Not Your Mothers' Journaling

As I mention in my first post I have been working on a RS Enrichment Activity called 'Not Your Mothers' Journaling--creative ways to document your life'. Shirley Westenskow from Oak City came to our ward a gave this presentation on different and creative ways she has documented her life. Some of her ideas were journals, family newsletters, blogs, DVD's, etc.

Shirley is an amazing woman and I trully feel blessed by my association with her. As well as sharing her creativity, she also talked about the importance of taking time to discover who you are and what you like (self nurturing). This is something that I know we could all work on. As women in general we are great at nurturing others, but seem to forget about ourselves a lot of the time. Some of the ideas she uses are a gratitude journal...where you write down 5 things everyday that you are grateful for. She also has created a discovery journal...if you see something in a magazine that you like you rip out the page then later on you can sort through what you have and place it into categories. Don't spend time analyzing why you like it or not...if something cathes your eye just rip that page out. This is an amazing way to learn more about yourself. We did this activity last night and it was really fun...just ripping the pages out of a magazine is liberating in itself.

So I guess my goal is to continue blogging my history and hope that more of you will as well.

Here are the 5 things I am grateful for today:

• My family
  (all of them - I know that I do not show my appreciation often enough, but I trully do love an appreciate each and every one of you)
• My freedom
  (we are all trully blessed to live in this great country)
• My job
  (I am blessed with a great boss and for the most part I find great satisfaction in the work that I do each day)
• Technology
  (look at all the great ways we have to share our lives with each other)
• Friends - new & old
  (who inspire the best in each of us)