I've been reading Julia Cameron's Vein of Gold as part of my morning warm up. Sometimes I do the exercises, but just as often I'm lazy about them. This morning, however, she asked me to list 100 things for which I am grateful, and -- because of yesterday's post about lists, not to mention my pep-talk to my students -- I felt that I had better give it a try.
Whenever I've written a list this ambitious (100 questions, 100 things I'd like to do), I seem to start with a blank, and then find myself really stuck at about 20: I'm grateful that I am 20 questions in on this list. And I think about quitting. Sometimes I do quit. But if I push on, I suddenly break into another level, that I guess I'd have to call specificity. I'm not simply grateful for my daughters...not simply grateful for whichever one I name first...but I'm grateful for her Woody Woodpecker laugh, for her enthusiasm for her friends, for her wild hair, for her skills as a baker, for how good she is with children.
I get to number 100, and I'm no where near finished. What a shift!
You should try it.
Whenever I've written a list this ambitious (100 questions, 100 things I'd like to do), I seem to start with a blank, and then find myself really stuck at about 20: I'm grateful that I am 20 questions in on this list. And I think about quitting. Sometimes I do quit. But if I push on, I suddenly break into another level, that I guess I'd have to call specificity. I'm not simply grateful for my daughters...not simply grateful for whichever one I name first...but I'm grateful for her Woody Woodpecker laugh, for her enthusiasm for her friends, for her wild hair, for her skills as a baker, for how good she is with children.
I get to number 100, and I'm no where near finished. What a shift!
You should try it.
Hi - I hadn't read this post when I started a list this morning and got to 20 and then was interrupted. But it reminded me of when Abby was beside herself because their house wasn't selling and after tears, sat down and wrote a list of 100 things she was grateful for and the house sold and closed fast. I wonder if Julia got this idea when Abby sent it out into the Universe. Should I get this book????
ReplyDeleteAnnie told me she asked Santa for a Kitchen Aid Mixer and I bet she got it, right? I told her I still have my first one which I brought to AZ, it was a wedding gift from my mother in law 45 years ago and works fine and looks like the new one I have at home in Edmonds, #21 I'm grateful for Kitchen Aid Mixers #22 I'm grateful for you.