An Authentic Life

I found this book so many years ago, titled Simple Abundance.  Its message was a simple one...be grateful.  Look for the positives in life.  I needed that as I was just coming out of a divorce.  I was alone and scared.  Lost under a net of who I was supposed to be...

A year or so later, I read the next book from the same author.  It was titled, Something More:  Excavating Your Authentic Self.  It changed me.  It taught me that to live an authentic life is the only way to live life.  I started to document what I wanted out of life.  Who I wanted to be...who I really was.  I set boundaries and dreamed my dreams on the pages of many journals. 

Funny thing...as I was reading those books and undercovering who I was I came to a picnic thrown by my friend Susan.  We taught together for a long time.  The picnic was at her mother's house and we all gathered in the backyard on the brick patio under the big trees.  A buffet was set up and there was a gorgeous heart shaped bowl filled with strawberries.  All the fixings for strawberry shortcake were on the side.  It was lovely and must have made me happy because I wrote about it as one of my gratitudes for that day.

Here is the funny part,  Susan is now my sister in law.  And I now live in that house with her handsome brother.  I throw my own celebrations on that brick patio under the big trees.

And I know that all those boundaries, dreams and gratitudes brought me to this place.  Living as my authentic self led me to Steven.  and he led me to all the rest of my wishes...

I spent some time recently recording some thoughts about that authentic life.  Am I still leading it now that I am a mom and a wife?  I wrote lots of pages about my thoughts on it and hope to write even more.  Because journaling got me here...where will it take me next?

Supplies:  Teresa Collin's Notations kit, Blingage, chipboard and trim from Timeless (this kit is so easy to use to make your own beautiful notebooks)

I added lots of details like ink, gems and mist!  I even broke out the colored pencils...it was therapeutic to put that work into it!  I plan to write myself a letter each year and place it in an envelope on the last page.  And only open it a year later.  I did this for a couple of years back during the excavation phase and it was powerful!

It will lead me where I need to be...