"The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurements anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected me to fit them."
-George Bernard Shaw

It’s interesting how the way I write or what I write continues to change.  In grade school, it was very much a diary, pretty factual—this is what the day held and this is how it made me feel.  In high school, there was much more poetry, and, yes, even song lyrics.  The poems were generally raw and vacillated between being incredibly overt to vague and symbolic.  It was all deeply personal.  I moved on in college to writing quite frequently in third person.  If you happened upon one of my journals, you may have thought I was writing a series of short stories.  These actually happened.   They were my life and those of you who were a part of it had nicknames.  I distinctly remember the pretty boy, the best friend, and the activist.   And then I just began to write. it. all.  I wrote what happened, how I felt, how I thought others perceived it, how I hurt, what made me happy, what I wanted to do, what I wanted to quit doing, what my waking and sleeping dreams were, who I wanted to be and how I thought I could get there and on and on.  I included gratefulness and grief, hopes and rude awakenings.  The writing still continues to change.  The journals as of late have become deeply contemplative.  They are frequently filled with words that others have written—numerous quotes, advice from sages of many cultures and times, thoughts from a variety of topics that pique my interest.  I write bits of gratitude, persistent questions, vivid dreams, curious prayers mostly consisting of "You know better...Thy will be done", and subtle whispers that I’m learning to listen to.  I record the details of life that I feel like the Divine continues to use to get my attention, to wake me up.  I want to take note and not forget these small steps that I am trusting are leading me to Source.  I am breathing all the lessons in deeply and breathing out the heaviness and history that I once thought I had to carry.  Everything is new.  Each moment is new.  The writing remains a reflection of change, a reminder of growth, and motivation for deeper discoveries.  How have you seen your writing change?  How has the way you reflect and record changed?

"Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way"–Native American Saying

This is an email that I received from a customer that I met recently.  I was so inspired by her recognizing her need to keep a gratitude journal that I asked if I could share this with you all.  Here is the email:

Dear Melissa,

I am so happy to have met you. I was literally drawn into your booth! I was in the middle of a sentence talking to my husband and writing something down for him when I stopped talking, handed him the paper, and walked into your booth! That has never happened to me before. I purchased one of your beautiful upcycled books-one with the cover from a Reader's Digest. I just love the idea of re-using covers - inspired!

While I was there, I told you about books by Rhonda Byrne. Her third one, The Magic, is a kind of "workbook" for gratitude. It's fabulous. After looking around on your web site, I know that you already live your life the way that is described in Rhonda Byrne's books. You talk about intentions and gratefulness. I love the idea of "imaginal cells" - thanks for sharing that.

I used to journal about what was going on in my life, but found that I focused on the bad stuff, the annoying things and what I was worried about. I could never go back and read stuff because it just made me feel bad. One of the exercises in The Magic is to write, first thing in the morning 10 things that you are grateful for. It's wonderful. It puts me a good mood and if I need an extra boost, I can go back and read pages and pages of things that I am grateful for. I will be filling my new journal with  happy thoughts - one of which is finding Re-Imagined by Luna!