BELLA GRACE FIELD GUIDE

You can buy these just about everywhere.  Lovely little Bella Grace journals with beautiful pictures and writing prompts.  Just my type thing and maybe yours too.  Here are some of the quotes and prompts, if you're in the mood to respond.  We can think our responses, we don't have to write them.  

Not every day will be perfect, but every day will have a perfect moment.  This was an easy one today.  I napped outdoors in the sun.  Oh yes, a perfect 60 minutes.  My husband brought my tea in this morning as well, the sign of a day starting out just right.  

During dark or rainy days how can we add some brightness?  I'm thinking bad-mood days as well.  Even days when we've been hit by a trigger.  I have a yellow cashmere sweater with short, puffed sleeves that I always feel good in.  Also a turquoise bead necklace bought for me on a vacation.  But you might add brightness by baking or creating something.  Or a prayer of thanksgiving for the rain, or for having survived some bad time of life.  What do you think?

What makes receiving a hand-written letter special for you?  I don't get (or send) these often anymore. Cards, yes, but not letters.  But the ones I've saved are precious--the letter my husband sent my parents when our first child was born far from home in the UK.  Our love letters from pre-email college, full of longing.  Sweet notes from a high school boy friend.  A letter to my father from his mother; one from my other grandma to me; one from my father to my mother when he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  Are you thinking about what's in your stash?  

Forgive yourself the way God forgives:  late at night and all day long."  This is a quote by writer Sherihan Gamal.  Isn't it the best idea?  Forgive others this way too.  Who do I (we) need to forgive besides myself (ourselves)?  Here are a few more of her quotes that I like: 
        It's hard dealing with a heart that knows what it deserves."   This is a take-care-of-yourself quote.  And third, 

        There's a special place in heaven for the tired ones, those who lived and loved and worked and got hurt a little bit more than others.”   Isn't it nice how so-called inspirational quotes actually are inspirational?  How you can pop onto Pinterest and find positive emotions?  Not the eternal truths, maybe, but after any day's news cycle a simple aspirational statement cleanses the mind, points it in a new direction. Not everything has to be intense.  

What are the things you did when you were younger that made you forget time? "There lies the myth to live by."  So says Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), teacher of comparative mythology.  One of my escapes/teachers/simple pleasures that made me forget time ("time for dinner," "time for bed," "time to leave . . .") was reading.  I read Gone with the Wind the summer before 6th grade, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead the summer before 8th.  Also playing outdoors, of course makes children forget time.  So, my myth of a good life might be reading and being in nature.  What about you?  

What are your favorite ways to instantly make your day better that cost nothing? Oh, my goodness, there are so many of these.  Mine are simple:  go outside, go to a bookstore, post on this blog or work on my collage journal, write a devotion for church, wash my hair or take a bath, get dressed nicely, talk to or text a grandchild, talk to my daughter-in-law, watch a movie with my husband, tend to my plants, iron some clothes that need it . . . .   And, of course, what if we're at the beach?  This afternoon I went out after a storm and gathered shells.  Free and exhilarating. Then made shrimp and grits for supper.  I'd love to see your list!   

Nina Naomi     

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