10 Journal Prompts To Start Your Year Off Right

Positive habits, like writing in our journal are a powerful way to increase happiness, reduce anxiety and to create focus. But what to write on a daily basis? While I suggest to always make a gratitude  list  a part of your daily journal routine, it does not have to, and should not be limited to that aspect of journal writing.

I have combined some powerful prompts for you, which you can use to expand your journal writing practice

10 Powerful Journal Prompts

 

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Because it is Friday, I am sharing with you, what I am grateful for this week:

1. A quiet and peaceful New Years eve. Surprisingly New Years in Las Vegas is tame compared to some other cities around the world I have been in. A pleasant surprise.

2. I met some really nice new neighbors. Very friendly people and my dogs seem to like them too.

3. There has been a lot more sunshine. Still cold, but at least, the sun is shining. I can deal with that.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Claudia

 

Coffee, Vegan Nutella, Gratitude And A Story

Hey, good to see you! I just made coffee, and I have fresh bread rolls that are still hot from the oven, ready to be topped with delicious jam or some homemade vegan Nutella. How to make homemade Nutella, you ask? Rather simple:

Take 1/4 cup of hazelnut butter (you can use peanut or almond butter, but trust me it is not the same then using the real hazelnut butter stuff), put it in a bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons of raw agave nectar, and a tablespoon of cocoa powder. Mix it well. I recommend doubling the recipe though because most of the time someone else will want some too. Just like the real thing, this stuff is addicting.

Drinking our hot beverages, I would tell you that I am still not fond of the weather here. Way too cold. I am hiding under my blanket with a space heater next to me, simply because I like it cozy. If it gets too warm for you, let me know, and I will turn it down.

I was looking through my older stories, and found the following Flash Fiction again, and I wanted to share it with you. It is called, “A New Friend” and I hope you will enjoy it.

 

A New Friend

He wasn’t such a scary fellow. Ugly maybe, but who was I to judge him by his looks? Too many people tended to judge people by their appearance. But I knew better.
His eyes, not meeting mine for more than a second at a time, where big and full of mistrust. Hair, thick and unkempt, covered up most of his distorted face, his body bent forward in a mixture of agony and malformation. As he reached for the spindle, his broken left hand was surprisingly capable of doing the deed in front of him. Again he glanced, and again the glance ended as quickly as it had begun.

“I will do what you asked for.”
His voice, as broken as his body was soft, but determined.
“I am sure you will.”
“And you will do as promised.”, he demanded.
“As I always do.”
He paused, then nodded, continuing to work the spindle, swiftly, with a confidence that defied his outer appearance and demeanor. Two minutes later, he stopped, his crackling voice echoing through the silence “Why?”
“Why, what?”, I answered.
“Why do you watch?”
“Because I am curious.”
“Ahh”., he murmured, beginning to move again, repeating the motion that was so hard for able body me, and easy for challenged him. Another two minutes passed in utter silence. Stopping as suddenly as the first time, he glared at me longer, his green eyes darkening, as they penetrated through me, to my core.
“Why?” he asked once more.
“Why, what?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because you are interesting.”
“You have no fear?”, he questioned, surprised
“I feel no reason to fear you.”

He stroked his hair away from his misshapen cheek bones, pinning it behind his large ears, nodding, then with what was a twisted smile, that despite its broken shaped showed a kindness, apparent and deep.
“Then forgive me, my Lady. You have nothing to fear. And you owe me nothing for my work.”, his voice stronger this time, as he straightened as much as he was able to.
I smiled back at him, stretching my hand toward the old figure in front of me.
“So I shall give you my friendship, dear Sir, if you wish.”
“I would be honored indeed.”
We shook hands, swiftly, with the same efficiency, with which he had moved the spindle.
“What may I call you Sir?”, I dared to asked?
Rumplestiltskin.

___________________________________________________________

 

 

I did not write my gratitude lists on  the blog this week, not for Thursday, Friday, nor Saturday but I am using Thanksgiving as my excuse. Those three days belonged to my family. I hope you had a wonderful celebration, and were able to connect with your loved ones.
Because of this, I am going to share parts of my gratitude list with you today, and hope you will take a moment to reflect upon what you are grateful for as well.

  1. I am grateful for my oven, which has been and will continue to be used in over-abundance until
    all of the winter holidays have left us. I might gain some weight, as a result, but that is what new years resolutions are for.
  2. I am grateful for my husband’s business partner (and who happens to be my boss), who send me a pretty nice text message out of the blue on Thanksgiving, saying how thankful he was, that we are helping him with the business. It is nice to be appreciated.
  3. I am grateful for Canva and Picmonkey, which I used to make the typography throughout this post. Both have free versions (I use premium on both), that are wonderful for bloggers, especially now that my computer is acting up. I really do not want to fight with any more complicated programs, like Photoshop or Illustrator, when I have a laptop complicating things.
  4. I am grateful for that adorable not so little dog, with white eyes, who seems to have taking a liking to me. It belongs to a neighbor, but every time she sees me, she acts like my dogs do, after I been gone for a couple of hours. That is so cute. I tried to take a picture of her, but she is too hyper to hold still long enough I think she adopted me.

 

This has turned into a much longer conversation than intended. I am going to let you go, but not before telling you to take some of that Nutella – of course, I made extra.

Blessings!

This blog post is a part of the following blog hops

Weekend Coffee Share

Celebrate The Small Things

No Rules Weekend Blog Party

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Thankful Thursdays

Gratitude, Coffee And Staying Motivated

Welcome to our weekly coffee share session. I am always looking forward to seeing you. Come on in, the  coffee is hot and fresh, but I also got tea, and some vegan cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, if you want some. Help yourself.

If you were here with me I would greet you with a smile, and tell you how grateful I am to have a quiet home at the moment. Half of the family is doing their own thing, so the noise level is way down. My head is grateful too, as I need space to think, quiet company and one on one conversations, rather than music or television in the background. Makes it easier to focus on what is important. You would probably notice my gratitude journal on my table. Do you write in a gratitude journal on a regular basis? Today I mentioned my family, the cool breezes of the last few days, the great lunch I had yesterday with my hubby, and of course, coffee.

If you were here with me, I would ask you if you are working on your dreams and goals, and how you stay motivated. Is it easy for you to stay on track with your goals, or do you have to drag yourself to take the necessary steps? If you are dragging, I would ask you what your reasons behind your goals are. A great why helps to pull you along, even when the day is tough.

What is your biggest, most outrages dream? I would share it with you – owning a home in  Hollywood Hills is mine – and hope you would share your dream with me. No dreams are too big, too outrageous if you are willing to work for them. I am. Are you? What are you doing right now to make them happen?

Weekend Coffee Share

As you can tell, I love helping others reach their goals and dreams. A part of me is always going to be a motivational life coach, even if I have given up my practice a few years ago (it has been that long already? Wow, time flies when you’re having fun). Maybe that is the reason why I love helping other designers, creatives and writers succeed. It’s my thing, I guess.

What are you currently reading? Are you reading something that can help you along in your career, or business? Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It is currently on my Kindle. I am a fan of Gary’s videos, if you have not heard about him, I suggest you check him out. Very motivational.

I am glad you stopped by and we had a chance to talk. If you get a moment, check out all of the other participants of the Weekend Coffee Share and those who post as a part of the Celebrate The Small Things Blog hop. They would appreciate your visit.

See you next week – oh, but please feel free to drop by anytime. I always have something to share!

Blessings

Claudia

 

A Moment Of Gratitude – A Celebrate The Small Things Blog Post

It is time again to join Lexa Cain for her weekly blog hop “Celebrate The Small Things” You can join this ever-growing list of gratitude practitioners there. Remember, when you look close enough, you will always find something to be grateful for.

This week I am grateful that our move is now in it’s final stages, and we are actually getting on the road on Tuesday. I am looking forward to finally moving out of here, and toward the West, something we all have been looking forward to for a while now. Las Vegas, here we come!

I am grateful that I am getting better at moving efficiently and in a more organized manner. This will come in handy in the near future again, our stay in Las Vegas is limited to about 6 months. So, basically as soon as we unpacked, we are going to re-pack. I better have that down to a science by then!

I am grateful that I have chosen to take the next few days off, and that I am flexible enough to do so. It is so much harder when your schedule is dictated by a typical job. I am glad that I am in charge of my own schedule.

I am grateful that found some baby pictures of my daughter, I did not remember we had. Somehow they got mixed in with some tax papers (I don’t know how that happened), but they are adorable, and put a smile on my face. I can’t wait to tease her with them later on today.

Speaking of pictures, going through all of our stuff, I also came across my own basic training pictures. Now there is something to scare the kids with. Is it a bad thing to be grateful for having been hurt bad enough in basic training to receive a medical discharge? Well, I am, because it brought me to this time and place, something that might have never happened would I have actually been physically able to stay. I guess it is possible to be grateful for torn ligaments and improper medical treatment after all. Was not that much fun when it happened, though.

What are you grateful for this week? I hope you take the time to write a blog post, and join the hop, or create a list in your journal. Gratitude is a practice that should be held sacred by everyone, no matter which spiritual background or the lack thereof  one comes from.

Have a great weekend!

Claudia

P.S. I will not be a part of next weeks hop. Monday will be the last day I will be on this blog until end of June. See you in July!

Gratitude And Books – A Weekly Blog Hop-Smash Up

I love blog hops, but lately everyone seems to have one on Friday! In order to participate in the blog hops I want to, I chose to combine two from now on, and will call it the “Gratitude and Books Smash Up”.

The two blog hops I am combining are the weekly “Celebrate The Small Things“, hosted by dear Lexa Cain, and the “Fast Five Friday Blog Hop”, which is book related.

Here is my gratitude list for the week:

Celebrate blog hop

I am always grateful for books, and this week I had a special chance of purchasing a few really good non-fiction books, I have been “dying” to get. They are three books related to symbolism and lore surrounding birds, specifically as it relates to Shamanism. I love birds, and have a special connection to them, due to my spiritual path, so I was so happy to be able to get these books.

Another book I purchased, and for which I am grateful for was talked about in a productivity web series I recently watched. It is called “Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” and I highly recommend it.

Speaking of web series, I am very grateful for Michael Sliwinski, the founder of Nozbe to have created a wonderful, useful and very inspiring series on productivity. It helped me a lot so far. Organization was never my forte, but by following through on his advice, I am actually getting better at it.

I am also thankful for the fact that the holidays are over. I love holidays, but I prefer to have a more uninterrupted schedule. 2015 feels like a  year, where I need to get things done.

Now off to the second blog hop “Fast Five Friday”!

Fast Five Friday Participant

Fast Five Friday Participant

This weeks Fast Five Friday Prompt asks us to write about the five most anticipated novels of this year. For me personally, the following five novels, are those I am looking forward to reading, some of which I am already asked to review, others I hope that I will get a chance to review before their release date. Either way, these books sound pretty great. Check them out!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Claudia