Reading and journaling, a route to you

Today is the 74^th day of daily calm if the book of the same name, written about in the previous blog, had been begun at the top of the year.

I’ve had some catch-up to do as I broke the book open about the middle of last month. 

It’s still early enough in the new year to feel the months ahead of me and the pleasure of a page to enjoy each day.

Daily Calm is a moment of quiet, a chance to cradle the book, take in the photo which is the daily entry and think about each piece of wisdom that accompanies it.

Joan Didion is the source of the thought for March 15 as the page was turned  this morning. The four lines address self-respect that comes from knowing our intrinsic value in the scheme of everything that touches our lives.

We need to live by our expectations and not solely be shaped by others. 

For personal growth it’s essential we place our worth and our needs appropriately. 

It does nothing good to allow our esteem to bloat or shrink out of proportion to the fact that each of us counts through the generous gift of life.

We’re continually shaped by personal choices as well as the influence of others. To differentiate which is the better course in some decisions can take a lifetime to get expert at.

We begin by being aware of our inner guidance formed through experience. We learn to open to what we take in of life around us each day. 

Many find that journaling helps in this process. You can go back and find answers revealed in what’s been written about and recorded.

We can see the composition of our thoughts, which is a distillation of our interests and concerns. 

It furnishes contact with our inner reasoning and truths. Without this reflective exercise we might miss this profundity.

It accords us a context for how we view life. This can be instrumental in what we reach for next and how we carry it out.

My journaling has never been daily discipline. Nor does it constitute a summary of the day and its activities.

For many years, instead, my practice is to jot down thoughts read in books, clever advertising from off billboards, lines expressed well in letters now so rarely received, and out of conversations where a line scintillates long after it’s been uttered and the visiting has moved on.

Thoughts that come to me are written down as I remember to transfer them to paper.

Sometimes the thoughts hang in my head refusing to go away. 

Other times it surprises me that the words spoken, or popping into consciousness, are mine. I put them down to think about why they were said and how they may apply.

Following, from the pages of my journals, a sampling of five years of thoughts that have occurred to me:

4) Going to new places makes you interested in other places.  -March 8, 2014

What you do, from what you care about, makes a difference.  -March 4, 2014

As a society Americans from the beginning have been makeshift and make-do. It’s in our character. If these traits were missing we’d not be capitalizing on an important aspect of our national tradition and culture.   -March 1, 2014

When you appreciate things they come around to start appreciating you. -March 1, 2014

Our years of life experience become generous shelter shared with others.   -February 28, 2014

Timing and sunshine make all the difference in the world.  -February 27, 2014

When you pay your dues life pays its dues back to you.  -February 26, 2014

Sometimes it takes a little effort to get to the better things. When it gets hard it’s good to remember half way effort only gets you half way.   -February 24, 2014

New adventures are meaningful.  -January 25, 2014

In the things that have to be done remember how to relax in the sun.  -January 20, 2014

Be the best version of yourself.  -January 13, 2013

We all gamble, in our own way, for what we want in life.  -September 19, 2012

Not to grow is to diminish.  -March 17, 2012

Happiness is as much what you put into it as what you take out.  -January 24, 2012

Dark is dark everywhere before the dawn.  -January 5, 2012

We’re educated to be re-educated.                 -December 18, 2011

We have to at times allow ourselves to be helped.  -November 9, 2011

Italian music seems to understand where your heart is at the moment.  -October 21, 2011

Sometimes you wind up in places you’re meant to be.  -October 8, 2011

We have only one air to breathe.  -July 25, 2011

We learn so much from our elders and don’t even know it’s learning until it becomes time to apply the lesson.  -June 10, 2011

Try to do things right and things go easier for you.  -January 10, 2011

I believe sunshine is the antidote to everything. -October 2010

Ro Giencke – March 15, 2014