January 2 My Thoughts

Affirmation: I am at the right place at the right time doing the right thing.

My Thoughts…By Jacque Poole

I have been sharing my daily Calendar reminders since April and my daily reading from Bob Goff since August. But as the new year starts, I want to make the blog more personal and interactive. 

I will post the content for my calendar reminders, but you will find more value in creating your own calendar reminders.

This post will be about the calendar reminders.

During COVID, I became more and more aware of the need to care for my mental health. I did a workbook with a friend; Self-Love Workbook for Women, by Megan Logan MSW, LCSW. It had writing and responsive exercises in each chapter. I learned from Ms. Logan in chapter 6 How to Love Myself. She listed some affirmations, so that is where I started. I added one affirmation to each day of the month and repeated that affirmation each month! Voila! I had daily affirmations on my electronic calendar for the year!

As I used the affirmations, there were some that I really liked and some that I didn’t so I changed those when I found other affirmations online, in my reading or heard from friends.

My first thought was to create a new affirmation for each day, but at this point 2 years later I am happy with the repetition of the affirmations each month. But do what works for you.

Some of the affirmations are accompanied with Bible verses that reinforce the affirmation. But not all of them have an accompanying verse. 

I encourage you to create your own daily calendar affirmations. The electronic calendars are very easy to do since you can repeat each month. When I was using my day planner each day, I would write my affirmations in at the beginning of the month. 

I did find that writing them in for each day added to the positive impact for me.

I have attached a link with the affirmations I am currently using. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KhvR0OyuxnBYVP4y9_hHRfIX5ve7yEiQ_achPfMys1U/edit 

I encourage you to get started, then make them your own. JP

Notes about my other reminders:

Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown 

Read the book: Gifts of Imperfection by Dr. Brene’ Brown

Refer to Habits for Wellbeing https://www.habitsforwellbeing.com/10-guideposts-for-wholehearted-living-by-dr-brene-brown/

Mastering the 7 Decisions from Andy Andrews

Read Traveler’s Gift or Mastering the Seven Decisions by Andy Andrews

Also look at his quick guide to the decisions: https://andyandrews.com/downloads/print/AA_SevenDecisions.pdf

Daily ReadingYou can purchase the book or the ebooks listed below.

Walk in Grace. Live in Love by Bob Goff 

or

A Year With Jesus, by Eugene Peterson
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Jan. 2

PLANS WORK OR THEY DON'T. LOVE ALWAYS WORKS. GO WITH THE SURE THING.

The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

GALATIANS 5:14 

What is it about January 1 and making New Year's resolutions? I think they're terrific because they get people inspired to move toward the person they want to be. Later in January, I go around asking people if they made any resolutions-it gives you a window into what their hopes and dreams are. One predictable recurring theme is friends who want to go the gym on a regular basis. They say their gyms are like ghost towns in November and December, then January hits and they get as busy as a New York City subway. They also say the crowds begin to trickle down as the month goes on, and by February they're back to the familiar faces they see throughout the year. If only we could make our commitments surefire bets, right? Here's the thing. Plans are a toss-up: sometimes they work out and sometimes they wither. Love always works. What if we simply commit to love?

 

Don't plan on doing it or make a resolution to do it the way people hope to go to the gym. Just do it. No plan, no agenda. Just Jesus leaking out through you into the world. Our lives are a series of positive experiences and more than a few negative ones. Make your life about people and you won't regret it. There's no gym to join, no pounds to lose. Our hours and minutes are what make up our lives, and God never intended relationships to be an afterthought. Make this year about people. We won't give our friends the love they deserve if we try to work them in when our lives slow down. We'll wake up one day and realize we never really got to know the people we bump into every day, even if they're the ones who sit across the dinner table from us each night. If you have to choose between your plans and your loved ones, go with the sure thing and choose love. 

Who do you need to focus your love toward today?