Talk about on Greg Higgins

Let's Talk About Blogging

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 09:21:53 -0500

I’m really enjoying blogging with Scribbles. I like the interface. It feels like a blog. That makes it fun for me.

Another one I recently came in contact with was Gibberish so I decided to try it out. The editor is simply a chat window. It’s like writing a message to a family member or a friend. You type and hit send. When you send it, that becomes a paragraph for your blog post. You can type another message in the same thread and hit send, it becomes the next paragraph. It’s simple, easy and a lot of fun to do.

Both of these platforms are fun and thats the key to me. I want my writing to be fun. I decided a long time ago to write for myself. I like to write. I don’t know if anyone reads my blogs, but that’s ok with me. I do it for me!

I’m not sure where my writing will go from here. If I’ll stay on micro.blog or move to one of the other platforms. Or, perhaps, keep all three. I’m not sure. But for now, writing is fun. And that’s what I want it to be.

Let's Talk about Apple's New Journal App

Sat, 28 Oct 2023 15:36:45 -0500

Apple’s much anticipated journal app was released to beta users this week. I downloaded the app immediately. I’ve been looking forward to this app ever since it was announced at WWDC in June.

A little history here. I’ve had Day One for years. I’ve been an off-and-on again journal entry guy. Then early this year I decided to get serious about journaling. I’ve tried using a notebook and that’s my favorite way to journal (I do morning pages every day with pen and paper). But I love the digital aspect of this. I love being able to dictate the journal entry if I’m driving or out for a walk. I love being able to add media to my journal entries like photos or links.

So I was very much interested in the Apple journaling app. Now, I didn’t know what to expect when I opened it. It’s very basic to say the least but that’s ok. Someone new to journaling doesn’t need a lot of bells and whistles. When you open a brand new notebook, it’s very plain. Just a blank sheet of paper. I’m not sure if that’s what Apple was going for here but that’s the feel I get when I open this app and start a new journal entry. It’s a blank screen.

There are buttons and there are places to add media like you’d expect but it’s a very bare bones journaling app. Now, I also suspect this will change over time. Much like Apple Notes and Reminders. Those two apps were as basic as you could get when they came out but now they’ve turned into some pretty powerful apps. I imagine journal will be much the same. Over time, you may see other features come out but for now, it’s as basic as they come. But, again, that’s ok. Basic isn’t a bad thing. Some times you just need a place to write (or type) about your day. You may just want to write down about how bad (or good) your day was without having to figure out if you’re in the right notebook or what font you want to use.

I’m excited to see where Apple takes this and how the on-device learning will help the journaling process. The ability for your phone to grab information about your workout or music playlist could be a lot of fun.

For heavy Day One users, this isn’t a replacement app. Not by any means. But for other people that just want to journal and to get started, this is a great place to make that happen.

Let’s talk about Notifications and Focus Modes

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 08:10:52 -0500

I’m pretty sure Apple didn’t create Focus modes for this reason. But I’m trying something out. One of my biggest complaints with Apple has been the fact that you cannot customize notifications for individuals. You can set up VIP notifications in mail but that’s it. I want that type of notification control across my device. Mainly for messages. I do not need to see a text message with an advertisement on my lock screen. As a matter of fact most of the text messages I get I do not need to access that very minute. There are a few people, though, I would like to know when they text me because it could be important. People like my wife or my parents. Not my coworker that wants me to see the latest TikTok video.

So I have decided to try something. I have set up notifications for messages to show up on the lock screen (something I highly discourage if you get notifications for everything). But then I went in and set up different focus modes. Work, personal, etc. So now I can allow different people to message me and it show up on my lock screen at different times. That means if I’m at work, I can allow notifications from my boss in case he messages me with something important. Away from work, I have a personal focus mode set up. That means I can allow notifications only from a few, select people. So if my wife texts me something I can see it right away. Or if my parents need something, I’ll see it.

I still don’t think this is the perfect setup. It would be better if Apple would just incorporate this into the system. However, this might be a workaround for the time being.

Let’s talk about boredom

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 08:39:49 -0500

I love listening to music. I also love listening to podcasts. And audiobooks. And game broadcasts. I love listening to things. Several years ago a friend of mine asked me “when do you allow your mind to think?” I didn’t know what she meant. She explained. I’ve got music going at work. I listen to something when I’m working out and then when I go for a walk or bike ride. Then if I’m mowing the yard I’ve got noise cancelling headphones in as well.

At that time in my life I shrugged it off as nothing of importance. It was something I did because I was learning or it was educational. That’s the excuse I told myself at least. Truth is I didn’t like certain things about my life and I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts because I was worried what might come out if I was.

For those of you who have been following along (all two of you…my parents probably) 2023 has turned into something interesting for me. This year was labeled (by me) as the year of intentionality. I wasn’t sure what would come of that. I wasn’t sure what that meant for me or what it was going to turn into. Eight months in and it’s starting to take some shape. I’ve put down the digital calendar, the digital todo list. I do not have a digital project management system any more. I have put down social media for the most part. I am now journaling every day in a physical notebook as opposed to trying to use Day One. All of this in an effort to get away from spending so much time on my phone. Instead, I carry a Field Notes book with me everywhere and that has become my note taking system as well as my calendar and task management system. I do have a planner I use as well.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about what my friend said to me. “When do you allow your mind to think?” Keeping in context with the year I started pondering this. So I decided to do something. I decided to put down the headphones when I workout this week. I went on six different workouts and did not take my headphones at all. Full disclosure some of those were with my wife and I wouldn’t have taken them with me anyways. The other times, though, I could have and didn’t.

To make things better, I left the phone at the house and didn’t even have it with me. One of the walks I went on, I took a digital camera instead of my phone. What I learned is this: It’s amazing what you can learn when you allow your mind to be bored. When you allow it time to think and process.

I’m a firm believer that one of the problems we have today is the constant need for attention. And I don’t mean for us to get attention. I mean we want something to hold our attention. Remember back in the day when you stood in line at the grocery store and read the headlines on all the magazines at the checkout stands? That’s where you saw which celebrity had been abducted by aliens and who was supposedly cheating on who. Now, you don’t have that. If someone is line for more than thirty seconds, they take out their phone and start scrolling through social media.

Or parents will put a phone or tablet in front of a kid while they sit at a restaurant table to keep the kid occupied. When I was younger we colored or talked or look around the restaurant. Now, we didn’t have these devices when I was younger and I’m not saying my parents wouldn’t haven done the same thing if they had the chance. I don’t think they would have but I can’t say that for certain. What I can say is that I had time to get bored as a kid and it didn’t cause me any harm.

We are constantly feeding information into our brains. Whether it’s television, books, social media feeds, YouTube videos, TikTok, or anything else that comes our way. We are constantly filling our brains up. From sunup to sundown every single day. We are in information overload. The problem with this is if we are constantly taking in information and never allowing ourselves the opportunity to process that information, we can become burned out or start feeling anxious. We can also feel like something is missing because we are not allowing ourselves to work the creative side of our brain.

Boredom does this. It allows our brain to think. It allows us to process information and it allows us to come up with creative ideas. That could be writing a book or a blog post. It could be something fun to do with your spouse or family. We were made to be creative. Look around you. Look at nature and tell me that God didn’t want you to be creative with what you do.

So, my experiment is only a week old but I can already tell you that I like where this is going. I can see more phone-less ventures in my future. Whether that’s a walk or a bike ride, I can see the importance of allowing myself the time to be creative. So contrary to popular belief, it’s ok to allow yourself to be bored. Who knows, the next New York Times Best Seller may come from it.

Let’s Talk about Journaling (Specifically my workflow)

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 08:00:00 -0500

Seems like I have spent quite a bit of time and posts where I mention journaling. From bullet journaling to keeping a gratitude journal I seem to keep bringing up the idea of journaling.

Obviously journaling is not a new concept and has been around for thousands and thousands of years. As a matter of fact if you do a quick Google search on the word journal you will see almost ten billion results. That’s a lot of posts about journaling.

Although an old concept, this is something relatively new to me. I have only recently started journaling on a regular basis. So today I thought I’d write a little bit about my journaling workflow. And as skoo.bz points out here I am writing this for me and for my future self (more on that later).

I have four different journals I use. Why so many? Glad you asked. The four I use are as follows:
1. Day One
2. Field Notes Bullet Journal
3. Notebook for Morning Pages
4. Notebook for evening journaling

I read a post by Tim Nahumck (the Drafts guy) on his journaling workflow. I really liked this setup. So I reached out to him and asked if I could borrow this. He sent me the shortcut and I installed it. I made some modifications to it and personalized it for my needs/wants. I had shortcuts run the action to start the journal at 3 every morning. Then at 11:50 at night it would automatically file it away to iCloud in a .pdf file.

It wasn’t until a month or so back that I started really playing around with Day One. I’ve had it installed for a long time. I don’t pay for the premium features. Because I originally paid for the app I get a few extra features that seem to suit me just fine. I could pay for it and I may in the future (waiting to see what the Apple Journaling app is going to be like first). One of the things I love about Day One is the “On this Day Feature”. You click this little button and it shows you all the posts you created on this day in the past. So before bed every night I would send my journal (from Drafts) into Day One before it created the .pdf.

Yesterday I was talking to ChrisJWilson on here and he mentioned why not put this in directly into Day One and not go through Drafts. I got to thinking about this. I have never gone through those .pdf files to read them. So why not have it go into Day One and bypass the drafts action all together. So I set that up and this morning it worked perfectly. Below is my template that I import:

As you can see there are some presets that automatically come in with the shortcut action. Things like the forecast, daylight, etc. Then there are some things I can go in and fill out like wake-up, exercise, and weight. Wake-up is mainly how I felt when I woke up. Did I sleep good, etc.

The power list is a list of things that I want to get done every day. I want to read at least 10 pages every day. Write something everyday (journaling doesn’t count). Spiritual Discipline involves a meditating, scripture reading or something similar. I try to drink a gallon of water every day, workout for 45 minutes and stick to a particular diet. If I get those tasks done I put a check mark next to each one. Goal is to tick them all off everyday.

Quick hits is just that. Perhaps a quick line to say that I ran into so and so at the grocery store and we talked about his new job, etc. Today’s quote is whatever I put on micro.blog for that day. Before posting it, I copy it and paste it here. Gratitude is just that. Three things everyday. A couple weeks ago, Aaron Aiken told me on here that gratitude “is a requirement for each day, at the start of each day, otherwise I just feel off.” I haven’t forgotten that so I’ve made it a conscious effort do this everyday.

Below that is a line I can write whatever. Sometimes I journal here at the end of the day. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I prefer to use a notebook (more on that in just a minute).

The thing I like about doing this in Day One is because I like the ability to look back on past day for sure. But I also like the ability to add pictures to my journals. Sometimes I just want to add a picture to remind me of something that happened on that day.

I have two other journals in Day One. I have one for Bible Study where I use a template to recap what I read about during that day’s study.

This gives me another way of looking back at what I read/studied for that day. I’ve thought about starting a journal for books I’m reading and doing something similar with that for notes.

The third journal is called micro.blog. Here I have an IFTTT rule set up that will take any post I make to my blog and put import it to this journal. I use this often. Everyday I check there to make sure the quote is am using isn’t one I’ve already used on that day in the past.

The other way I journal is in notebooks. I have a couple different notebooks I use and they all have their own purpose.

The notebook on the right is a moleskine. This is the notebook I am using for Morning Pages. Every morning when I wake up I grab this notebook and a pen and write three pages. I’ve been doing this for 42 straight days and love it. Easily one of my favorite things I do every morning.

The other notebook is a book I picked up at The Earthbound Trading Co. in Hot Springs similar to this. It looks like a journal and I love writing it in it. This is the notebook I will use at nights when I want to hand write about my day instead of using Day One.

As I said, I’m kind of new to journaling but this has become a big part of my day already. I’m sure I’ll learn more techniques and I’ll tweak this some here and there. I’d love to find out what you’re using for your journal. Do you have multiple journals like I do or do you keep it all in one place? Hit me up and let’s discuss it.

Let’s Talk About Paying it Forward

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0500

About seven or eight years ago I started doing something. I started paying it forward. If you’re not familiar with the term, Wikipedia describes it this way:

Pay it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying the kindness to others instead of to the original benefactor.

In 2000, there was a movie with the same title starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.

The idea from me was simple: at least once a week I wanted to show kindness to someone I didn’t know. In the beginning, this usually happened in the form of me buying someone’s meal. This usually happened in the drive through. I would get to the window and tell the person I wanted to buy the person’s meal behind me. I would pay, pick up my food and drive off. Had no clue who that person was and I didn’t care. It was never about recognition and never about them knowing who did it.

It graduated to other things as well. I would randomly pick up the tab for some table at a restaurant. Most of the time (by design) I had no clue who the person or persons were at the table. The reason I did it this way was because I wanted them to feel no pressure to do anything in return for me. I wanted them to enjoy a blessing and then in turn hopefully pay it forward to someone else later in life.

I also went to a coffee shop and would give the lady $40 and tell them to use that to pay for as many coffees as it would.

Ok, so why am I saying all of this? Am I bragging? Do I want people to think I’m superior? Not at all. I’m writing this to pay it forward. Look the way I felt years ago hasn’t changed today. Look around you. People are battling with inflation. People are dealing with anxiety and mental health issues. There’s a lot going on and sometimes people just need to see some kindness.

And let me stop you before you say what you’re about to say. This doesn’t always have to be about money. This can be as easily as sending someone a message that says you’re thinking about them. Or telling that person you’re thankful that they are in your life. This could be as simple as picking up trash or mowing a neighbors yard.

We get caught up in monetary but there are so many ways to show people kindness. The idea behind Pay it Forward isn’t about finance. It’s about kindness.

I saw a quote one time and I’ve never forgotten it. It was on a poster that had Morgan Freeman’s picture on it. I’ve read other places that have attributed him with the quote but I do not know for certain if it was him or not.

How do we change the world? One random act of kindness at a time.

Such a powerful, yet very true statement. When people at the drive through or other places ask me if I know the person, I say no. Then they look shocked that someone would pay for someone’s meal like that. I always respond this way.

The world needs to see a little more kindness.

And that’s what paying it forward is all about. Let’s go change the world.

Let's Talk About Mental Health

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 05:37:57 -0500

This is a topic that gets a lot of attention and it should. Maybe I’m not remembering correctly but I feel like this topic has grown more and more over the past ten years or so (but I could be completely wrong on that).

I’ll be 100% honest here too. This is not a topic I am an expert with nor do I claim to be. I know very little about any of this. As a matter of fact, depression and mental illness is not something I’ve ever really experienced. I know people personally who battle this but, thank the Lord, I have never dealt with this personally.

Now, that being said, I am aware this is a real issue and something a lot of people have and are dealing with. I want to say all of that to make sure it’s understood I am not making light nor trying to diminish this in any way by something I may say in this post.

A quick search on the word “Depression” in Duck Duck Go came up with links such as these:
- Top 10 Mental Health Services - Depression Symptoms - Depression (major depressive disorder) - Symptoms and causes

The list goes on and on. Why? Because this is a very real issue we are dealing with in our society. As a society it seems we are more depressed than ever. I have zero reason why (because I’m not a doctor or scientist or anyone who studies this).

I love how big tech companies are trying to make changes to combat this though. Speaking mainly from the  ecosystem here since that’s what I use. They have added “Mental Wellbeing” to their health app. This is in the new iOS 17 that will be releasing next month.

It’s nothing major but it’s something simple that they have put into a device you are already carrying around to just check in mentally. The new mental health features allow users to log their momentary emotions and daily moods, see valuable insights, and easily access assessments and resources.

Our goal is to empower people to take charge of their own health journey. With these innovative new features, we’re expanding the comprehensive range of health and wellness tools that we offer our users across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Mental health and vision health are important, but often overlooked, and we’re excited to introduce features that offer valuable new insights to provide users with an even better understanding of their health. These insights help support users in their daily decisions and offer more informed conversations with their doctors.

- Sumbul Desai, M.D., Apple’s vice president of Health.

The following was pulled from the Apple Newsroom

Mental health is as important as physical health and affects people every day in how they think, feel, and act.

Research shows that reflecting on one’s own mental state can help build emotional awareness and resilience. According to Dr. Michelle Craske, a distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry at UCLA, who echoes many in the field, “Identifying our feelings has been shown to help us manage difficult emotions, appreciate positive moments, and improve wellbeing.” Multiple studies by researchers have shown that identifying feelings reduces emotions like sadness and anger, and positively impacts our body by slowing our heart rate. Additionally, in a survey of participants in the UCLA Digital Mental Health Study, initial results showed more than 80 percent of participants found reflecting on their mood in the study app increased emotional awareness, and about half said it increased wellbeing.

This isn’t a sales pitch to go out and by an  device but it is a post to show how big companies are starting to take notice of this issue.

Think about it, we are constantly bombarded with information. And a lot of it is usually negative. Watch the news (any station) and you’re going to see nine negative stories for every one positive story. The news stations compete with each other to try and break the biggest and latest story. (I have relatives that will watch these news channels all day, every day.)

If it’s not the news, it’s something on social media that is bombarding us with negativity. Friends and family are griping about how they got treated at a restaurant or how they hate their job, etc. We are surrounded by negative feelings and negative energy.

We are also an extremely busy society. This is a subject I should probably not talk too much about. Between juggling a day job, four or five side jobs, and maintaining a home life I know how busy life can get. This doesn’t include any other projects that I’m currently working on like writing a book and church responsibilities. I am just one person and I know most people are just as busy if not busier than I am. That takes a toll on someone mentally if they’re not careful.

Then there’s the constant idea of I’m not good enough. I don’t have enough money. I don’t look a certain way. I don’t drive a fancy car. Social media has been terrible with this. People put on social media what they want people to see. Instagram is full of pictures and videos for people driving expensive cars or traveling to Europe. You see their big houses and fancy and you start wondering why you can’t have these things also. Facebook is just as bad. What you don’t see is the huge amount of debt they accumulated to live that lifestyle. You don’t see the hard work they put in every single day to have these things. You don’t know the reason why they are doing this is because they’re hurting inside and trying to find something to ease the pain and make them feel better.

Again I do not have the answers on how to fix this. I wish I did. I decided a while back that I wanted to start working on myself to try and make sure I didn’t get to a place where mental illness was something I had to battle. I have been taking advantage of the new mental wellbeing feature on the iPhone. I downloaded the beta and have been tracking things. Several times a day (usually 10am, 3pm and then 9pm) I will track how I’m feeling and why. It takes about 30 seconds to do.

I also started journaling. Every night I journal. Sometimes I do it digitally. Sometimes I write things out in a notebook. Just however I’m feeling that day. I’m not sure if it helps or not but sometimes it’s nice to just be able to vent and get everything out of your mind. Journaling allows me to do this.

Another thing I did is walked away from social media. I’m going to post this on all the social media platforms but I haven’t been on Facebook since the end of May. And I’m not missing it at all. Instagram is the same way. I have deleted them off my devices and I haven’t missed anything.

Something else I’m doing is working out every day outside during the summer. I have a gym membership but I’ve been enjoying the sunshine a lot this summer. I’ll get back into the gym this fall and winter but for now I’m enjoying the sunshine.

Now this is all stuff I’m doing but, as I’ve already said, this is also not something I’ve dealt with before. So I’m not sure if any of this stuff is helping me or not. I mean I know it’s helping me. I just don’t know if it’s helping my mind.

Lastly, I would like to say this. A good friend of mine who is a local radio DJ is constantly putting on Facebook and Twitter (and I’ve heard him say it over the radio), if you need someone to talk to, that his DM’s are always open. I think that’s a big key. Find someone you can talk to. If you’re struggling, call someone. There are hotlines out there I know. You can reach out to me. I will talk to anyone. That’s the important thing here. Find someone you can talk to. You are a here by design and for a reason.

Let’s Talk About My Bullet Journal Workflow

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 21:07:27 -0500

I’ve mentioned before that I’m always looking at ways to fix my productivity workflow. I’ve used a bunch of different apps over the years for task management and calendar items. This was until about a year ago. I was challenged by someone on micro.blog to not use a task manager at all. At the times I was using Apple’s reminders for keeping up with items.

I noticed something happened, though. I using reminders but I wasn’t using reminders. What I realized was happening was this: I would put items inside reminders. I would get the notification and would ignore it. I wouldn’t do any of those items at that moment. I wound up doing it later and most of the time it wasn’t because of the reminder. It was just something I knew I needed to do.

So I took this challenge and went a month without using a task manager at all. It worked fine actually. There were a few items I wrote down at work but it was only because I knew I needed to get certain things done on a project in a certain order. I didn’t put any times or dates with them. After the month I realized I didn’t need a huge task management system.

So for the first time in years, I removed reminders (or whatever task manager it was before that) from the dock on my Home Screen. I also killed notifications for reminders. It was actually nice to not constantly see a notification from reminders on my Lock Screen and/or Notification Center.

Around this same time I was starting to get into the idea of carrying a notebook with me in my pocket. I had some Field Notes laying around the house. I put it in my pocket and carried it around. It took a while for me to remember I had it in my pocket and that I could use it to jot down notes, ideas, or anything else for that matter. I still had a tendency to use my phone.

I decided I liked the idea of not using Reminders by this time, but I also realized I needed a little something to keep up with all the hats I was wearing (Day job, radio broadcasting, ESPN+ announcer, PA Announcing, United Way board meetings, church responsibilities and so on).

I had always been a fan of the Bullet Journal. I loved the method and had tried it multiple times over the years. it never quite stuck with me though. The reason for this, I think, is that I didn’t like carrying that big notebook with me all the time. Plus the layouts could be quite overwhelming at times.

What is a Bullet Journal you ask? It’s a system that was created by Ryder Carroll, who was diagnosed with a learning disability early in life. He was forced to figure out how to be productive and focus using different methods. It took trial and error but he finally developed the Bullet Journal method. It’s become quite the phenomenon in productivity too. Do a quick Google Search for Bullet Journal and you’ll get approximately 213 million results. Click on images and you’ll get all kinds of images of journals and their designs.

This, as I said earlier, can be overwhelming and make it hard to figure out where to start. So, this was in my mind during this whole time. I had read the Bullet Journal book and knew how to set it up but it still didn’t click with me for some reason.

Fast forward to earlier this year. I saw a post on Mastadon that mentioned using Field Notes for a bullet journal. This both confused and intrigued me. First of all, how could you put everything from a Bullet Journal in a Field Notes book? They only have 48 pages. Thus the confusion. Second, How do you make this work because I’m already carrying a Field Notes book with me.

So I reached out to the person who posted this. What I found out was they were using one notebook per month as a Bullet Journal. They had all the normal aspects of the Bullet Journal but only on a monthly basis. This fascinated me. So I decided to try it.

This started in March and I’ve been doing it ever since. At the end of the month or the beginning of the next month, I get my new notebook out and start filling it out. I do the future log, month at a glance, bills due, monthly tasks, and daily log. It’s super simple and it keeps what I need. More importantly though, it gives me another reason to put the phone down.

I have recently been thinking about scanning the pages at the end of the day to save them either in iCloud Drive or in Day One. This will allow me to have access without keeping the notebooks. One per month means these notebooks can accumulate quickly.

So there it is, my Bullet Journal workflow using a Field Notes book. I’m not saying this would work for everyone but it is working for me and that’s what I need. I want something to help me be a little more intentional with my time and that also allows me to not be locked in to a computer (or phone/tablet) all the time.

Let’s Talk About My Morning Writing Routine

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0500

On July 5th, I made this statement on here:

I should probably dedicate a blog post to this but, for now, I’m going to say my writing routine has easily become one of my favorite times of the day.

Some of you, and others, have expressed interest in this statement and a subsequent blog post. Well, here it is:

A month ago I decided to make a change in my life. Perhaps I should back up first. Ever since I can remember I have always done better working the morning. I can remember Getting up at 4am in high school to finish a homework assignment.

Even back then I realized when I was the most productive and when my brain would function best. I remember when I was in junior high, I wanted to start a comic strip. I would wake up extremely early in the morning and work on this comic strip. This is something I have always done.

Ok, skip ahead. For the past four or five years I have been getting up at 3:30 in the morning. I would get dressed and head to the gym. I would workout from 4-5. Then come home, cool down, and get ready for work. It’s been a productive system for me for a long time.

A lot of times in the evening I will get home from work, change clothes and do another workout with the wife. She usually wants to go for a bike ride or walking so that’s what we did.

For quite a while now I’ve been wanting to write a book. Actually, I’ve got several book ideas floating around in my head. I’ve never had time, though. Working multiple jobs and preparing for radio and TV broadcasts take a lot of time. Not to mention my 40-hour day job. So the books have always been put on the back burner. However, the itch has been really bad over the past six months.

Last month I was scrolling through YouTube looking at videos on journaling methods (I’m still new to journaling and trying to figure out some personal stuff….don’t judge). I came across a video that talked about morning pages. Now I was familiar with this concept already from some podcasts I had listened to in the past.

I was not familiar with the reason behind doing morning pages. First off, what is mornin pages? In a nutshell, it’s three pages of long-form, stream-of-conscious writing first thing in the morning. This type of writing I found out is supposed to help unlock creativity. The general idea from what I gathered is you’re doing a brain dump first thing in the morning. So all this stuff that has been stored in your brain gets dumped out on the paper, allowing more creative stuff to enter.

When I heard this explained, it hit me pretty hard. Like I said, I heard people talk about morning pages but never explain it. Sidebar here, I could have taken the time to read the book The Artist Way which would have explained it all but I didn’t do that.

As I said, this idea hit me pretty hard and stated rattling around in my brain. So I decided I was going to try this. The next morning I woke up, grabbed a notebook and pen and started writing. I filled up three pages, put the book down and went about my day. The next day I did the same thing. Then the next and the next and the next.

Something happened at some point in time during this process. I realized my brain was using this time to workout problems. To workout ideas or find solutions to a situation. Either at work or home or with me personally. It became a time of venting about work or family drama. It also became a time of self reflection. All this stuff that was in my brain that needed or wanted to get out. It finally did. Finally had an escape route.

This morning I did my 29th straight day of this. I got up every morning while on vacation and wrote. I even went down to the ocean and wrote a couple of times while listening to the waves crashing.

A few things of note have happened because of this practice. First off, during one of the writing sessions about two weeks in I was griping about not having enough time to write a book. So my brain went to work on fixing this. Realizing that I work better in the morning time, I decided to try and fix my morning routine. Maybe fix is the wrong word because it’s not broken. Change would be a better word to use.

Realizing my brain works better in the morning, I decided to change my workflow to better suit me. Since I was working out twice a day, why couldn’t I change that to just once a day? This would allow me to substitute something in its place. Which is what I did. I decided to substitute writing in the place of the early morning workout.

Wake up time is still the same. Well, I actually pulled it back a little. My alarm goes off at 3:10 on the weekdays and 5 on the weekends. Now, I get up and do my morning pages first thing. Depending on the day this takes about 30 - 45 minutes. Then I start writing on my book. Sometimes I only get to write for an hour. Sometimes I get to write for two or longer. It all depends on the day. The thing that makes my book writing a little different right now is the fact that I decided to write the first draft with pen and paper. I have a fountain pen that I am using with a leuchtturm notebook.

This small change has completely revolutionized my writing. I’m actually moving the needle every single day with writing this book. Something I thought I didn’t have time is now something I look forward to every single day.

I know an hour or two isn’t a long time of writing but it’s pushing towards my goal. And let’s be honest, I don’t have a deadline for this thing. It’s something I want to do. So taking this step eliminated a huge obstacle for me: time.

I’ve recently added a 10 minute mediation block to my routine as well. Over the past six months I’ve really been cognitive of mental health. Maybe because we are seeing so many issues in the world that seem to be attributed to this. Apple has made mental health a big deal with the newest iOS release. I take advantage of some of those features as well. This is why I started journaling also.

One of the things I’ve always been interested in is meditation. I’ve never practiced it. As a matter of fact, growing up it was frowned upon inside the church that I attended. It was looked at as a bad thing.

During one of my morning pages sessions, I started talking about meditation. Then I decided to take 10 minutes and meditate every morning. A friend of mine from church told me about a free app called Lectio 365. It’s a meditation app that also combines scripture reading and praying. It takes about 10 minutes every day. I had already downloaded it so I decided to give it a try.

I fell in love with the practice immediately. It was exactly what I was looking for. I have since downloaded the free app Oak. It’s another meditation app.

So, thanks to my morning pages routine my morning routine has completely changed.

This is what it used to look like:
- 3:30 wake up - 4:00 arrive at gym - 4:00 - 5:00 workout - 5:10 get back home - 5:10 - 6:00 cooldown - 6:00 get ready for work

Now it looks like this: - 3:10 wake up - 3:15 - 4:00 morning pages - 4:00 - 4:10 meditation - 4:15 - 6:00 book writing - 6:00 get ready for work

Let’s Talk About Keeping a Gratitude Journal

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 05:32:02 -0500

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

- Melody Beattie

I may have mentioned recently that I went to Mexico for vacation. This isn’t another post about the beaches of Mexico. I promise. It is a post that may have come from there, though.

Let me back up, though. A year ago this week I had a bicycle wreck. Had a concussion some other injuries. During that time, some great people at 1st Phorm saw about my wreck on social media. They put together a get well package with some supplements, vitamins, and a few other things.

One of the things they gave me was a gratitude journal. In this particular journal, there was a place to write today’s date. Then three blank lines for you to write whatever it is your thankful for that day. I had never heard of a gratitude journal before this. Of course journaling itself was a little new and somewhat foreign to me during this time (it’s crazy how far you can come in a year).

So I took this journal and I started putting it into practice. During this time I was pretty pissed off at life and circumstances. I had this bike wreck and was unable to workout at all. They thought I had possibly fractured my jaw so I had to get MRI’s done as well as CT Scans. So, not only could I not workout out but now I was paying for all kinds of medical bills. This was not fun for me.

Enter the gratitude journal. Now, I have zero reasoning for any of this. I am not a doctor or a scientist or any of that. I’m just a dude that started practicing something. I wrote down 3 things every day that I was thankful for. Sometimes they were people or my cats. It could have been something silly like the flavor of coffee I was drinking that day or a joke that made me laugh. The key was I tried to find something different every day. I would write it down in the journal and then close the book until the next morning.

Funny thing happened after writing this down. Things started to change for me. Not the bills. They were still coming in. I still couldn’t workout. No it wasn’t that. The change happened inside of me. The things that were bothering me before seemed to not matter as much. Situations I was dealing with at work which frustrated me to know end now seemed manageable.

Again, I have no scientific proof why. I have since read (or heard discussed on podcasts) that others have had similar reactions when they keep a gratitude journal. And most people do what I mentioned above. Write down three things that they are thankful for and move on. Sometimes it’s in a physical book (like mentioned above). Others use the Day One App or something similar.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

- Marcus Tullius Cicero

Sadly enough I stopped this practice. Why you ask? That’s a very good question and one I don’t have the answer for. I can throw out excuses like I’m too busy or I just forgot or whatever. The fact is I stopped doing this practice. I don’t know when I stopped. I would love to tell you actually. But, since I’m being completely honest and transparent right now, I can’t. I have no idea where that book is at the moment to find the last entry. But I digress.

I was listening to a podcast a couple of weeks ago and someone said something very interesting. As part of their morning routine he sends out three text messages to people to tell them thank you. So instead of writing his gratitude down he put his into action as he typed out a message and sent it to someone in his contacts. I thought that was so awesome that I immediately picked up my phone and sent a “thank you for being in my life” type message to three different people.

In this post on the Sweet Setup, David Sparks mentions this:

I also spend a little time writing about why I am grateful for something every morning. I added this step a few years ago, and it quickly stuck. There is something very positive about starting the day making time to be thankful. It sets your mind right.

The source of your gratitude could be something grand, like your affection for a loved one, or something silly, like a new ice cream flavor. I like to pick something different every day, and that alone makes the exercise kind of fun.

I could go on and on about other people doing this and why. The problem with that is, it’s some random person on the internet that we hear or read about.

When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.

- Kristin Armstrong

This all came back to me this morning as I was writing my morning pages. I was complaining about this or that and I started thinking about gratitude in my life. I started thinking about reasons to be thankful. I remember the profound impact it had on my life last year when I started this practice after my bike wreck.

Here I am a year later and finding myself complaining about other aspects of my life again. What if I start looking at the good things in my life instead. What if, instead of complaining about my job, I actually show gratitude that I have one because lots of people don’t. I could go on and on. From having a place to sleep to having clean clothes to wear every day. Or having a place on the internet that I can write things like this. There is so much in my life to be thankful for and here I am concentrating on the small, insignificant problems instead.

So, starting today I’m going to keep a gratitude journal once again. Not sure if I’ll throw it in Day One or write it down or what. I’ll figure something out. But for today, here are the things that I’m thankful for:

Realizations that help center us
Morning routines
the micro.blog community