The Many Faces of Journaling

The Many Faces of Journaling

Journaling takes on many forms and many shapes and it has been my experience that what type of journal I am involved with has to do with what is going on in my life. When I am lost without a rudder, I tend to go with a gratitude, goals, or dream journal. When I am feeling a need to heal, I go with a grief journal or a healing journal. If I find I am quick to anger, than I go with a rant and rave journal or a letter writing journal. It all depends on my mood, my reflections, the rhythm of my days, and the space I find myself in. Todo depende en ti.

Here are a series of journals I have found particularly helpful…it is by no means exhaustive, but can be helpful in getting you started. As you read the list, what resonates with you, that may be the place to start. Pues, empezamos.

1. Gratitude: Write 5 to 10 things each day you are grateful for
2. Grief: write about loss of a loved one to help you sort through the powerful feelings and emotions
3. Healing: write about a difficult time…loss of job, divorce, accidents…any time you feel a need to heal from the rough bumps of life to gain perspective and point of view
4. Letters: a good way to help reach resolution about past hurts, past misdeeds, and past indiscretions…write what you want to say to someone who hurt you or did you wrong, or someone who you hurt.
5. Rant and Rave: this is your letting go of anger journal…where you are ranting and raving about everything that is wrong with the world, your life, your spouse, your kids, your relatives, your boss, your co-workers…you get the picture…it can also be your 16 year old…it is all about me journal…rant, rave and get over it…
6. Daily: this is a nice way to get centered at the end or the beginning of a day. What are you doing? Why is it important? Where are you going? How are you getting there?
7. Inspirational: this is where you inspire yourself or others, it can be quips, and quotes, and anything notes to help spurn the creative juices.
8. Goals: here you write your goals—10 or less and how you are going to achieve them. An action plan for meeting your goals. Then check in regularly to be sure you are on track.
9. Dream Journals: This is for the wild, fancy, running naked at the beach in St. Trope journal. Your wildest dreams of what would make life exciting. What do you dream of—the big house on the beach, the cabin in the woods, a house boat on the Mississippi—dream and dream BIG!!!
10. Quote: a special journal to write your favorite quotes…from books, movies, people you know. Those wonderful quotes that resonate with you, move you, make you tingle, or make you smile.
11. Reader Journal: a place to keep track of what you have read and how it has resonated with you, what you liked about it, or your review of the books that have touched you that you want to share with others.
12. Writer’s Journal: this is where you write the plot, the characters, themes, places, seasons, backgrounds for the novel, book, article, etc. that you are writing. It is the place where you interview characters, research historical facts, create languages, try different scenes, and write various plots…just to see what will work and what will get into the finished product.
13. Learning journal: Sometimes when learning something new it is nice to have a learning journal to release your frustrations, understand the process, and appreciate the journey.
14. Guided Journal: This is a journal where you respond to questions, prompts, ideas, pictures, quotes, and other “guides” to understanding the self.
15. Picture Journal” A journal where you respond to visual clues, paintings, sculptors, drawings, etc. what feelings are evoked, what emotions do you feel?
16. Poetry journal: this is a journal of powerful poems designed to evoke feelings, inspire, engage the soul, move the spirit. Write what is evoked, what is thought, what is inspired.

Please add to the list and share some of your own journals that you have found particularly helpful, fun, inviting, and inspiring.

Con un pan y cafecito,
Seguimos ADELANTE

Zulmara

"Mas vale paso que dure y no trote que canse."

Slow and steady wins the race.

Journaling Your Way to Success

Journaling Your Way to Success

Journaling has been likened to the wonder drug, it can help you deal with grief and loss, succeed in business, make your dreams come true, give you peace of mind, help you have an attitude of gratitude, and even help you lose weight, win that trophy, and celebrate your successes. Es magia.

Pues, es la verdad. And, it is all true. Journaling really is the elixir of life, the wonder drug, the magical cure, and the way to make life transforming changes in your life, mental attitude, and perspectives. Journaling can help you with your career, love life, discovering your inner self, and helping you to realize your purpose, passions, and way of being in the world.

In the coming weeks, I am going to write about the various ways to bring this powerful treatment into your life and how you can make transformations heretofore, unknown by taking pen to paper and revealing the secrets of your soul and spirit to yourself and to others.

For those of you who already journal, hopefully, you will find some good ideas, interesting prompts, and new twists to keep your journaling alive and working in the service of your life. I am also hoping you will share your ideas for journaling and how it has worked for you. For those of you who have never before journaled, but would like to get started, get ready for the ride of a lifetime. It promises to be deep, rewarding, self-actualizing and, at times even difficult.

You will find there are ah-ha moments, tears, laughter, joy, sorrow, sadness and happiness in journaling. It will lead you on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance that will help you realize your most wild and passionate dreams.

In these journaling blogs, I will have something for the seasoned journaler and something for the novice…and under the Guided Journal Tab, you will find poetry prompts to help you get started. These poetry prompts give you a place to start on your journey.

Please list and share some of your experiences with journaling. La vida es dulce.

Con un pan y cafecito,

Seguimos ADELANTE!!!

Zulmara

"Roma no se hizo en un día."

Rome was not built in a day.

Why Journaling?

Why Journaling

Why journaling? Many have asked me, why do you journal? Why write all that stuff down? Why take the time to write stuff no one will ever read?

Well, in the month of February my blog will focus on journals and journaling. I will cover how to get started, what to include in your journals, how to make journaling work for you, and how to find a journaling style that resonates with who you are and what you want to accomplish. Many of us have great plans for 2012, and we started off strong at the New Year, join me now to take your plans to the next level as you journal your way to the success you have dreamed of. Claro que si...

Writing our thoughts, ideas, emotions, and what resonates with us is a very powerful way of living in the moment, being whole, feeling vibrant, and understanding our purpose. Journaling gives us a quiet place to get in touch the inner essence of who we are and it allows us to work through some stuff…write it down…burn it, don’t mail it…it is especially healing work and allows us to free ourselves of the emotional baggage we sometimes carry. Journaling helps you to quiet your mind to bring clarity to who you are and what you want.

It helps you to learn what works for you in life, who you want to be, and how you want to be in the world. Creative souls journal for it is the sustenance to our creativity…it allows us to be our creative selves in the world…since everything is created twice…once in your mind…and next when it is manifested…whether it is a book, a story, a piece of art, a photograph…first you have to see it in your mind’s eye, then it becomes a part of your being…and journaling helps us to bring clarity to our minds eye.

I started to journal as a way to write down quips and quotes that resonated with me. Then as a reader, I loved some of the things I read in certain books and wanted to have a record of them, and I started keeping a book journal…and the rest is history. I started keeping a journal and I found it resonated with the writer in me. It helped me to understand myself, who I was, and what I wanted out of life. It helped me to set goals, set priorities and stay focused. Then, when I discovered gratitude journals, I saw the power of writing myself out of a funk…just one day at a time…5 things I was grateful for…and YES…it does change your life…quickly and marvelously…es muy importante dar la gracias a Dios.

Please share with us why you journal…or why you don’t…

Seguimos ADELANTE!!!

Con un pan y cafecito

Zulmara

"Mas vale tarde que nunca."

Better late than never.

The Care and Feeding of the Muse

The Care and Feeding of the Muse

How do you care and feed your muse? Better yet, when your muse needs pampering, what do you do? How do you unsilence your muse? What do those silences tell you?

For the most part, to get to a sense of serenity and creativity our muse needs to be well fed and well supported. We need to be able to turn inward and connect with our emotions so our creative lives can be expressive, authentic, and genuine. Our art is profoundly affected by the mood of our muse and what the muse needs to be in that place of serenity where creativity can flourish. So how do we get there?

Well first of all, a silent muse is the sign that something is not right in our world. That there is too much stress, too much negative energy, too much wearing us down, too much mind chatter and not enough lifting us up. At times we may just need some extra sleep, a relaxing evening with a caring loved one, a night out with our friends, or some time alone. Sometimes our muse is calling out for physical activity and we need to go on a series of walks, take a hike, go on a bike ride, go swimming, or join a Zumba class.
But, there are other times when wine and chocolate won’t do the trick and these are the most trying times. These are the times when we need to do something more drastic and creative to get the muse going. This is we feel we are dry and empty and need to fill up. This is when we have to break free of our editor and monitor and just get back to our craft—be it writing, singing, composing, conducting, sculpting, painting, or imagining. This is when we need to get a reality check and imagine the possibilities and create without a monitor, create for the sake of creating and honoring that within us that needs a place for self-expression. This is when we need to reach for our morning pages and write what is eating us, what is blocking us, what is keeping our muse silent and trapped. Or this is when we need a trip to the Bahamas!!!

May your muse be cared for, today and everyday!!!

Con un pan y cafecito, seguimos adelante
Zulmara

Humming...Singing...Dancing

Keeping your muse humming and singing and dancing like no one is watching.

When our muse is in a happy place, it opens a new window of opportunity for us by offering valuable insight, articulate advice and expert examples. Our muse can be a reference, a road map and a romp, all rolled into one. When our muse is on it, we can find our way through all sorts of mazes that we encounter. A happy muse helps to make our quests for creative development much easier and much happier. We are truly in a place of peace, when our muse is singing, humming, and dancing like no one is looking.

And how do we get there? With a discipline, focus, and dedication to our creative self that feeds our creativity and keeps our muse singing and humming in tune with your projects and creative works. We have to create a life that includes our craft at every turn of the spectrum, we have to create a life that allows us to be happily engaged in what we do and how we do it, we have to create a life that allows us to discover our talents and find our voice through our art allowing us to create something substantial, inspirational, and personally gratifying. It is what uniquely motivates us to complete a project.

What keeps your muse humming and singing and dancing like no one is watching? What fuels your creative endeavors?

ME, I took a trip to the Bahamas to pamper my muse and deflect burn out!!!


Con un pan y cafecito,


Seguimos adelante


Zulmara

Live in the Sunshine, Swim in the Sea, and Drink in the Wild Air

Live in the Sunshine, Swim in the Sea, and Drink in the Wild Air…Bahamas…

Pampering Your Muse-on Island Time

Having just returned from the Bahamas with this magnet a few weeks ago,

I was reflecting on why this particular quote resonated with me while I was down there and I knew right away it was because the Bahamas have a way of invigorating the soul and infusing the spirit with love, warmth, and motivation. I know it must be the joy of being able to live in the sunshine that make the Bahamians such a fun loving, kind and caring people. All that Vitamin D being soaked up in the skin make for a wonderful disposition on life and living. I was struck by the friendliness of everyone we met and by the love and good wished being showered on us.

That's my daughter!!! Love her!!!

The next explanation must be the swimming in the sea. The clear blue/green two tone waters are beautiful. Even in the coldest month of January, the waters were warm on the toes and tantalizing on the feet. We walked about 2 miles down the beach and even with an errant wave, we had a great time splashing the in the surf and just loving life.

And I cannot forget drinking in the wild air. Out there on mountain time you are truly in a world of your own and you are truly having the time of your life. You can get drunk on so much clean air when you come from LA and the it is invigorating.

I am thinking everyone should live on island at least once in their lives…just for the sunshine, sea, and air that are just a part of the everyday living experience. (Of course I don’t think I would be very productive, but my muse would certainly be very happy).

Yes, this quote did resonate with me for it captured all of the wonders of island life and living.

Con un pan y cafecito,

Seguimos adelante,

Zulmara

PS...My Island Birthday Cake...Chocolate Rum Cake...yummers!!!

Live by the Sun, Love by the Moon

Live by the Sun, Love by the Moon

Pampering your muse--with Island Time

When you are leading a creative life, guided by your inner muse, there are times you need to pamper your muse to rejuvenate your creative spirit, and inspire your wandering soul.

Recently, I was in the Bahamas to celebrate my 52nd birthday and it was the perfect time to pampering my muse the Bahamian way. The Bahamanians know how to live by the sun and lover thy the moon. They live life to the fullest when the sun is shining. Island time is living by the sun and loving by the moon time. A sunrise means a new day is born, but there is no hurry to speed up time. The morning unfolds slowly with the sun rising slowly and daylight breaking in its own time. Breakfast in the morning is a slow affair, living by the sun means you are in no hurry because the sun comes and goes everyday. The Bahamians are not in a hurry to get things done, be somewhere, or completer a task, or finish a to do list. Life is slow and the pace is reflective and contemplative. There is always time for a greeting, a smiles, a dance, and a song.

Loving by the moon means life if for loving—a moon-rise is synonymous with a smile, a laugh, a greeting, and a shared friendship, even with strangers. The Bahamians are an extremely happy and friendly people they are always ready with a smile and a greeting as they meander around the island, eager to help and please. They tell jokes, laugh with you and make you feel welcome.

Yes, anyone who visits will tell you that island time is magical time. It is like time stands still on the island it is living by the sun and loving by the moon…it is what pampering your muse is all about.

Con un pan y cafecito,

Seguimos adelante,

Zulmara