Yesterday, I was at our local Office Depot. I needed to pick up some more spiral binders. I write every morning, and I believe that journaling is an important way to focus your thoughts for the day. If that is not something that you are doing now, I would highly recommend it. If you want to center yourself and have clarity, I suggest that you don’t turn on the news or listen to podcasts. Instead, enjoy some silence in your day. During that silence, grab a pen, some sheets of paper, and begin writing.
I had somebody recently ask me at a national conference how it is that I do my journaling. He wanted to know specifically how I start writing about something. I told him I usually begin with one sentence or sometimes just one word. If I’m upset about something, I will just write “I had a crappy day yesterday”. Then, I just write what went on yesterday. Usually, by the time I get to the end of my journaling, I solve the problem that was irritating me, and I come out on the other side of my brooding into sunshine and positivity. I might also write down something like “I am so thankful today because…”. Then I write about that. The goal is not just to fill the page with words. You may find that it is actually pretty easy to fill a page or 2 or 3. For me, journaling oftentimes becomes a prayer., and at the very end, I simply write “amen”.
So, while I was at Office Depot picking up some more journaling supplies, I took a stroll around the rows of merchandise to see if there was anything that intrigued me, and I came across sheets of emoji stickers. I thought these were really cool. I can use these little dimples of emojis and put them on thank you notes that I write. I write thank you notes every day because I believe gratitude is an important part of what our life needs. How many times during the course of the day do you say thank you? If you don’t say it often, why not? Are there no people in your life? Even with people you come across every day like the checkout person at your local grocery store, when was the last time you paused, looked into their eyes, and said “thank you” instead of just inserting your card and walking away?
When our children were young, we repeated again and again to our children. We would ask “What do you say?” They would know that the correct response was either “please”, or “thank you”. Reignite that voice in your mind. If you can remember that voice from your mother and father, make today the day that you begin to say “please” and “thank you” again. If I was writing a thank you note to you today for doing this, I would take one of these little emojis stickers and place it on that note to show my appreciation for what you have decided to do today for others.
