Winter Renewal

Take time to respond for a winter renewal.

1. Write about what you've learned at this stage of your life. See
how far you can go with this for fifteen minutes.

2.  When you catch yourself thinking about what's broken, consider what you want to happen and how you can make it happen on your scale. Keep writing.

3. Believe in living in the moment. Don't dwell on negativity. Write beyond it.

4. Write about what you truly need to be content. Delve into why you think, “I'll be happy when I have this or that,” or “when I live over there,” or “when this happens.” 

5. Write your successes. Examine mistakes and if you have failed to meet objectives. You have choices. Examine your priorities. 

Additional Points to Ponder:

6.  Choose wisely what you read, listen to and the people with whom you associate. Avoid letting negative individuals populate your world. You cannot change them. Move on.

7.  Learn to listen with both ears. Evaluate before disrespecting  another's opinion.

8.  Examine how you take responsibility for yourself with healthy choices of diet, exercise and mind push ups. Nurture a spiritual force that supports your efforts.

9.   Take pride in the natural world and explore it daily with all your senses. 

10. Work on the power of You.

Happy Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day occurs on February 2 each year. Arriving at the midway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox, it launches a celebration of Candlemas.

Punxsutawney Phil, a resident of Punxsutawney, PA, has predicted the weather since 1887. Men who volunteer as a part of the Inner Circle to care for him.

Believers feel that whether or not the groundhog sees its shadow indicates how much longer winter will last. If Phil sees his shadow, it suggests six more weeks of winter. If the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, spring will arrive early.

  

The Groundhog Day celebration begins early in the morning with thousands of people gathering to see if the weather-predicting groundhog spots his shadow or not.

Today Phil did not see his shadow at 7:25 am. This created cheers from a crowd who participated under a clear sky and 21 degree temperature.

German immigrants brought the tradition of Groundhog Day in the late 1800s. At that time members of Groundhog  Lodges, meant for socializing with others and enjoying meals, planned the "unburrowing" ceremony. They originally used badgers or bears as their forecasters since both animals hibernate and awaken when days become longer and the sun's angle becomes higher.

Celebrate!  Spring is coming soon.

February - LOVE to Write Month

Make a pact with yourself to Love your writing for the next seven days. Extend all the way to February 14 once you're on a writing roll.

Respond to your emotions and senses and expand your possibilities.



February First - A focus on pure potential

Find a place where you can devote an hour away from clocks, watches and digital reminders of time. Bring your writing pad or computer and just BE.



Take a few breaths and write about how you will devote yourself to a Love of Words each day up to and through Valentine's day. How will you reinforce this daily commitment?

Love for Writing Day Two



What gift have you received from life's experiences?

 Write about your gift of words. Show your appreciation with a write of wonder. 

Choose your favorite meal of the day and bring it to the page with all your senses.

Love for Writing Day Three

Each time you send words to the page or screen, you create energy that stimulates more ideas and sentences. 



Choose success with your paragraphs today. Make them flow with fun and wonder. 

Write about a first emotion experienced. Do you remember what FUN felt like in your body? Recall that first feeling of true happiness and connect it with a sound or scent. Turn abstractions into concrete images. 

Love for Writing Day Four



Observe today with the least effort. Accept the day, people, situations, and events as you meet them. Keep a notebook of the situations that pique your curiosity or irritate you the most.



Tonight, freewrite about the day. Let go of any need to defend your point of view.

Love for Writing Day Five



Today write way beyond your comfort zone. Reach wide for the improbable. Catch the unpredictable. Race to the edge of your writing cliff. 



Love the sense of flight in your words today as you soar beyond your limitations.

Love for Writing Day Six

Don't force words today.  Let detachment from results and uncertainty rule.  Write with the freedom to reveal dimensions of yourself in words.

Select a time you wore a disguise. How did you select the persona and costume?  Show how it reveals your freedom to become another individual. Write to reveal what that identity meant to you.  Could you turn it into a story?

Love for Writing Day Seven

Let your seventh day explode with a sense of humor.  

       Find fun and fancy in each interaction and situation.  

                  Spread your smile and mystify with mirth.

Where will your funny bone take you?

Notice how the Love for writing increases with a commitment each day.