Charlotte Today: Benefits of Journaling

Charlotte Today: Benefits of Journaling

It was such fun to be on Charlotte Today and talk about the benefits of journaling and Gratitude Practices with Colleen and Eugene! Click here to view the video! Writing has always been my favorite tool for self expression.  I find that it helps me process my emotions, worries, stresses, hopes, and dreams. I turn to it daily. My entry could take the form of a poem, be pages and pages of scribbles or even a “to do” list (I write those in my journal to keep me accountable). Journaling at its most basic level is record keeping – it documents your life from the most banal to the most sublime, it creates order, it shows patterns, it keeps you honest with yourself. Journaling is a powerful tool of self-discovery I hope you undertake to do it JOYFULLY! Here are some tips to get you started! 1. Keep a book with you at all times (I have one in my purse, a large format journal by my bed, a daily calendar on my desk). Use digital tools – record yourself or create a private blog. 2. Write from the HEART – no need to be neat or have perfect spelling! Let go of the need for your journaling practice to have a specific format. 3. Remember to Add a date (or buy books that are dated). 4. State something that you are grateful for at the end of your entry. Even one word will do. 5. Journal from the notion of practicing because when we practice we don’t have to be perfect. So let it all OUT and WRITE...
The bitter and the sweet

The bitter and the sweet

I have loved the word bittersweet since I first encountered it. I find that it describes the ebb and flow of life – also known as the flipping roller coaster of life –  perfectly.  So bitter that it bites. So sweet that it is like the first taste of nectar on the tip of your tongue. Life is more often than not a balance of opposites. Laughter through tears is something that I have experienced more times than I can count. So many feelings. Like a friend said to me once: “Brianna, you have feelings about your feelings.” July started with a beautiful bang. A book tour the length of the Maine Coast with workshops, readings and signings. My husband and I having downtime in between. My beautiful dog in her favorite place. My parents. My healing house. All good things. Delicious things really. But then life tilted and my ground shifted. In the very midst of all this beauty, joy and gratitude I had to put my beloved Shanti-dog down.  One minute soaring, the next on my knees. I will write more about my Shanti-girl at a later point. She deserves her very own post but, I know you hear me when I say: its all too close right now. My grief is too heavy on me to really do her powerful being justice. This post is about the choice I had to make about my own behavior. It is always a choice and it is mine alone to make. Two options were clearly in front of me when this drama/trauma started. I could have either gone kicking...

Resolution versus Intention

Miracles do happen. Grace does occur. But more often than not, change, transformation and growth require baby steps – many, many, baby steps. I love the turning of the New Year. It always seems that there has been a reset on a grand scale. The coming months somehow spread out and seem fresh. Time seems abundant and hope is high. New Years resolutions stream through the world, and the people run forth to the new dawn resolved to: read more books, exercise, eat better, loose weight, volunteer more, etc. For a while gyms become packed, yoga classes cram mat to mat, volunteer organizations field numerous requests, 52 new books are bought and then mid-February hits. The newness begins to wane, and for the majority, there is complete fallout. Over the years I have had a lot of resolutions blow-up, how about you? Rather than setting resolutions, I now think more about setting an intention. These words are often used interchangeably, they seem so similar, but there meanings are meaningfully different. After so many years of failed resolutions I now choose to start my New Year not by what I am resolved to do but what I intend to do. To feel the energetic difference between resolution versus intention, say the following two statements out loud with your eyes closed: I resolve to practice yoga regularly. I intend to practice yoga regularly. They create a different feeling, right? Just like wanting change and choosing change: I want to change. I choose to change. Here are my intentions for the coming year: Be better in all areas of my life and...

Mary Oliver

Whenever I am out moving through a beautiful landscape it is so much easier to feel at ease. There is an abiding peace that happens when I spend time with the waters, the forest, the desert, and everything else in between. Does that happen for you?   The world did not have to be beautiful to work. But it is. What does that mean? Mary Oliver Nature is my personal church. I find it easier to pray if I am outside. Usually I am walking. Sometimes I am dancing. After all, there is always a reason to rock out to the Joyful Song. Last night I listened to several interviews with Mary Oliver – she and Rumi are my most favorite poets. Much of the conversation was based on her love of a walk in the woods, both in reference to exercise and Walden’s beautiful book. Like him, her love of nature resounds throughout her writing.   For an entire year, at the end of every yoga class I read Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese. Arguably a repetitive offering to my students. But I often find that there is power by way of repetition. I have certainly seen that power in my personal practice and in my students’ practices. During the course of the following interview she speaks to the the necessity of repetition and rigor in her art. She touches on the many failed attempts and the requirement to keep going, keep doing, keep writing. Plus she recites Wild Geese: Mary Oliver On Being Question: Where have you seen the power of repetition in your own life? To...

Be a Glowworm

I feel as though lately that I light candle after candle. I name individual people, I imagine cities glowing, and I move through life with the taste of blessings continually on my lips. Right now, right at this moment, there seems to be an abundance of fear, anxiety, grief, struggle…To be honest, the energy of the earth’s peoples can be overwhelming and I feel reactive in a way I haven’t for a very long time. But I know my role is not to be angry.  My role is not to harbor ill will. My role is not to join the multitudes that are inadvertently aligning themselves with the darkness. My role, my job, my life’s work,  is to herald the light and to be as bright as possible. When I feel the darkness most, I remind myself  of my work. I interweave light practices into my teachings. I align with the light daily and I make a point of offering the light out. I believe that it is important it to become as light as possible, to literally: make of ourselves a light, as Buddha counseled.  There are so many simple ways to up our vibrations and glow just a wee bit more. We are all worms but I do believe that I am a glowworm. ~Robin Williams The more of us that are light the lighter the world will become. After all, we all ONE. It is we who are the universe. But remember:  You cannot be high vibration and exhausted at the same time. That is like being anxious and relaxed, which is physiologically impossible.  Treat yourself,...

Keep it simple

It use to be that I didn’t mind mess and noise. internal or external, and I would participate in the pettiest of dramas.  Chronic Fatigue changed my tolerance and my life shifted and changed accordingly.  By embracing my practices during my illness I was able to carve out a space of safety within myself.  Where once it was uncomfortable to be silent and still, now I literally long for my  mat. I choose to keep my house simple, uncluttered, and nicely lit. I buy myself cut flowers weekly because to me they are like putting spots of joy in my rooms.  Joy is one of the highest vibrations – sneak it in wherever you can! I drink my water with lemon and when I have time I let it sit and infuse with sunshine. The majority of the food I eat is whole, with a handful of ingredients and freshly prepared. I now shy away from personal drama and have let go of many friends and some family who create it, or co-create it with me (after all I ain’t no victim). I practice my practices every day. I am grateful to them because they keep me calm and my mind clear. If you haven’t been taking care of your precious self, if you haven’t given yourself any time, my rituals may seem over the top. But trust me when you get into the swing of it, with a little practice, they will become easy. Life is stressful and one of the ways I combat it is by allowing myself these simple pleasures, nurturing myself without a lot of...