If you’re like most women, you love a good journal. We record what we must, in an effort to change our mind and our habits. Here’s a well-kept secret: A pen coupled with a journal can serve as a powerful life tool.
Journaling helps to clarify thoughts, reduce stress and anxiety, and know ourselves better. In addition, we can track patterns, opportunities, and improvement and growth over time.
Successful people throughout history have kept journals. Playwright Oscar Wilde said: “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.”
I’ve kept a journal since I was in grade school; writing down what happened that day, and silly observations that only a child good muster up. Since then my journaling has evolved into an important part of my self-care routine.
So, when one of my closest friends decided to create a guided journal, focused on gratitude and positive energy, I was more than excited to jump in.
Michelle Sodaro knows the power of words. Her 17 books are a beautiful combination of novels highlighting smart, fierce women, reflective poetry, and even children’s books. She understands the power of healing, as her Master’s thesis was about using writing to heal and how people can work through their lives by using writing.
Making Sunshine: A Journal of Gratitude and Positive Energy provides an opportunity to write your own story. Each page has a Positive Outlook Quote, Reflection, and questions to help guide you to some truths you may not have known were there.
Michelle’s message to me when I received my journal was “This has healed me in ways I didn’t even know I was hurting.” After using the journal every day, I found that to be true as well. Here’s more about Making Sunshine:
What was the inspiration for Making Sunshine?
It was February...a month I struggle with because of the lack of sunshine. Christmas is over, why is winter still here...is it going to be gray and dark forever? It occurred to me that I could make my own sunshine, that I could, indeed, fill my life with sunshine and the spark was added to my love of reflection journals and inspirational quotes. My Master's thesis was about using writing to heal; so, I put all of those together and here we are.
What did you learn about yourself through writing the book?
What I learned. After I was done. After I had gone through and found the quotes and wrote the reflections and asked the questions...I realized that I had healed. That my wounds and scars and mistreatment and ouchie parts were gone, and I was more peaceful than I have ever been. I put it to a test and dragged out all of my journals. I read every hurt and disappointment and boo-boo...and after all of that, I was still healed. I was at peace and the sunshine filled my soul in ways I never could have imagined.
What is your hope for readers of the book?
I hope my readers discover the power of a positive outlook. I really feel it is the only way to change the world. We have to actively combat the negative and experience the peace of positive energy. I want my readers to follow their dreams, not someone else's, not society's...I want people to look inside their true hearts and have the courage to follow their dreams. I want my readers to embrace, fall madly in love with, and protect, their true selves as they would a friend. I want my readers to let go...of their scars, of their limitations, of their fears and disappointments...and truly be free.
