Almost Like the Serenity Prayer. Or Not.

Nationwide insurance company airs a commercial that definitively states, “Life comes at you fast.

And it does.

The economy is bad. People are losing jobs. Your kids might not be doing well in school. Maybe you’re in prison or going. Maybe your home will be foreclosed and you have nowhere to go. You may be losing a dangerous amount of money in stocks. You might be having trouble paying all your bills or finding a job. Maybe your unemployment just ran out or your family member is on drugs. Maybe, just maybe, your spouse or partner is cheating on you or beating on you but you just don’t want to let go. In any case, somewhere, something is going terribly wrong for someone.

The enigma: How do you deal with it?

How can you make the world stop spinning—or even slow down—long enough to grab hold and regain control?

Sometimes, you just get tired. And in the meantime, life keeps moving. Suicide is definitely not the answer. Neither is murder, drinking, doing drugs or indulging in any other toxic behavior, chemical nor vice.

There is no point in fighting it. There's no running from it. You’ve got to find peace, because the thing is, a day, a week or even a year from now, you’ll look back on this time and decide it really wasn’t that bad.

Instead, try to figure out the message from it all. What did I do years ago or in a past lifetime ago to get to this point? How did I move on? How was I changed? Here’s a clue:

*Change the things you can
*Figure out how to deal with those you can't--but deal with them head on
*Prioritize and don’t feel pressured to sway
*Seek help, not pity
(Did I say see HELP, not PITY?)
*Listen to your body and the universe then flow that way

Above the rest, LEARN THE LESSON from it all and APPLY it.

Until next time,
couler avec la lumiére et l'univers

Green. The New Black Ink.

The following is the beginning of a series of tips that I want to introduce so that we can all become greener writers!

Use this information to reflect on your habits as a writer; improve your habits as a writer; tell us about the alterations you made as a writer.

Ready for a challenge?

TIP #1 - Write On Recycled Paper

According to the US EPA, recycling one short ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7 thousand US gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Of course you can buy recycled paper, but what could be more fun, exciting and out-of-the-box for a writer than to recycle paper by making your own writing pads, notebooks or journals!

If you work in an office where the extra sheet of paper comes out of the printer to identify the user, save those, and when you've accumulated a nice size stack, cut it in half, two-hold punch each half at the top then insert paper fasteners to create two memo pads. Or, use the entire stack to make a notebook or journal!

That was SO easy.

Until next time...
couler avec la lumiére et l'univers