I've been reading multiple sources lately telling me all the great benefits of taking time every day to journal. I really hate journaling. My pen doesn't keep up with my thoughts. It forces me to slow down too much. This is probably the EXACT reason why people benefit from it, but I don't enjoy any aspect of it. I don't go back and read the few entries I've made and kept, nor can I usually read the handwriting. I'd rather type so that I can change a thought mid-sentence, but I can see how it would benefit lots of other people. What are your thoughts? Am I missing out on an important piece?

Emotional pain is likely the easiest to come by. Fortunately, I think it's also the quickest to pass away. Every where we turn, we see emotion. Friends, family, coworkers, and advertisements can be in your face all day. We can become immune to it -that's the boat I feel to be in mostly- or we can become overstimulated. It's good to understand emotional constructs around us. It can enable us to understand people better and elevate our abilities to navigate. I do however, think we could all take a small step back from the daily emotional roller coaster because most of the emotions are not lasting. We are bombarded with emotions all the time, and we want to react. However, with a healthy relationship to our own emotions and how they function, we can learn to let most of them pass us by without giving in to the emotional draw. It can be exhausting to react appropriately to every emotional need thrown our way. How many emotional "emergencies" are you still experiencing from yesterday? How about last week? Last month? As you reflect, you'll notice that the further back you go, the fewer emotional catastrophes were actually as bad as they first seemed. Start practicing this skill. Let the nonsense in your life pass you by so that you have more bandwidth for your family and priorities instead.

I've been reading the book "Where Prayer Becomes Real" recently. It brings up some excellent points I thought I'd share this week. Who do you pray to? How do you pray? Often time we expect God to only accept prayer from us after we've "figured it out". We try to fix ourselves before we pray. This isn't how it should be and this definitely isn't how God intended prayer to work. No where in the Bible is it suggested that we get rid of our anger first, or clear up the depression, or take care of our woes. No, we should approach God with our honesty. Prayer is a time to get honest, not to get it right. Like a close friend or a spouse, we can only expect to get closer to God by being more real with Him and spending more time with Him. If you only spent one hour per week with your spouse, how would that go? If you only spoke to your spouse when you needed something urgent, what would that be like? Your conversation with God should be presented in a similar way! What part of prayer have you struggled with?

"Words can inspire. And words can destroy. Choose yours well." — Robin Sharma

Thinking about a new course! What will it be?