Day 2 Freewrite

I was going have a freewrite last night, but I fell asleep. So even though I am posting this on January 3rd, it is about January 2nd.

Yesterday went really well. We had Retreat 2 of the 2nd Half Collaborative, and it was unusual this time because it is the first time I was not able to bring an issue for discernment to the group because one of our members was gone. So, there were not enough of us to make two groups of three. So, my partner and I were just there to observe. It worked out well, but I do have an issue, and I have seen such fruit from "Listening in Community." Thankfully, I have a community here to do it with.  My issue for discernment is:

Should I commit myself to a year of training spiritual directors from September 2025-October 2026 through another organization?

I am already going to be doing a local training and possibly an online one from September 2025-May 2026 and September 2026-May 2027 out of Body and Soul Companion. And I would like to have another 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius group too. 

I will doing "Discernment through Remembering" and "Discernment through the Body" today and another one tomorrow. 

I will be sad to leave doing these retreats, but if I am going to start training directors, I don't think I can fit this in, and I would love to have more input about who is in my group in the future. 

Back to yesterday, after the time at the Retreat, I put on all my rain gear and went for a long walk. I rested the remainder of the day. I am always tired after these Retreat times. They start very early. 

Sydney gave us ticket to the basketball game, and it was so great to see them win! (See picture above.) They are improving little by little. I wasn't that nervous even though it was a close game. 

Then I came back and watched some news. I am tired of Netflix. I get it for a month every year to watch over vacation, but I really only need two weeks to do that. Gone are the times when Netflix would send you DVDs of rare movies that you couldn't find anywhere else. It is mostly their content. I was going to watch about the Menendez brothers, but I didn't want to watch something so gruesome during Advent and Christmas!

Oh yes, I was going to talk about the song "Defying Gravity," but I forgot to do it. I will postpone it until Day 3 Freewrite because my time is almost up. 

(Just as I typed "up," my 15 minute timer rang!)

Day 1 Freewrite

This is the actual field that RS Thomas was talking about. Click on this to get full size.

I am doing Freewrites for 2025 and taking a journaling course that will give me certification as a journaling coach. I am only on Module 2 of 7 modules, but I already like it. 

One thing that is said is that for people who journal every day for 15-20 minutes, there is an improvement in mental health. Since this is a freewrite, I will not give the reference for the study.

I have been freewriting off and on since about 1998 or so. I have been journaling since I was about 10. Well, it was called "keeping a diary." So it was a little bit different. 

All that to say, I did the "Morning Pages" by Julia Cameron for a good part of last year. I think I stopped when I started doing the Spiritual Exercises with the wonderful group of A, J, L, and T. I enjoy them so much. 

The certification course mentions "Morning Pages," but it is six notebook-sized pages, and it is required to do it FIRST THING in the morning before you do anything else, and sometimes it would take me up to 40 minutes, and I really love to spend time in the word and prayer with my morning cuppa' Chai. So, it was a little too laborious for me. 

Julia also makes a big deal about writing. I agree that there is something about the physical act of writing letters (in cursive) that is really wonderful, but it means a LOT of pages to store after you are done. I did shift over to my Kindle Scribe which allowed me to write. 

I am modifying it and typing instead (sorry Julia) and doing it after my time with God. Sometimes, I love to write a bit about what my time with God was about. Thus the poem at the top of the page (that I will add after my freewrite) because it captures something we hit upon when we were talking last night with our small New Year's Eve dinner group.

The question in our Hygge Game time was something about describing the perfect day. Someone (I think it might have been Phil) was talking about living in the moment, and it made me think of this poem that I was given during the We Hope Advent Retreat with Pray as You Go. You can read it and decide.

Anywho, I realized I am 320 posts away from 3000 posts on this blog. So, I am going to try to freewrite more. I might do it every day in 2025. I will set my timer and promise to stop at 15 minutes of continuous writing. That is what freewrites are all about. I did them with my kids (one still does freewrites as a 30-year-old), and I have Julie Bogart of Bravewriter to thank for that. 

Another thing that I wanted to write about is the song "Defying Gravity." We saw Wicked yesterday, and I had heard the song, but I didn't know the story and where it landed in the musical. I don't know how it ends (the movie is only Part One), but there were words in the song that made me cry and related to my word of the year:

FLY.

My time is running out, so I will post the lyrics here tomorrow and discuss them for my Day 2 freewrite.

Flying with this freewrite. 

Signing off for today,

Carol Ann