Suzanne Alyssa Andrew's Blog: The PROCESS blog, page 6

Journaling towards imagination

Can you find space for yourself in writing this week? Take some time to explore. Perhaps you’ll find inspiration in your own words. Or, in the words of others. This week’s quote is from My Name Is Why, a memoir by the writer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay. The book is a reflection on Sissay’s childhood in the British institutional care system, and how he arrived at poetry as the one place he could call home.

No matter what’s happening for you this week, there’s a space for you in writing. What will you discover when you follow your imagination?

Warmth and dreams,

Suzanne

(This is from my series on Instagram. Last week I did a video instead of a post. You can find that on Insta @suzannealyssaauthor )

Journaling on mixing things up!

From my weekly Instagram series.

Journaling about rain sounds

I love the sound of the rain! It’s more of a torrential kerplunk-kerplunk today than a pitter-patter in my corner of the world so you could get a good drum beat going to it. Then if you spend a few minutes thinking of what rain reminds you of, your rain song is going to practically write itself!

The sound of the rain reminds me of cosy moments by the fire, quiet rambles through the evergreens, surprise city downpours, the dramatic swish and spray of rainwater under car hubcaps, biking home racing the cloud deluge (and losing, but continuing on anyway!), and hilarious field trips when I was a kid when the teachers made us garbage bag rain gear and sent us on outdoor adventures.

I’ve learned you can curse the rain, but it’ll ignore you and pour anyway. Sometimes rain changes your plans. Rain is about letting go! Sometimes, if you let yourself, you can enjoy it—splish splash! Kids get that, and dogs do, too, but it’s easy to forget the fun of it.

Is your rain song moody? Romantic? Or does it rock to the steady driving beat?

This week, journal with me on what the sound of rain reminds you of. Maybe it’ll lead to a poem or a song.

Cheers to rainy days,

Suzanne

Journaling With Suzanne is a series on Instagram. Follow me there at @suzannealyssaauthor!

Journaling on letting things be

I used to be someone who tried to push myself (and sometimes others!) on every front. When I looked at my priorities everything was important, and everything needed to meet a certain standard.

That’s exhausting. I had to learn the hard way, over and over, that when things don’t go as planned I need to adjust or drop the plan. And I don’t have the capacity to go full throttle on everything.

This week as the west coast wildfire smoke socked in and stuck around in my area, I was initially frustrated and worried about it, yes. But then I saw it as a way to practice letting something be. When I looked at it as temporary I was able to get on with things with less stress.

That’s NOT to say I’m okay with it, because I’m more determined now than ever to take action on forests, wildlife and climate. We all have a responsibility to care for the environment. The wildfires are a reminder of that.

It’s just that spending a week simmering in anger would have taken a lot of energy. And all that private thought effort would have dissipated with the smoke. By observing it as is I can better direct my energy to public actions that will have a bigger impact.

This week let’s journal together on this question: what can you let be as it is?

For me this is an ongoing practice, and when I do it I’m both calmer and stronger.

Wishing you blue skies,

Suzanne

Journaling with @suzannealyssaauthor is a weekly series on Instagram.

Journaling about how to thrive

Yesterday as the pandemic numbers spiked in my area, and the air filled with wildfire smoke blowing up from the south, I was at my desk writing. I sat beside an air purifier running on high and accepted reality. I decided rather than fret I would create.

In a way I prepared for this moment last year by reading The Choice: Embrace the Possible, a memoir by Holocaust survivor Dr. Edith Eva Eger. What resonates for me about Eger’s work is that unlike the kind of toxic positivity that attempts to deny what’s happening or blanket the truth with platitudes, she writes about accepting what is, and then choosing what to do about it:

“Being a survivor, being a “thriver” requires absolute acceptance of what was and what is. If we discount our pain or punish ourselves for feeling… we’re not seeing our choices. We’re judging ourselves,” she writes. “Each moment is a choice. No matter how frustrating or boring or constraining or painful or oppressive our experience, we can always choose how we respond.”

This year is challenging us every day, but we still have choices and options. This week I invite you to consider what ways you can thrive under the conditions you’re experiencing. How will you respond?

I’m choosing to write, dance around my living room when I feel stuck, and teach what I’ve learned to help others along their way. Of course there’s always more to learn, so let’s keep journaling together.

With possibility,

Suzanne

Journaling with @suzannealyssaauthor is a weekly series on Instagram.

Journaling on feelings

Feelings are sneaky chameleons. Sometimes they show up as a cover for something else: anger can bubble up out of fear or sadness; anxiety might appear as shame in disguise; frustration could mask resentment or disappointment. 

When I used to work in a volatile industry where layoffs were rampant, people often picked fights and schemed rather than expressing sadness or disappointment over the departures of dear colleagues, or over their own job losses. Instead of revealing vulnerable feelings they’d rage. 

What we’re seeing now in a scary, uncertain pandemic situation are many examples of people covering up fear with anger, frustration, denial and other feelings. 

Sometimes if we’re reading the room and deciding an appropriate response to what’s happening is to be sombre, we might also repress an internal fizz of joy, contentment or a sense of acceptance of the way things are.

Whenever we cover or internalize feelings we leave them bubbling inside, unexpressed.

Journaling is an opportunity to identify all these bubbles, express them, and let them go.

This week I invite you to make lists of all the feelings you’re experiencing. Are any of them covers for something else? Is there anything bubbling you can acknowledge to yourself?

I’ll be journaling with you!

With feeling,

Suzanne

Journaling With Suzanne is a prompt series on Instagram @suzannealyssaauthor

Image credit: by Stellajo1976 via Creative Commons

Journaling for what you need

I’m an independent spirit, but this week, after several low energy, and relatively unproductive, weeks in a row I reached out to some author friends I admire to schedule some check-ins on the projects we’re working on. The idea is to encourage each other and keep each other accountable.

The fact that life in 2020 is hard is an understatement! And at this point, the brave faces we’ve been putting on might be cracking. Or perhaps the supports we did have in place are no longer enough. I can’t think of anyone I know who couldn’t benefit from more energy, and a dash of added hope. Someone to say, “you’ve got this,” and “keep going.”

But at the same time, we might be feeling like we don’t have a lot to give. Sure, giving is energizing. We do have limits though! We cannot be everything to everybody!

For me, I realized the way I can best benefit from receiving and giving more support right now—without overextending—is to reach out to just a few people whom I vibe well with. It’s also about keeping things easy and flexible, because nobody needs another thing right now!

With a little more thought and effort I might think of other support possibilities, so I’m going to keep journaling about this. I invite you to join me! 

You can also follow this series on Instagram at @suzannealyssaauthor.

With kindness,

Suzanne

Journaling to play

We’re all carrying so much right now! As someone who’s always put in 120% ultra-serious effort on everything, I can tell you from experience that giving everything in our lives such weight, and taking on that much responsibility leads directly to burnout.

There are limits to what we can carry. Some things we’re holding, like health and mental well-being, are heavier than usual. It can feel like there’s more at stake now, even when we make every day decisions like where and when to grocery shop, and how to navigate our social circles.

This is a good time to ask ourselves what we can set down, where we can expend less effort—and this may sound counterintuitive—how we can play more.

Fun, joy and laughter are rejuvenating and help our lives flow with more ease and compassion. Not everything has to be difficult. Are there things we can approach in a different way?

This week let’s journal on these two questions: What can you take less seriously? When can you give yourself a few minutes to play?

I’ll be journaling with you, as this one is especially sticky for me! I plan to revisit this question a few minutes here and there through the week!

Playfully yours,

Suzanne

I’m curious: when you’re reading a book or article or watching a...

I’m curious: when you’re reading a book or article or watching a talk and someone asks you to journal or reflect, do you skip that part?

If you do, why do you think that is? One of the things that journaling does is to enable you to take what you’re learning and apply it to your own life. It can be a way to find new ideas, identify what you’re feeling and look at your thoughts. I think you already know that journaling can help you. Expressing yourself is powerful!

I know for me sometimes it’s hard to get to that page though! Sometimes I think “Oh, I’ll do that later,” but when I think that I almost never do! What would happen if we didn’t put it off? What would happen if we took five minutes to jot something down? Five minutes is enough!

What’s stopping you?! Let me know in the comments, or join me now in journaling for just five minutes, and see what happens!

Suzanne

PS: Since we’re talking tea the photo is of my favourite tea cup.

PSS: Follow this series of creative and self expression prompts on Instagram! 

Journalling about starry nights

The Perseids Meteor shower is at its peak this coming week in the corner of the world where I live. Looking up at the sky to see shooting stars feels quietly magical.

It’s something I would have missed just a few years ago. The city I lived in then lights up at night, which is exciting to see from an airplane, and feels alive and humming with activity when you’re in it on the ground.

At that time if you would have asked me what my idea of a starry night was I would have said a glitzy gala with human stars of the stage, screen or the page. I would have said a celebration of achievement and success, of bright, glittery people.

But since then, I’ve moved across the country to a smaller city where the sky stars are brighter and more visible on a clear night, and then this year the whole world slowed down.

Now I appreciate the spectacles of astronomy more, and I’m more tuned into and observant of nature, more focused on the business of simply living. This shift is happening everywhere, including the city I used to live in. One of my dear friends there says he’s on his bike all the time now, riding down to the lake as much as he can.

The NASA website says meteor showers are meteor rocks appearing as shooting stars entering the atmosphere at the same time. Interestingly when we see a shooting star “the bright streak is not actually the rock, but rather the glowing hot air as the hot rock zips through the atmosphere.” Hot, bright zipping spotlights in the sky!

I invite you to journal with me on this week’s question: what’s your idea of a starry night now? Or, in other words, what excites you and feels sparkly?

I’ll be journaling with you!

Sending you stardust,

Suzanne

Journaling with @suzannealyssaauthor is a new weekly series on Instagram where we explore healing, growth and change. Follow me, and we’ll write together!