A few years ago, I wrote a little book called Simple Acts of Moving Forward: 60 Suggestions for Getting Unstuck. At the time, I wrote the book to get unstuck because my fiction writing had stalled, and I needed to keep up some sort of writing. I didn’t expect it to become a published book, but it was a great exercise for me in terms of freeing my thought patterns and brainstorming in a way that was helpful at the time.
One aspect of the book that gave me new energy was the emergence of several categories, all pertinent to moving forward. Here they are:
- Acts of Creativity
- Acts of Daring
- Acts of Generosity
- Acts of Healing
- Acts of Integrity
- Acts of Joy
Moving forward takes many forms and emphases. Do you need to be a bit creative and look at things in a fresh way or go about daily life with a new view? Are you stuck because you are more fearful than daring, and might it help to step out of your comfort zone? Do you have trouble moving forward because you have forgotten that life must be lived not just inward to personal concerns, but also outward toward others? Have you become bogged down because there are wounds that need tending before anything else can happen? Is it time to become more honest about your life and free yourself from denial or outright lies about how things are? And have you forgotten that joy is sometimes a choice, a posture a person takes toward self and circumstances and other people?
Why not take just one category and reflect on it today or for a few days. Allow your thoughts to roam, and don’t forget to listen to your heart.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Grades were always more important than what I learned…so I didn’t take anything more challenging than college chemistry…rue the day I chose not to take calculus…I’ll be turning 68 in a couple weeks…I went to the bookstore and bought myself a do-it-yourself trigonometry book…I’m working my way back to learning calculus.
It is never too late.
That is completely brave! Good for you!
Trigonometry. Isn’t that target practice?
I’m kidding but I do respect anyone who can do math, whatever that is.
Good for you
I bought this book a year or more ago knowing that I needed motivation to start growing in my life. And I am stuck, and have been, for a long time….but I’m working on it! I agree with Lynne. Exactly the same motivation. I was always more concerned with good grades, and never took anything too hard, or that I’d have to really study hard. I’m so sad about that now, too. I had a great career, but I missed out on so much. I believe I could have done so many other things. I’m 61. I know from many similar examples in my life, God actually gave me many more talents, and blessings, but I was too lazy, scared, or doubtful about using them…following through, accepting the challenge and responsibility. And I do live in a sort of denial about some things. Things I just don’t like about my circumstances. It’s taken me a long time to come to this, I hope now to face it head on. Thank you for lighting the fire again, Vinita.
Paige, I think one of the most painful aspects of growing older is developing the insight to see our lives more clearly in retrospect. I think it’s the rare person who does not have regrets when she sees what she might have done. You said you were too lazy or scared or doubtful; it seems that women especially will tend to downplay and doubt their gifts. This says as much about our culture as it does about us. The women who are forceful enough to follow their desires and truly invest in their talents are often seen as too strong, as pushy and bitchy. It’s always been fine for men to push their way through life and have a lot of ambition. I know that your issues (and mine) go much deeper than how the culture has conditioned us, but please understand that some of your sadness is entertwined with the larger sadness that surrounds much of our history as women.
And please don’t think that life is done. You don’t have as many options at age 61 as you did at 21 or even 41, but it can be astounding what happens when a person of any age chooses to stay open and to take courage. I am several years younger than you, and I am struggling with some of the same issues. Some days I feel that I’ve done all I’m going to do and that I’m pretty much finished. Perhaps you and I should consider these feelings a special form of temptation aimed at people of a certain age. I am not so tempted by sex and money and power as I might have been a decade ago. The enemy of our souls will zero in on my sense of accomplishment or worth. We must fight this temptation. We must call it what it is and fight it. I will if you will! Peace to you–Vinita
The main one I think I need to focus on is being daring. I have been lately a creature of habit. You, Vanita have what they say “lit a fire under me”. I want to give myself the time in the day to pick up a book, to go for a walk and to work on my cross stitch. These things make my brain work and I want to do them but again other things took priority and I became a creature of habit.