“Every step I take brings me closer to the realization of my dreams.”
This is a passage out of a new self-help type book by motivational speaker Judi Moreo (on the right), called You Are More Than Enough Achievement Journal. I believe journaling is a smart, healthy way to process your healing journey. It’s a way to express your thoughts and feelings and hopes and wishes and prayers and fears … without having to voice them to the world. It’s almost as important as prayer in the life of a survivor … but heck, who am I to preach about the benefits of journaling! Instead, allow me to introduce you to author Judi Moreo herself in this guest post she wrote for me to share:
Life is happening so fast, there’s no time for stillness or reflection. Many of us have forgotten how to listen to the still, small voice inside of us. Writing in a journal is taking time for yourself. You are giving yourself permission to express your feelings and access your intuition. Writing a journal is a discipline…the discipline of taking care of your inner self. Discipline is the key to all success!
When you write in a journal. Write down anything. Write about yourself…your feelings.. happiness, sadness, things that made your smile, anger, guilt, shame, when you discover you don’t have anger anymore. Write about what you want to accomplish, own, have, and do. Who you want to do it with. Write about someone you love or someone you don’t like, something you observed, or something you wish would happen. Write about your child or your pet or that you forgot to water the plants. Just write. And for goodness sake, don’t wait to get the perfect notebook or the perfect pen!
A journal is a record of your daily thoughts and feelings as well as whatever is happening in your life, so you can stay on track and measure how well you are doing. My “Achievement Journal” takes it one step beyond. It is a system for setting your vision and goals so you can focus forward ….always on the next step. It is a way of seeing how thing emerge in our lives, so we can track our feelings and behaviors. Some people ask me if it’s ok to ask questions in a journal. My response to that is “Only if you want an answer.” Answers come to us in many forms…you may find yourself writing it, you may open a book and there it is on the page in front of us, you may turn on the TV or the radio and hear your answer. It’s possible you will meet a stranger on an airplane or at the car wash and they something that rings true for you. Write all of this in your journal.
In journaling, it is not imperative to write EVERY day, but it is important to write frequently and to record any significant things that happened on those days when you didn’t write. It also doesn’t matter what time of day you write. Write when it’s convenient or when you feel like it.
My business partner, Fiona Carmichael, has had many obstacles to overcome in her life and it seems like just as she gets one taken care of and is doing well, something else happens to her. First as a resident of a country in Africa that came under the power of a radical communist leader, she and her husband feared for their lives and the lives of their children and took steps to leave the country and start over in South Africa. Later after a divorce, with very little education, she once again started over, raising her children and working and getting an education. She moved into a powerful position only to not have that work out, so she started her own business. With the incredible crime and danger in South Africa at that time, she decided to immigrate to America. No sooner did she start getting on her feet here than she found out she had breast cancer. By journaling through all these obstacles in her life, she could see the steps she took to overcoming them and started applying these steps to the journey of getting through the cancer. It’s been a hard battle but she’s done it. In another year, we’ll know if she’s finished with that obstacle. In my heart, I know she is. Fiona once told me, “You build a quality life by taking one step at a time until you’ve overcome your obstacles.”
Journaling is how we keep track of the steps.
Thank you Judi … wasn’t that great? (Here’s another link to Judi’s site, this one specifically to her blog — there’s great reading material there!)
When I first read the excerpt that I started this post with, “Every step I take brings me closer to the realization of my dreams,” I thought … what are my dreams … how has being a survivor changed them … what steps do I need to take to get closer to them …
I realize now that my dreams are much simpler than they used to be. I don’t need to travel the world, I want to experience new places with my family wherever we all wind up. I don’t need a grand house on a hill, I want a home where we can all live happily together. I don’t need fame and fortune, I want to be truly known by the people I’m blessed to have in my life.
The first step for me has been to spend more time with people, talking, traveling, playing … living life, together.
Now it’s your turn … what are your dreams? Have they changed? What steps are you taking to realize them? Are you journaling?
cancer, breast cancer, journaling, prayer, Judi Moreo, motivation, healing, health, wellness, health and wellness, survivor, dreams
St. Therese of Lisieux was known as ‘the little flower’ in her day. This little poem made its way to my inbox today and I thought I’d say it now, with you in mind. God bless.
A woman I know that is currently in treatment for breast cancer shared a story with me today that brought up so much pain — even tonight as I type I feel like weeping.
As I was settling in on the table the very first day I could not help but wonder why something that was so dangerous everyone else had to be on the other side of the wall was deemed safe enough for me that I could lie there with half my body exposed.
