Freeze-framing January 11, 2024

The temperatures have dropped in my home town and the cold is all we can think about. Frozen pipes. Frozen eyelashes. Frozen batteries. Frozen ski lifts.

As for writing and looking in the rear view mirror, there are thoughts freeze-framed for 2024 and for a moment, we understand how things can feel frozen in time.

And, as much as the minus 30 outside presents challenges, I love giving myself permission to stay home, reading and writing as I reflectively cast my gaze backwards, distilling the high points of 2023, the low points and with the energy of the moment, casting my gaze ahead, making plans for 2024. This morning, I settled on the dates for Gratitude Trifecta workshop series. It feels like a freeze to decide on dates and times and as of right here, right now: Gratitude Trifecta Cohorts #4 and #5 will begin starting in fourteen days.

But first, I’m rewinding the time clock to 1993, when I re-entered the formal work force. I signed up first as a volunteer, later as a paid staff person, in the Education Department at The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. During my first interview with the remarkable Bernadette Lynch on a cloudy day when I had finally mustered enough courage to show up at her office, I declared that I wanted to volunteer because I wanted to hone my writing skills.

What a great stroke of luck, to join the Education Department as a Public Programmer and be handed my first assignment: Plan a literary series in honour of Jon Whyte and write a grant to Canada Council. I look back fondly, remembering how genuinely inspired I felt by the honour to be serving community, its people and expanding possibilities.

That was thirty years ago – and now, during the course of those same 30 years, I realize that this is the time frame when I seriously began a morning practice of putting pen to paper.

Writing is my personal reflection tool, and continues to serve me as I learn to keep growing and going, by putting one thought, one word, one detail lining up ahead of the next detail. During COVID, I finally wrote and self-published my first book: An Ecology of Gratitude: Writing your way to what Matters. Two years later, in November 2023, I launched my second book: Gratitude Ignition Guide: Notes to My Leadership Self. And now, the quest is to keep encouraging other to find a writing practice that will serve and motivate others to write longhand. But the niggling question remains: Why?

Bingo! I found it — in this link to a Scientific American article: Know Yourself Better by Writing What Pops into your Head. The article asserts and is an absolute point of truth for me – writing down your unfiltered thoughts enhances your self-knowledge.

By paying careful attention to your things that really matter, your heart and head can explore new possibilities, even when the world is in a deep freeze. Maybe especially at this special moment in time when we continue to feel a little frozen in time.

No question – for every two steps forward, there are often a couple of steps back. Still, my daily writing practice continues to anchor my dreams and believe in my sanity, even when things start careening. Through the ups and downs, doors opening and closing; whether the pivot point was full of positivity or disappointment in the light of a significant reality check, my journal has been my personal confidante, my coach and my place for pep-talking me into action.

… More than 150 journals sit quietly on my shelves, testimony to my hard work, my messy thinking, my commitment to creativity, moments of self-flagellation resolved through positive self-talk; personal insights exploding with bursts of exuberance and evocative memories; but always I resolved to align my words and actions in the direction of hope, optimism and joy. There was always a win to celebrate somewhere — even if not easily accessible.

Through my tenure as a caring and engaged citizen, as an executive director in a small community office; as a mother, a sister, a team cheer leader, a friend, a human bean (see page 10 of AEoG, my book) and a caring citizen—my tens of thousands of pages written in the half-light of morning continue to reveal to me that:

• Writing in a journal and making list of my gratitudes helps me see myself in the context of the world and all of its kaleidoscopic dimensions. This gives me a personal sense of agency and confidence and connection and courage to face whatever.
• Writing and reading are ways I choose to improve my social and emotional intelligence. This means I identify with the human condition (back to being a human bean) and I understand that playing to my strengths is way more fun than focusing on my weaknesses.
• Tracking my reasons to be grateful reduces my levels of resentment, fear and anxiety. This means that gratitude can always return me to solid ground – in the right here, right now.
• Being grateful helps me get unstuck, click my reset buttons, and find the courage, inspiration and motivation to keep going. This means I work at being creative, gritty and resilient.

I’m convinced that a daily writing practice can serve all who are willing to get to know themselves better. I believe that starting in the privacy of your personal journal, writing with honesty and gentle self-talk, is a skill that serves anyone who wants to be more positive, more compassionate (towards Self and others), in order to focus your time and attention. By paying careful attention to your things that really matter, your heart and head can explore new possibilities. By learning to honour the pause, and the days when everything is frozen solid, the journal can offer a warm place to explore your reasons to feel inspired.

So – take your moment. Stop. Freeze frame some elements of your story. Then consider picking up a pen in order to unleash your creative potential, with courage and confidence. Ready? Check out my Workshop offerings for 2024, but right here, right now… If you are ready to stay home and write your way to your next pivot point, join me for Gratitude Trifecta: Write. Appreciate. Recalibrate.

Dates for Winter 2024: Schedule a 75 min individual meet-up with Lorraine, prior to starting group sessions.

Cohort A to convene on Wednesdays at 4 pm – 5:15 pm MT:

Dates: January 31, February 7, 14, 28. March 6, 13, 20

OR

Cohort B will convene on Thursday at 8:30 am – 9:45 am MT: February 1, 8, 15, 29. March 7, 14, 21

Set up a time to discuss your thoughts, by sending me an email: lorraine@grassrootsgratitude.ca