Nat

More and more often, I’m finding that a good day includes successes in more than one area of my life. Today there are four areas to feel great about.

1. Job. I had to pull together a group of 7 people on very short notice to take a meeting with some people who had traveled half way across the country to meet with our company. Many of my colleagues pushed back their own priorities to accommodate the visit. I was grateful, and the company that traveled to meet us was grateful. There is nothing like a spirit of cooperation to make a group of people feel great.

2. Writing. Michael and I spent the late afternoon and evening working on a writing project that we have underway. Michael is great at organizing us, and he put together a chapter schedule for us a few weeks ago. Tonight we realized that we are a few weeks ahead of schedule. So far so good. Both of us have a sense of progress, and I have the satisfaction of not being a source of frustration over lateness. Another double win. I like getting the project done, and I like living up to Michael’s expectations.

3. Christmas cards. I may write an entire blog post on Christmas card writing. It’s often a two-month-long ordeal for me to get all of my cards written. In fact, it’s been 3 years since I finished an entire set. Last year I didn’t write any, though I did leave the stack of cards I received sitting on the floor of my study for 11 months, in case I was inspired to answer them. The great news is that I finally realized I could answer them by starting early on this year’s cards. So starting November 30, I’ve been writing two cards per night, before bedtime, and mailing them in the morning. Tonight I’ll write two more. At this rate, I will have made a good bite out of them by Christmas. Not only will I feel good about reaching out; I will also feel good about cleaning the pile off my floor for the first time since January.

4. Finances. Thanks to my wife, we had some good financial news today. She works hard and is very clever with money. She is always taking the pressure off us with her hard work. So often, I find myself thinking, my wife makes my life so easy and so pleasant.

Oh, and there was actually a 5th great thing. Last night, an old, dear friend of my found me on Facebook. I had been trying to think for a couple of years how to track her down and catch up with her. Last night, lo and behold, there she was in the Friend Requests. I was thrilled and have already swapped notes back and forth with her.

The good news snowballs. I love that any time, and especially this time of year when the days are short, and we’re starting to gear up for winter.

Flo’s blog page includes a link to purchase the book Writing the Mind Alive by Linda Trichter Metcalf and Tobin Simon. I finally bought the book this week and read most of it on the plane today.

I can’t believe I waited so long or that I had never heard of it before Flo put it up. The authors are former literature professors who have been teaching this writing method since 1982. (See www.Proprioceptivewriting.com.) Their method articulates a writing process that emphasizes learning to hear and transcribe your thoughts in your own voice. They cite other writing process teachers Peter Elbow and Natalie Goldberg, but they emphasize the ability of their approach to provide clarity to you about your life.

I can hardly wait to start. One of the interesting suggestions they make is that you play Baroque music while doing Writes, because its slower movements employ a rhythm that closely mirrors the human heart beat. I’ve already tried this today in the Northwest airport club in Memphis where I have been working between flights. It works like a dream, especially with my great Bose noise-cancelling headphones.

The sudden arrival of a 25-year old writing process method in my life the day after I pledged to start back in on regular writing process typifies the kind of serendipity that Michael has taught me to expect. Another element of the method that I like is the authors’ insistance that 30 minutes’ practice in a day is more than enough to feel its full effects over time. That seems like a very little commitment for the possible payoff of clarity in one’s writing, emotional development, and spiritual progress.

Go figure.

Ybonesy and QuoinMonkey, on the great red Ravine blog started a post thread yesterday on keeping journals.

Go to the post to read about Brian Singer’s 1,000 journals project, involving leaving 1,000 journals out for people to write in and pass along. The thread at red Ravine is getting lots of commentary, because keeping a journal appeals to so many people.

On my bookshelf, I keep a tiny, pocket-size spiral notebook, like the ones reporters use. It was a log of my first trip to Europe, with my parents when I was 11. My mother, an English teacher, insisted that my sister and I keep journals on the trip. My guess is that the tiny size was my effort to shrink the time spent writing in it, but just as my mother expected, it is a thrill now to recreate the trip through my entries.

ybonesy describes a journaling assignment given to QuoinMonkey and her by Natalie Goldberg. The journal was to keep a written record of their writing and meditation practice during a year-long course.

Apart from the topic being fascinating, I mention journaling here because it is a powerful tool to help see where you are in your mind and where you would like to go. In this way, it can be both a reminder of what you cherish and also a goad to get somewhere better.

Natalie Goldberg likes to say that this kind of writing practice gives you a slice of your mind. Most of the time, these revelations help guide you.

Have you ever kept a journal?

Rick Reilly’s column at the back of Sports Illustrated is quickly becoming my favorite feature writing in sports. Clearly, Reilly has a big heart, and he often writes human interest stories that show sports and athletes at their best.

This week, he writes about a high school student in Everett, Massachusetts, who has loved basketball more than anything in life. Sean Cronk, a 17-year old, lives with his disabled mother in a housing project. He also has cerebral palsy. I won’t ruin the story by telling it, because Reilly writes it with pathos and warmth, and I want you to buy the magazine to read it and then keep the clipping.

Sports are big, big money, and many people lament that big time commercial sports have lost touch with what drew so many of us to sports as children–the chance to compete, to push ourselves, to learn teamwork. Reilly never forgets that what makes sports great is great people participating in them.

Please read the article about Sean Cronk. You’ll be really glad you did.