Great ideas come from everywhere, but they need to hit at a receptive moment to make an impact. In an issue of Reader's Digest, I read how a woman wrote 365 thank you notes, one each day for a whole year. She gave specifics; how she chose encounters/interactions worthy of a handwritten note, how she fit this new activity into her busy schedule, time of day she wrote and hints to help make the project become second-nature.
Call me old-fashioned, but I like the whole process of writing and receiving first-class mail, so I began to analyze my daily interactions for things noteworthy enough to warrant writing about. The only slight difficulty, due to the global pandemic with forced isolation, while I had heaps of time to write, social encounters had become almost non-existent. Fewer face-to-face interactions meant no niceties outside the family circle. I began listing things from the past that I could write notes about and reviewed the times I'd given only verbal thanks or dashed off a quick email. Just becoming more aware, my attitude of gratitude blossomed daily and security and warmth, during one of the scariest times in history surrounded me like a cloak.
Giving thanks can take many forms and at Bobbin-olive Productions we have an array of 100-page journals for you to write your encounters past and present. Taking the time to write those experiences, whether you send thank you notes or not is in itself enriching, buoys the spirit and brings deep satisfaction and joy.
I’m writing for all these posts Virginia shares. Her enthusiasm is abundant in her blogs and journals, often filling our days with Whimsey. Her thoughts and art expressed with an artist’s eye and mind encourage us to venture into our own talents in special personal journals that become our secret gardens, our own jewels of creation. Thank you for your sharing, Ginny.