Dear Friends,

Today is Day 60 out of 60 Days of Daily Prompts.  We are “officially” finished, but I will post another prompt tomorrow, along with plans for my blog here in the new year.

The prompt today is a variation on an exercise that Heather Plett (heatherplett.com) suggests. Here on this next to the last day of 2014, I invite you to think about what you long for.  For me, this has always been complicated, to say the least.  I was raised as a good little Catholic girl, and while many good teachings were in there, there were also plenty of twisted tales of obligation and guilt.  What particularly impressed me were two related ideas:  if I wanted something, then the very “wanting” of it meant that it was probably bad for me, so then I shouldn’t want it; and if I really loved something or yearned for something that I knew was good, then the very best thing I could do would be to “offer it up”, to deny it to myself and offer up the pain of not getting whatever good that I wanted as a gift to God, showing how deep my love was for God.

Now I could write a book or two explaining how deeply and disastrously those two ideas incarnated into my life, but let it suffice here to proclaim that I have deeply learned, through life experience, study, and contemplation, that the best that we can do in life is to fully use and thoroughly enjoy whatever good things we’ve been given or brought into our lives.

I’ve also learned that, while it is possible to deceive ourselves into yearning for something that will ultimately be “bad” for us, our longings and yearnings are to be trusted, that in fact they are the ways that we can live out our union with or participation with the divine, the “really real basis of all life”.  To use more traditional religious language, our longings are one way that God communicates with us, steering us into our deepest good and happiness.   Our yearnings can be trusted if they will lead us into a larger and more loving life, whereas we might want to examine more deeply any yearnings that make our lives smaller or more constricted.

As we think about the new year, let’s get in touch with our deepest desires, bringing them up and onto the page so that we can decide next how to help make them become real and active in our lives.

In a large circle on your journal page, trace your hand.  Color it in if you would like, then freewrite along the outline what your yearnings and desires are for the foreseeable future, starting with the words, “I can trust my yearnings when they bring me into a larger and more loving life, and I now yearn for. . . ”

After you’re finished (or run out of space on the page!) you can decorate the page with more color or with symbols of your yearnings.  Reflect on those desires.  Did anything surprise you, either with their intensity or just with their presence?

Begin to imagine what it would be like to have these yearnings fully incarnated into your everyday life.

Technical note:  In my enthusiasm to start this journal page, I inadvertently used markers that are not waterproof.  Thus, when I painted on the watercolors, the black and the turquoise smeared a bit.  Luckily, I am not a perfectionist in my journal —- but just be warned: notice what is and isn’t waterproof!

With love,

Cat

Day 60 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro page http://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

Dear Friends,

Another way to effectively and easily review your year is to collect your calendars and date books for the past year.  Thoughtfully page through them, remembering your activities, commitments, and celebrations you were involved with.

There will be so much that you’d forgotten had happened.  At the same time, it may inspire you to slow down a little bit more in 2015.

Accompanying you in this adventure,

with love,

Cat

Dear Friends,

Today we’re going to start letting 2014 go.  If you can, go through your journals from this past year.  For the past few years, I have set aside 2 or 3 days to read through my year’s journals, and I make notes (on today’s page of my journal) of insights, comments, or dreams that have particularly impressed themselves on me.  I also go through December of the previous year (so now I’ll be re-reading Dec. 2013) to take a look at what I wanted to remember most about the year of 2013.

If that’s all you want to do today, go ahead with that.  I usually write the comments on a plain blank page of my journal, then go over what I’ve written in different watercolors, then connect them on the page with yet another color from my watercolor set, for a background.  I find that watercolors rarely cover over what I’ve written whereas acrylics most often do.

If you have a little extra time, or don’t want to go over your journals from the year, here’s an alternate prompt.  Make a diagram similar to the one in the photograph above, and label the four quadrants “Surprises and New Learnings”, “Successes”, “Griefs and Letting Go”, and “Gratitudes”.  Take a little quiet time, and then fill in the quadrants with what you remember from the past year.  You can add to your page throughout the next few days as different memories come up.

I have found that by doing this intentional remembering, I honor what I have gone through and what I have learned.  It’s a way to be conscious, to be really ALIVE to this life, to not get swept up into the overculture’s distractions which transform us from incredibly diverse human beings into perpetually dissatisfied consumers.  I become aware of patterns and ongoing challenges, as well as remembering so many good things that, because they were not earth-shattering in their impacts, are so easily forgotten.  I also accumulate the information that allows me to make changes that will be effective and long-lasting.

For years, I would write in my journals, then put them in boxes and never read them again.  Then one Christmas, at a very low time in my life, I house-sat for a friend for 10 days.  Pulled out of my daily life, I decided to read through my journals — at that time, about 7 or 8 years’ worth.  Since I had had many struggles during those years, I steeled myself for a difficult, depressing read, but something in me compelled me to take on the project anyway.

I was blown away with what I discovered!  Yes, there was plenty of venting and complaining (some of it very justified), but I also discovered a young woman who was trying so hard to do the right things in confusing life challenges, a young woman who was much stronger than my self perception at the time.  I was able to say “Yes, those truly were hard years.  AND I SURVIVED THEM!”  I still remember the wonder and gratitude I felt when I discovered what I had written and forgotten.

More recently in my life, I do my re-reads every year or so.  Thankfully, my life is in general much happier than in my early adult years, so I’m not usually blown away or surprised much by anything I read in my journals.  Yet, I get such a sense of owning my life and developing much compassion for myself and my struggles.  There’s just enough distance between now, when I’m reading, and then, when I wrote, to allow me to see myself as if I were someone else, as if it were someone else’s story.  Many of us as women are able to have more compassion for someone else than for ourselves, and this little trick has taught me how to extend my compassion towards my dear self as well.

May it be so for you, in whatever ways serve you best.

With love,

Cat

Day 59 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro page http://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

Dear Friends,

Today is the last Sunday of the year, the last Depth Dimension Day of 2014.

Whatever nourishes your soul, find some way to do it or have it or be it today, if only for a little bit.

In the quiet corners of the day, invite your soul to reflect on the past year:  has it been a nurturing year for your soul, your life?  What have been some of the surprises?  No need to write anything, but filling some pages of your journal with color provides the right head space for reflection and psychic ease.

As you begin to think about the week ahead, try to set aside an afternoon or evening to think and write about the year past.  In the next couple of days, I will provide prompts that will help us to put the year to bed and move forward into 2015.

With love,

Cat

Day 58 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

Dear Friends,

What has been the best gift you’ve ever received?  You define “best” here; what I’m thinking of is “what made me the happiest”, or “what has had the most lasting positive impact”, or perhaps “what has been the most surprising or unusual”.    Not just this year, but at any time in your life.  And of course, it doesn’t need to be limited to just one gift.

Image or write about this.  Who was/is the giver of this fine gift?  What has become of the gift?

The first part of my last name, “charis”, is the Greek word for gift.  It also has the ideas of grace and blessings within it, and is the word used in theology for divine grace.  Free, unconditional giving of the divine’s own self.

Gifts, grace, blessings.

With love,

Cat

Day 57 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

acrylic on canvas, Cat Charissage, 2013

Dear Ones,  Did you get to sleep in today as I did?   Mmmmmm. . .  . and to opent the blinds to radiant sunshine and a skiff of snow!  Beauty!  Today’s prompt is the same as yesterday’s.  See below.

Dear Friends,

The prompts for the next four days are the same:  ask yourself, “What do I want to remember about today?”  Then record it in image or word or artifact.

I’m talking about the cute thing that your niece said about her grandpa, or the sincere thanks you got from your mother in law for having Christmas Eve dinner at your house.  Or the cute look on your child’s face as he stole another cookie when he thought no one could see him.  Or saving a piece of wrapping paper that you wrapped your lover’s gift in; just tape it into your journal.  Or taping in some of the gift tags that were on some of your gifts.

I’m also talking about the image of the homeless guys in the city park, or the line-up at the free Christmas dinner at the Salvation Army.  Or the pile of new socks and gloves donated to the shelters by your children’s school.  Or the article in the paper about how a charity you support is delivering Holiday Hampers to families who need them.

If it’s a grief-filled or otherwise sad holiday season for you, record that.  Write about those whom you miss, those whom you worry about.

In all, let love well up in your heart.  Live this moment, now, in all the depths this life offers.

With love,

Cat

Day 56 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

2014 journals, so far, Cat Charissage

Dear Ones, Today’s prompt is the same as yesterday’s.  See below. Mary Christmas, to you and yours!

Dear Friends,

The prompts for the next four days are the same:  ask yourself, “What do I want to remember about today?”  Then record it in image or word or artifact.

I’m talking about the cute thing that your niece said about her grandpa, or the sincere thanks you got from your mother in law for having Christmas Eve dinner at your house.  Or the cute look on your child’s face as he stole another cookie when he thought no one could see him.  Or saving a piece of wrapping paper that you wrapped your lover’s gift in; just tape it into your journal.  Or taping in some of the gift tags that were on some of your gifts.

I’m also talking about the image of the homeless guys in the city park, or the line-up at the free Christmas dinner at the Salvation Army.  Or the pile of new socks and gloves donated to the shelters by your children’s school.  Or the article in the paper about how a charity you support is delivering Holiday Hampers to families who need them.

If it’s a grief-filled or otherwise sad holiday season for you, record that.  Write about those whom you miss, those whom you worry about.

In all, let love well up in your heart.  Live this moment, now, in all the depths this life offers.

With love,

Cat

Day 55 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

Dear Ones, Today’s prompt is the same as yesterday’s.  See below.  Happy day, as much as possible.

Dear Friends,

The prompts for the next four days are the same:  ask yourself, “What do I want to remember about today?”  Then record it in image or word or artifact.

I’m talking about the cute thing that your niece said about her grandpa, or the sincere thanks you got from your mother in law for having Christmas Eve dinner at your house.  Or the cute look on your child’s face as he stole another cookie when he thought no one could see him.  Or saving a piece of wrapping paper that you wrapped your lover’s gift in; just tape it into your journal.  Or taping in some of the gift tags that were on some of your gifts.

I’m also talking about the image of the homeless guys in the city park, or the line-up at the free Christmas dinner at the Salvation Army.  Or the pile of new socks and gloves donated to the shelters by your children’s school.  Or the article in the paper about how a charity you support is delivering Holiday Hampers to families who need them.

If it’s a grief-filled or otherwise sad holiday season for you, record that.  Write about those whom you miss, those whom you worry about.

In all, let love well up in your heart.  Live this moment, now, in all the depths this life offers.

With love,

Cat

Day 54 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

my journals from 2014 — so far. . .

Dear Friends,

The prompts for the next four days are the same:  ask yourself, “What do I want to remember about today?”  Then record it in image or word or artifact.

I’m talking about the cute thing that your niece said about her grandpa, or the sincere thanks you got from your mother in law for having Christmas Eve dinner at your house.  Or the cute look on your child’s face as he stole another cookie when he thought no one could see him.  Or saving a piece of wrapping paper that you wrapped your lover’s gift in; just tape it into your journal.  Or taping in some of the gift tags that were on some of your gifts.

I’m also talking about the image of the homeless guys in the city park, or the line-up at the free Christmas dinner at the Salvation Army.  Or the pile of new socks and gloves donated to the shelters by your children’s school.  Or the article in the paper about how a charity you support is delivering Holiday Hampers to families who need them.

If it’s a grief-filled or otherwise sad holiday season for you, record that.  Write about those whom you miss, those whom you worry about.

In all, let love well up in your heart.  Live this moment, now, in all the depths this life offers.

With love,

Cat

Day 53 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.

Dear Friends,

For many of us with families or other obligations, Christmastime is a bit too frenzied.  Today in your journal, I’d like you to look at the busy-ness of the season with a bit of humor, and either write a prayer or short poem which acknowledges what I call “overwealmth”:  overwhelm plus wealth/abundance.

Here is one poem that has always gotten a smile of recognition from me:

Sometimes

When it is all, finally,

Too much,

I climb into my car,

Roll the windows up,

And somewhere between backing out the driveway

And rounding the first corner

I let out a yell

That would topple Manhattan.

How do you pray?

——Margaret L. Mitchell

With love,

Cat

Day 52 of a series of daily prompts for written, visual, or art journalling, or just for pondering.  For more background information, see the Intro pagehttp://catcharissage.com/2014/10/29/announcing-sixty-days-of-visual-journalling-prompts/, or this post on visual journalling: http://catcharissage.com/2014/07/12/talking-about-journals/.