Walking the Camino brought me a lot of time for self reflection. I’ve been thinking about new goals for this blog, for my own life, and about you! I do believe it’s the perfect time for me to change it up on the topics I post. I want my writing to be authentic and real, to serve a purpose, to make me think about my life, to make you think about your life. I want to talk about feelings. How to feel those feelings and what to do with them. I truly believe that if we don’t learn to feel our feelings we become what I call “frozen”. And stuffing our feelings, living from a frozen emotional status quo is no way to live, and does not serve us.
I recently went to a one day conference in Tennessee where several hundred people gathered to talk about dreaming big, going after those dreams, and while doing so, serving others. My kind of thinking. The conference was in honor of a man named Zig Ziglar, a beloved and well known motivational speaker. This past weekend would have been his 100th birthday. His son Tom mentioned in one of his talks that he felt the world had plenty of ongoing information coming in, but what we really needed was more wisdom. I agree. So now I am wondering: is it possible for us to share our wisdom on my blog? Not only that, but take that wisdom out into the world and apply it to our lives?
My goal is to post two or three times a week and write about all the different emotions we carry around in our daily lives. And to discuss that how we feel affects how we think, which in turn may have a lot to do with the actions we take, the choices we make. I may give you things to reflect on about yourself, your thoughts, and your ideas about life. I may pass on a few wise quotes. And I hope you have questions for me and thoughts to share and leave them in the comment section of each post I send. It’s a safe place to share.
I will soon be 69 years young. I have some life experience under my belt. I have 26 years of Al-Anon, a twelve step program, ingrained in my bones. I try to practice those steps and principles everyday. I consider myself a good listener most of the time, and I try to remain open minded, and I absolutely know I have so much to learn, everyday. And I want to learn from you. So let’s dive in together and explore our feelings and our thoughts, for surely they create our own personal world.
So we begin. And yes, I am thinking about you. Let’s see what we can do together. And as Al-Anon states, understand you are free “to take what you need and leave the rest”, as you read my posts. I’m excited! Let’s share some life experience. Let’s share some wisdom!
With Love, Joan
Hello beautiful lady! I think of you so very often. All the way back to 2015 when my Father passed away and you were his Nurse. You are so caring and giving of yourself and bring so much comfort and blessings to so many people. I am grateful to have you in my life.
Personally, as a NP it is sometimes difficult to “carry” things that patient’s share with me- in many dimensions, stuffing those emotions down is not healthy. It is also hard to put those feelings away on a shelf like a book and as somene once told – “that is their story not yours to carry”. I struggle with this conception.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I am grateful to have you in my life also beautiful Lady! I will be pondering your request. Thank you! I shall post this week on this topic. It’s a good one!
Sweet Joan, thank you for this post. I have been leading a book study on The Knight in Rusty Armor. It is a great book about shedding our “armor” that we put on to protect ourselves from the world around us. Oh, yes, we must feel our feelings in order to know what “armor” we have put on and how it has kept us from being our real selves. The knight gains wisdom on his journey and when he cries tears from the heart, the tears release his rusted-on armor. It takes great wisdom to accept responsibility for our actions and not “blame” others. I look forward to learning about feelings as you take us on this journey. Thank you – with an open heart and mind – I am with you.
What a great share you have written here, Rick. Thank you. I may have to read about this knight. A “frozen” knight brought to life through his tears! Ain’t it the truth! :O)