Reality Check

Pleasure Steph!
I agree totally, my MP's (as I lovingly call them) have really opened a door to my creativity, and definitely help clear the space for exciting ideas and insights.
The Artist's Way book is a great tool for reconnecting with your creativity more deeply, and offers a 12-week process to clear creative blocks & keep you in the zone!
I've not yet managed to embrace my Artist's Date habit - which is the 2nd pivotal tool of Julia Cameron's work, so there's even greater room for improvement ;)
Wl&c,
Sam

Pleasure Steph!
I agree totally, my MP's (as I lovingly call them) have really opened a door to my creativity, and definitely help clear the space for exciting ideas and insights.
The Artist's Way book is a great tool for reconnecting with your creativity more deeply, and offers a 12-week process to clear creative blocks & keep you in the zone!
I've not yet managed to embrace my Artist's Date habit - which is the 2nd pivotal tool of Julia Cameron's work, so there's even greater room for improvement ;)
Wl&c,
Sam

Hi Sam, thanks for the link, I hadn't seen your comment until just now. I've always written a journal but recently it's become more of a chore than something I do for pleasure. The morning pages are completely different because you don't have any preconceived ideas of what you need to write. I've found it clears my mind giving it some space for creativeness!!

Hi Stephanie and Bernard!

Great to hear from you both! It is fab to be back in action again :)
Thanks for sharing with us some of the ideas you had after listening to the podcast, how you've applied them and other things that have worked to help you keep a reality check on those areas of your lives that needed it more (the family diary & orders of the week sound wonderfully useful as well as a great way to teach about responsible time/event management!).

I've amended the post to include details on the Morning Pages activity, and The Artist's Way - which is where I learnt more about this fabulous tool.

Do let us know how you've been getting on with trying out some of these ideas a month or two on!

With love & curiosity,
Sam

After a few weeks away I'm catching up with Actionpodcasts. This one seems very apposite since I too have difficulty placing things in the right point in time.
During the holidays I've met people not seen for a while and we went through the process of "it must be x months since we last saw you" where x is a highly flexible number depending upon the viewer.
I for one will be adopting the logbook approach by backfilling my calendar with all those things I've done, starring the ones I feel pleased with and reviewing those less pleasing.
I'll have a go with the daily pages routine, though like Paul I might be more likely to record than write.
Finally, I've been testing and found it very useful,a web based time sheet system called TicTac Mobile. Take a look at www.tictacmobile.com It's a Swedish product, the user support is good and the cost is very reasonable - and no I'm not on commission :-)

A few months ago I was getting into such a muddle with my diary despite using the iphone calender because there are so many of us (2 adults and 5 children). The problem was they would say "oh Mum can I have a lift/go to x's party/meet x in town/join club" etc while I was busy so I wouldn't remember to put in my diary. SO...... I went to Officeworld and bought one of those enormous office diaries. It is left open at the relevant week on the worktop in the kitchen next to a large pot of colourful pens. The whole family is responsible for adding their own entries (including me). It's been brilliant because everyone can see what everyone else is doing and whether their activity will be possible. And if they forget to write something in the diary it doesn't happen!!

For weekly events such as swimming lessons, dance classes, cadets etc I have made an 'orders of the week' chart on the computer and stuck it on the kitchen wall. Each person has a different colour to make it easier for the little ones to spot their own column. It's really helped them to be responsible for getting their equipment ready by the front door the night before.

I love Sam's idea of writing whatever comes to mind first thing in the morning. I'm going to use the journal app on my iphone to do that.

Lovely to have you back by the way Sam!