Natasha's Pages

What a great month of exploration, inspiration, and discovery it has been! I must say that journaling has been my favorite challenges yet. In fact, I plan on continuing the process and have even added journaling to my daily checklist. Writing down your thoughts makes them concrete and helps keep your mind from being jumbled. It makes all your frustrations, things to do, and problems to solve look not so scary as words on a page. When you have everything right there in front of you then you can tackle the job of thinking of or even creating solutions. Writing your joys keeps them readily available to relive and enjoy all over again. My journal looks like a hodgepodge of deep thought, strategies, and just plain day to day stuff. Within its pages are important things and small things. There are funny comments between friends, quotes I read during the day, and even things as mundane as what I did that day. It’s also a comprehensive list of goals and dreams and a discovery of who I reall

June’s Challenge:   Journaling Expected Benefits: Putting thoughts in writing make them more concrete. Concrete thoughts are reworkable. Changes to my thinking! Sweet Release! Expected Difficulties: Making time to do it. Making myself work those thoughts into concrete! Your Challenge! Journal!! As a part of my mind retraining, I’ve been reading a lot more blogs with encouraging positive messages. I’ve noticed the bloggers tend to be somewhere interesting while they are writing, have just finished being somewhere interesting, or are reposting a previous blog because they are on the way to somewhere interesting. Well, I am writing this blog at a picnic table outside my apartment looking at the lake. Lakes are calm and peaceful. They are in constant motion and filled with unseen critters yet their flow is steady. There is something relaxing about lakes. I find them to generate a little creativity too. They help you reflect on yourself just as well as your actual ref

April/May Catchup!!  So I was such a blogging slacker the last 2 months. I apologize but I did keep the challenges going! April I tried to get up earlier in the morning and that went really well. When I get up early I feel so much better, not only physically but about my day in general. I get things done early so I have a sense of accomplishment earlier in the day. This frees me to do fun stuff, like hang out with my pup!!   May ’s challenge was a tremendous FAIL!! The plan was to beef up my exercise routine, however, due to sickness and then just laziness I did not even come close to meeting those challenge goals. I find this interesting considering April’s get up and go resulting in SEVERAL walks per day! Guess if I’d have gotten up as early in May as I did in April I could have kept the momentum going and accomplished both challenges in 2 months! Well, you and you learn! Guess, I’ll have to push myself to get up early again, instead of just pushing the alarm.