil that I will have a little writing spot which I am hoping will help me create, and firmly entrench, a daily writing habit. I am counting on Bloganuary to really kick start the habit again as well. I had so much fun with it this past Jan.

I also spent some time this morning listing all the things I did this year. I have made so many changes and pushed so many boundaries. I am very proud of myself and very grateful for the opportunities and the means to do it all. I had also promised myself that I would be intentional about certain things this year. One of which was to stop absorbing knowledge and spend more time putting what I do know into practice and sharing it where I can. I’ve done it but there is so much more to share so I will definitely keep this on my list for years to come.

Another item on that list was to learn to love myself a whole lot more and I am glad to say that I have definitely made progress on this one. These days my first reaction when I look in the mirror is to smile at myself rather than look for faults. I have changed the way I dress and I have discovered the impact and power of lipstick ! Phew! I have a whole blog post planned on the power of lipstick alone. Who knew!😜 All in all I must say that it feels good to like what I see in the mirror and I am grateful that I am able to make that switch and start appreciating and valuing myself more.πŸ™

Just me having a little fun at work

That’s it for today. I have finally started the Fire & Ice series of books by George RR Martin. I bought them in 2018 but only feel like I am ready to commit to them as of today. I am only 2 chapters in and I am enjoying his writing already. Ooh and my favorite part was officially opening the boxset and having the smell of a brand new book hit me. The highlight of my day 😁.

My reading material for the next few weeks