Write Yourself Well

This is the name of a poetry workshop I am running every Sunday. It takes place in Gawler at the beautifully name Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery. The workshop is based on creative writing, about many different things in life, and has a small but dedicated band of attendees.

There is a payment for attendees, but the cost is minimal, because I feel I am still very much a trainee at being a workshop presenter. I am confident though that I am worth at least ten times what I am asking for. To me, the important thing is that I am introducing people poetic ideas to people who formerly thought poetry had to rhyme, or who hadn't written anything poetic for many years.

The venue and the people whose venue it is are supportive of what I do there, in fact, one of the couple attends the workshop if and when she can. Sometimes she has to get up and serve a customer, because that's her job, the poetry is just for fun.

The workshops last around an hour and a bit, the coffee is good, and the food is great. The art works on the walls are interesting, with one artwork in particular that is interesting to me - it's a portrait of me, that one of the artists on display painted, using a photograph she'd taken of me. I feel humbled that this lady felt compelled to paint me, and so thrilled with the quality of her work.

This cafe is a special place for me, I am there three times a week as the writer-in-residence, and copies of three of my books are there for sale. If anyone buys one of my books when I am not there, the people there take the money to hand on to me, and they let the book buyer know that if they come back when I am there, I will sign their book for them. It's a terrific arrangement for all involved!

I believe deeply in the therapeutic power of creative writing. Two of the book I have on sale at PJs helped me a lot as I was writing them, and putting the words together. I feel my health is going well partly because of my creative writing. Partly medication too, of course, I can't deny that. But feeling positive about life, and looking further into the ins and outs, the bits and pieces that make up a life, these are good things to look at!

How I See My Life Right Now

Today I posted a comment on an online group I visit every day. It was a random bit of silliness, following on from my far more staid and sensible and relevant comment.

This is the comment:

"My life is a multi-coloured glitter ball of creative fun and hugs!"

So the next time you see or say something silly, and start smiling, why not share it with others, and spread those lovely, healthy and happy smiles all over the place!


I was having a silly moment of fun, and forgot about it after. Then I received an email indicating that one of my fellow group members loved the comment. And then another email indicating the same thing. I went back to my initial post and read it all, and thought, wow, how silly, but how much fun that was.

Then I thought about it, and realised what we all need sometimes in life may well be these little random bits of silliness now and again. No-one is hurt by it, and indeed, if it gives other people a bit of a smile, then that is a fine thing!

I did a super quick search on Google, and found this. It's the first article that Google gave me, and I love it because it is so relevant to my blog. This is a link to the article, which tells of 9 reasons why smiling is good for you. 

Helping you to sleep at night

I’m interested in knowing whether my tactic to help me sleep at night works for other people too. I’ve had troubles with getting to sleep sometimes, and don’t like the idea of taking medication for the problem.

My troubles haven’t been severe for a long time, but I was still a little bit concerned about the length of time I was taking to fall asleep, so I tried a couple of different methods. The first was simply going to bed when I was feeling a bit sleepy, then lying down and concentrating on my breathing.

This worked OK, but wasn’t a sure-fire bet to work, so I kept thinking about it. Next I tried the slow breathing again, and counting my breaths. This seemed to work better, but I wasn’t sure if it was really working because I wasn’t paying attention to the numbers enough.

So, next I decided to count for a certain number of deep slow breaths. The number of breaths I was to count to was 500 breaths. I’ve been doing this sleep-making method for a number of weeks now, and I’m happy to be able to report that I am yet to get to the number 500!

I start the counting and slow breathing, and I go to sleep. If I’m disturbed before I get to 500, I start again from the beginning – one … two … three … and so on, and zzzzzz asleep!

I ask others reading this blog post, who have trouble sleeping, to give this method a try, and let me know how it goes for you. 

We could be onto a healthy and wonderful non-chemical treatment!

An Interesting Challenge

I'm a member of the online group 'Daily Challenge'. This website has many members from around the world and has built up a big community of people who take on challenges sent to them via email  every day, and then report back on what they did.

There are different 'tracks' to choose from. You choose a track you want to follow, and do the challenges sent to you for the month (28 days), then you choose a different track. I usually choose to do tracks that get me moving, usually gentle moving for me, not full-on cardio rampaging. I enjoy the exercises, but for the past couple of months have gone for quite different things. My last track I've finished was all about uncluttering.

I'm a bit of a squirrel, the way I collect things and file them away for a rainy day, then forget where I put them, when the rain comes down. This uncluttering track was certainly a challenge for me. I did it though, tidying up a couple of things, spaces, handbags, my phone and so on. I hope the things I've learned about will keep on happening.

When I look over at one of the spots I tidied up, it still looks neater than it was. That doesn't mean it's absolutely pristine, but it doesn't look quite like a junk heap/fire hazard. It's a start, and everything has to start with something ... The track I'm on at the moment is all about finding fulfillment. - https://challenge.meyouhealth.com/tracks/finding-fulfillment

My challenge for the day was to write a letter to myself now, from myself in five years time. It was an interesting challenge, where I had to think about where I want to be in five years time, and what I want to be doing. I also had to think about what advice or encouragement I could/should give to myself living here and now. Useful things to think about, that's for sure. The idea is that the person doing this challenge will take on that positive outlook for their life and their choices and it will help them to achieve what they want to achieve.

I certainly hope some of what I wrote comes true, but even if it doesn't, I'll have fun working at doing all I can to help it to come into my life. And isn't that an important thing? The destination may be wonderful, but the actual journey undertaken to get to that destination can be wonderful too. I'm enjoying my life, my journey to the greatness I aim at (tee hee), but even if I never actually make it to greatness, only pretty goodness, it's still a good life I'm living.

Do you ever get so caught up in doing the mundane things in the daily struggles of life that you forget about the wonderful things you're working toward? Or do you forget to look around, and enjoy the journey you're on? Having challenges, and thinking about them often can help you stay on a positive track in life, and yes, that wonderful destination may well be reached. And even if you never reach that wonderful place, the views and adventures along the way will be well worth seeing and doing!

Sharing my challenges and results to the people I connect with on Daily Challenge is fun - we meet each other, and get an understanding of their lives, and can become far-away friends. One day, I would love to meet up with some of my lovely friends from this website! Some of them are from South Australia, and it would be simple enough to actually meet them for real, but the others, in America, and other places, well, who knows what may happen! Making the connections online may be the first step to overseas fun. My community stretches all the way across the world!

Creativity and New Year's Resolutions

For 2015, I hope to boost my creativity even more and accomplish great things. I don't know what all of those great things are, at the moment, but I do know that being as happy and healthy as I can be will assist me in achieving them.

One of the things that helps me to achieve happiness is to have gratitiude for things in my life, with that in mind, and in response to my task today, for Daily Challenge, this is what I came up with for my " Three Things to Be Grateful For" challenge. https://challenge.meyouhealth.com/tracks" 


There are so many things to be grateful for, it's hard to limit the list to only three. The most important one is my darling husband. He brings so much good to my life, from the mundane - the money that pays the bills, to the funny things he does and says, to the dear warmth of him and his hugs. 

Second item I'm grateful for is the power of the written word - having books to read and enjoy or learn from, to the words others write and read aloud at the poetry readings I attend, and my own words I write and bring hope, happiness and understanding or a good laugh to myself and others.

Number three will always be Nature - I am eternally grateful for the trees and plants that grow and flower and fruit, bringing beauty and food to all. And Nature in glorious mode, with the dark cloud and gorgeous rainbows, and the beautiful big blue Australian sky that arcs over the lovely sunny Aussie days!

All of that and more bring me hope and joy every day of my life.

If I may have a fourth thing, that would be my friends, I am so grateful for each and every one of them - from my family who are the most important friends, to the friends I know in real life and all of my friends I've met through the wonderful Online world, I am so grateful for each and every one of them, of you!

Thank you everyone!