Sunday Journal Prompt

“I’m not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” 

– Stephen Covey 

It’s easy for me to blame my circumstances for my actions—or my lack of action: “Teaching takes up too much time, so I can’t work on my book during the school year” or “Crohn’s disease prevents me from having the energy other people have.” But the fact is, I have choices. I can’t add more hours to the week, but I can choose to spend less of my time on teaching or other tasks and instead put more time into working on my book. When I choose to manage my Crohn’s and other autoimmune illnesses through a Paleo eating plan (no sugar, dairy or starches), I’m able to put my Crohn’s flare-ups and autoimmune issues into remission while boosting my energy.

Still, choosing what’s right for us can be draining. The key is to build habits so we don’t have to negotiate with ourselves so often. Lately I’ve been paying more attention to my language. Rather than saying, “I try to do X,” I replace it with “I choose to do X” or “I do X”: To work toward my goal of publishing a book, I choose to make time to work on my book on Friday mornings before work. To manage my Crohn’s disease, I follow a Paleo eating plan with one off-plan meal per week. Thinking of these as decisions I’ve made rather than as burdens I bear helps keep me motivated. Over time, decisions like these become easier, as they become part of who we are. Of course, travel and emergencies sometimes disrupt our routines. Getting back on track is always a challenge for me, but writing about the reasons I originally chose the path reinforces my resolve. 

What are some ways you can make healthier decisions easier on yourself?

Sunday Journal Prompt

"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."

― Willie Nelson

Like Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving morning has become a sacred time for me: a time of anticipation, reflection and peace. After I put the turkey in the oven at 5 a.m., my tradition is to handwrite a few thank-you notes to express gratitude to certain people in my life—different people each year. No matter how challenging the week, month or year has been, this practice always lifts me as it forces my focus away from myself and my problems or worries, and onto people who have enriched my life.

Gratitude also been found to improve relationships, and researchers learned that those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. As a bonus, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation. The benefits of gratitude can also carry into our work lives: Wharton School researchers discovered that managers who thank employees are likely to find their staff feels motivated to work harder.

As author Melody Beattie phrases it, “Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity ... it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

What are you grateful for?

Sunday Journal Prompt

“Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.” 

― Michel de Montaigne

Related to General George Patton, our family has always honored Veterans Day. This year, the day is even more meaningful as my husband’s father Mike, who served in Vietnam, battles Leukemia. Uncertainty prevails, yet the courage and valor he showcased at age twenty is still apparent at age sixty-eight as he endures cancer treatment.

We all face our own battles at times. People I love are struggling with physical pain, unemployment, addiction, financial distress, grief and anxiety. For some besieged by mental illness, getting out of bed and going to work each morning takes monumental effort. It takes courage to ask for help and/or to keep going through challenges like these. How have you or someone you know shown valor of the soul—and how can that memory inspire you to keep fighting?

When have you demonstrated courage of the soul? How can you call on that courage to face today’s battles?

Sunday Journal Prompt

“Today is tomorrow’s nostalgia.” 

- Zeena Schreck, Berlin-based artist 

In New Orleans last weekend to visit my brother and his family, I had several moments in which I felt a connection with my younger self who, nearly thirty years ago, fell in love with that town and decided to go to college there from California. Beyond familiar, beloved sights, the sounds of the city took me back: the rumble and screeches of streetcars, the roar of jazz bands marching through the road, the whistle of steamboat calliopes and the vibrations of power-washing machines as French Quarter shop owners sprayed slate sidewalks each morning.

While sights often trigger memories, I tend to feel a deeper connection to the past through senses like sound and smell. In fact, the words nostril and nostalgia derive from the same root. Immersed in that environment, I was flooded with memories of the people and places of that time in my life, prompting me to reflect on who I was then, how much of that person is still a part of me and how I’ve changed. Artist Zeena Schreck says, “Today is tomorrow’s nostalgia,” reminding me to pay close attention to the wonders of the present, which will become my future self’s past.

How have sound and smell connected you to another time in your life, to a past version of yourself? How can you be more mindful of today’s sensory input?