Write a couple of pages every morning for clarity
Today in the age of our cell phones, many of us have lost the joy and purpose of handwriting.
I’ve even had some clients who’ve told me, that they use cursive handwriting as secret code in their house.
It seems that many schools don’t even teach cursive handwriting, which I consider as a very important skill for personal growth.
I encourage you to buy a nice paper pad or note book and write down three pages every morning before you start your day.
Start by getting yourself a nice pen, make it special and enjoyable by having the perfect tools you love.
I never liked ironing much, but some of my favourite dresses do need ironing.
Once I bought myself a fancy iron and an extra wide ironing board I started enjoying it much more.
I wear my dresses frequently now without the nagging thought of “oh, I have to iron again after washing them”.
Same with my three fountain pens with different coloured inks and a note book with nice crisp paper: Now I do look forward to writing every morning.
Fountain pens are a wonderful thing
Many brands are very well priced and have a wide range of ink cartridges in many colours.
Experience it for yourself, just start one day and you’ll never stop
If for whatever reason I cannot write because of unforeseen circumstances, I have the urge later in the day or at least in the evening at bed time to write – so I do.
Let me tell you my friends, something interesting happens when you do start writing.
At first it feels a little awkward because you’re unsure what to write.
The exercise may seem silly or stupid.
You’re probably questioning your handwriting, grammar or simply don’t know where to begin. That is perfectly normal and will pass.
The Artist’s Way
Many years ago I read a great book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron for the first time.
It is a magnificent book, full of helpful ideas and tasks to help you to develop your true potential and release the artist within you.
It is a book for everybody to unleash one’s true abilities to do whatever one wants to do.
Julia was the first who taught me about what she calls “the morning pages”.
I suggest to give it a try, without even thinking about it, just write three pages of the first things that come to mind.
You don’t need to keep the pages; you can put them in the shredder after.
But keep doing it every day, you will notice, that it changes you over time – for the better of course.
It helps you to organize your thoughts, figure out what is important to you at this moment, what your fears and feelings are and where you want to head in the future.
If you keep at it for a few weeks, you will notice that you will gain a new clarity. It helps you to form a structure of your thoughts and to make you more determined in where you want to go.
It creates solutions to lingering issues
Practical solutions will start flowing out of your pen almost automatically, to problems you’ve had for a while or doubts you were circling back to again and again.
Our mind is often just overloaded with daily routine, hanging out on our mobile devices and distracting ourselves from what is truly important to ourselves.
Let’s find out what that is – the important stuff for you as an individual person!
Recognizing your emotions and mental blocks is important to go the next steps for finding solutions to what you need and want to become a happier person.
The daily task of writing everything down that is going on in your head will help you to create concrete shapes of what you need to strengthen your mind and make a plan that will work for you.
Dealing with the outside world
Be mindful though that once you become a happier and more balanced person, there will be push back from those in your environment who cannot handle it.
I have said this before, and will say it again in other videos and my blogs.
Personally, I feel that I’m constantly growing and developing new ideas and reinventing myself for the better.
This makes me an uncomfortable companion for those around me who want to stay in their unhappy lives.
Remember, what is the typical saying for this...? Oh yeah: “misery loves company”.
Be prepared that becoming your true self and a happier person may mean that it is time to shed some of your old friends.
The good news is though, however, that this will enable you to make new friends who are similar in positive thinking as you are.
Look forward to new encounters
The good news is, that it can help you make new friends who think as positively as you do.
Letting go of the people who are trying to drag you down
It is certainly nice to have some old friends from when we were young.
But most of the people in our lives are only meant to go with us for a certain period of time before we go our separate ways.
And that is okay. Really, that is perfectly okay.
Let them go with love, don’t carry hate or resentment towards them in your heart.
We must forgive them and wish them well.
Once you’re at peace with people from your past, life gets even better for yourself today.
I recently spoke with two friends who experienced uncomfortable and rude push back from friends and had to let go.
The first friend was visiting her home town and met up with three girls for lunch who she knew from her college days.
My friend was astounded at how nasty these women were towards her. And my friend is the sweetest soul.
But she’s living the life she wants, travelling to different countries while teaching online.
While those three college ladies stayed home, had babies and never left their small town.
So reuniting with someone like my friend, who doesn’t have much to show for it in terms of a “house” “car” or “family”, but living a perfect happy and content life, was triggering immense unhappiness for the three women.
After that lunch, my friend said, that she does not want to meet up with them again and that their “old days” are over.
She’s ready to let them go and focus on new and supportive friends.
Your home is your sanctuary, don’t invite people over who are not supportive of your choices or are full of envy
The second friend I bumped into just a couple of days ago at the grocery store.
Her and her husband had just dropped off friends at the airport. They came from her hometown and she knew since high school.
These folks were visiting them for a week and my friend was horrified at the behaviour of the both of them and the negativity they spread around the house.
So here is the truth for the negative people: My friends had decided to live the dream.
They had sold their house and moved abroad. They decided to retire in the sun, bought themselves a nice little house with a pool and be content every day.
Again, living a happy life does trigger unhappy feelings in many others in our environment.
You see so much negativity these days, envy and jealousy.
Remember that it is NEVER about you, always about the other person himself.
Our actions and habits often create a mirror effect in others.
Once you do with your life whatever makes you happy, and they see that they cannot achieve this happiness, many will lash out at you.
It is THEIR issue.
To help you stay focused, I do recommend to write those morning pages.
It will guarantee your clarity and relief.
It will strengthen your will to do better and have a positive outcome on your life and your health.
Start with writing only as much as you can handle in the beginning
If three pages seem too much, start with one page in the first week and two pages every day in the second week.
By the time week three comes around you’ll be glad to write three pages every day.
Don’t overthink it, it is not supposed to be like a letter, or a presentable document for your annals.
Just put the pen down and write whatever comes to mind.
Don’t stop, don’t take breaks, just keep that pen down until the pages are full.
I never go back and read them again, that is not the purpose of these pages.
The purpose is merely to find a channel to organize your thoughts by letting it flow out of your pen.
It is hard to describe, just try it and you will discover quickly what I mean by that.
One of the fascinating aspects about writing is, that your penmanship will improve.
And your handwriting will become more fluent and neat.
But also, after the initial few weeks, you will be able to tell how you feel and what your mood is right away once you start writing.
This will help you to identify what the current issues of the day are and how to tackle them.
Be gentle with yourself, give yourself time to grow and develop.
Right now we are living in an era of instant results, immediate gratification and constant berating (often from complete strangers on the internet).
Once you discover and practice, that these are not who you are, you can allow yourself to take your time to heal and work on your confidence.
I grew up in a country, where it is considered very important “what your neighbours think”.
It was very liberating for me once I moved abroad and a new friend in my first year away from this environment told me repeatedly:
“It is none of your business what others think of you”.
This statement transformed my life!
I repeat it daily, especially when I feel negative vibes from anyone around me.
It is not about doing something bad or not be caring about others.
It is simply the matter of living your life the way YOU want to live it and ignore the nay-sayers.
I look up to people who live a happy life and do what they want to do and get fulfillment out of it.
Not one of those people I admire has ever tried to beat me up for wanting to do my own thing.
The people around you who beat you up are usually very miserable themselves, so not really role models for you to rely on.
We do all tend to take negative criticism more to heart and remember it for a lot longer than when we receive a compliment.
This is a game society has us indoctrinated with. It is time to quit playing that game and develop a constant vigilance when we’re falling into old patterns again.
Motivate yourself every day by centering your mind and your soul by writing your daily pages about what is going on in your life and where you want to go.
Make peace with your past
Be aware that some negative self-talk about yourself in your past can also surface.
This is quite normal and understandable. It makes you human.
We all have things in our past that we are not completely proud of when we look back at them today.
The most important point is, that we must learn to forgive ourselves for what we did and who we were when we were young.
We didn’t know any better.
We always did the best we were able to with whatever knowledge, or lack thereof, at the time.
Be proud of the person you’ve grown into over the years. You have amazing possibilities and can achieve a lot of things if you only put your mind to it.
Spending too much time belittling yourself about the past, or just dreaming about the future leaves little time to deal with and improve today.
I have helped many people to create a new daily routine and schedule to live the life they’ve imagined. It is very possible, and normally does not take too much change. Just a little “tightening up” of habits.
Buy a pack of sparklers and have fun with them.
You don't need a special occasion to enjoy the game. Glitter needs to be part of our everyday life!
Be the best version of yourself today
Be a good person.
Be a caring person.
Be a happy person and do the things you love.
Spread sparkles, excitement and joy to others.
And write about it daily to see your accomplishments and congratulate yourself.
My Lovelies, have a very good day, I’m always here to help. See you soon again y’all.
Take care of yourselves. Yours truly, June Jones Joy