Dark Chocolate

Mari McCarthy's DARK CHOCOLATE FOR THE JOURNALER'S SOUL is exactly what it says it is....dark chocolate for the journaler.  Personally, I love to journal.  I've been doing it for so long, I have no real idea when I actually first started.  I have a large number of hand-written journals (notebooks, actual journals, notepads, etc.) that I've used over the years as well as digital journals I started in approximately 2009 or 2010.  I write in my journals A LOT.  A lot of journalers have been introduced to Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY where she talks about doing Morning Pages--every day--3 full pages of freewriting that the journaler does first thing in the morning.

I have tried Morning Pages and liked them, very much.  The problem, though, is that I have never been much of a morning person.  I like to sleep until the last possible second.  So no matter how good my intentions, my Morning Pages typically were either Afternoon or Evening Pages instead.

In McCarthy's book, one of the contributors feels the same as I do about mornings and has taken to using Mari's suggestion of writing Night Notes instead.  While I've been reading through and working on a number of Mari's journals, blogs, etc., I had not yet heard or read about Night Notes.  But as soon as I read about them in DARK CHOCOLATE, I knew I'd hit on exactly what I was looking for as my alternative to Morning Pages--with no self-guilt!  (I felt guilty because I loved doing Morning Pages and I REALLY wanted to do them--I just didn't want to do them bad enough to get up a little earlier every day!) 

I am again inspired to get journaling.......

My Guilty Pleasure

Yes, another Mary Balogh book.  I like these ones that are published with 2 books in one.  Both of these books, A COUNTERFEIT BETROTHAL and THE NOTORIOUS RAKE, follow the same pattern as every other Balogh book.  There isn't anything new other than the stories themselves.  They're still fun to read and still provide me enough entertainment that I don't regret purchasing the book or reading it.  And, yes, I'll probably read the whole thing (both books) several times--as I typically do with Balogh books.

*Don't judge me.  She's my one, true guilty pleasure as far as reading is concerned!

Handling Anger

Gary Chapman's ANGER:  HANDLING A POWERFUL EMOTION is a reprint (revised edition) of THE OTHER SIDE OF LOVE.  I didn't realize that when I bought the book for my Nook; I already had a copy of THE OTHER SIDE OF LOVE in book form.  I went ahead and read the Nook version. 

Anyway, as someone who has been dealing with a lot of anger (rage is really more like it), this book was a valuable resource.  Let me just say that I will probably end up reading it at least once more if not more than that......

I do so want a Joy-filled life

Philippians 4:8:  "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."  (NLT)

Tommy Newberry's book THE 4:8 PRINCIPLE:  THE SECRET TO A JOY-FILLED LIFE doesn't really say much of anything that anyone who has been a believer for as long as I have hasn't already heard before.  With that being said, though, I want to clarify that because the Bible is the living, breathing Word of God, any time we can study God's Word does not return void.  It is ALWAYS valuable to a person's Christian walk with the Lord to be reminded of such wonderful truths.

It is so easy to get caught up in the daily activities of LIFE as well as just the daily trials of life.  When we get too far into them without keeping the Word the main focus, it is also easy to begin thinking of things that aren't true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, or admirable.  We begin thinking and believing lies as well as negative thoughts about our own lives as well as about the lives of the people around us.

I know that I have let hurts as well as just the day-to-day dealings with those around me to affect me negatively so that I've begun to think and feel negatively towards certain people in my life--important people.  As I've read through Newberry's book, I've thought about these negative thoughts and feelings and where they've come.  The reality is that they've come from a bad, negative place.

Have my feelings been hurt?  Absolutely.

Do the people who have hurt my feelings deserve for me to think about them as being terrible, awful people who deserve to have terrible awful things happen to them?  Not in the slightest.

But I have let negative thinking get in the way of dealing with the problems, the hurts, and finding my way to forgiveness.  I hope and pray that I am now at a place where my thoughts have been turned around and that these relationships will be as well.