To live a well balanced, rewarding life of our dreams by day and sleep restfully at night.
How can you keep your eye on the prize if you don’t know what the prize is?
Published March 30, 2012 | 
Are you dreamy? Do you drift? Do you ever want something more or different for your life?
How can we live the life of our dreams if we are not sure what we want?
To get clear on what you want I offer you this morning these five ideas:
1. In your journal or on a piece of paper, write down 100 things that you want to be, 100 things that you want to have, and 100 things that you want to do.
2. Imagine that you only had a few months left to life. What would be most important to you then?
3. Read about and talk to people who are doing what you want.
4. Express your desires to the people closest to you. Ask for their support (there is also the element of accountability when you share your dreams and goals with others).
5. Keep trying new things and be persistent. It is easy to give up quickly. If you believe in something, stick with it.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
Have a blessed day,
Debra
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Five good reasons to write lists in your journal and five list writing ideas.
Published May 4, 2011 | 
Here are five reasons why writing lists in our journals is a great exercise:
it’s fun! (everybody loves a top ten list), it’s relaxing (help you go back to sleep if you are up due to insomnia), it can reveal insights and ideas for you and your life, and it may help you move closer to your goals.
Here are five list ideas for your journal writing:
1. A favorite places list.
2. List of goals.
3. List of action steps to attain those goals.
4. Adventures you want to experience.
5. Ideas for something new to try
I will stop here. I’m sure you will come up with many more on your own.
Enjoy and keep writing!
Debra : )
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The Benefit of Writing Lists In Your Journal
Published September 14, 2010 | 
I started my first journal when I was about ten years old. Even then, one of my favorite activities was writing lists: my favorite movies, favorite actors, favorite books, my best friends, etc. I’ve always enjoyed books such as The Book of Lists, The Guiness Book of World Records, Almanacs, The Best Places to Kiss series, 100 reasons to be happy, 100 things to do before you die, etc.
There’s just something about lists that gets my imagination and energy going. I am a school teacher and even young kids seem to really like these kinds of books and writing lists in their writing journals. I teach them that list writing is a strategy to use as a source of ideas for their writing.
What are the benefits of making lists in our journals? I can think of many:
- A list of things you are thankful for can put you in a very positive appreciative state.
- A list of goals can give you focus, direction, and clarity on what is important for you.
- Just for fun: it can be quite entertaining to write down a list of the hottest hunks on television or places that are great to visit but you would never want to live there…
- To get sleepy: I have suggested here at The Warm Milk Journal to write down lists of things when you are having a hard time going to sleep. It gets your mind off your insomnia and will get you sleepy again soon.
- Relaxing: listing inspirational prayers, mantras, etc. can calm and center you and put you at your ease.
- Creativity: Get your brain going in creative directions. Give yourself a topic and then write down as many things as you can come up with without censoring yourself. Just write.
Try writing some kind of list in your journal tonight.
Enjoy.
Debra : )
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If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep ~ Dale Carnegie
Published July 2, 2010 | 
One of the worst things we can do when we can’t sleep is lie there and stress about it. That is why often here at The Warm Milk Journal I encourage you to get up, sit in another room and relax: read, meditate, gently stretch, listen to some music or write in your journal.
Some ideas for tonight:
- Describe something you see in the room with great detail until you feel yourself getting sleepy.
- If worry just won’t go away, write your concerns down and then tell your mind that you can not do anything about it now. The worries are noted. Now let them go for now..
- Keep lights dim and gently stretch and do some tension exercises
- Did you ever write down lists or read the Book of Lists as a child? Lists are fun and they are something busy for your mind to do but not overly exciting, so write down some lists until you get sleepy: places that begin with the letter “B”, places you want to visit, all the flower names you can think of, your favorite movies etc.
- Sip on that warm milk or herbal tea, have a bite of toast or banana
- Relax. You are safe.
- Think of one thing you are thankful for that happened today and one thing that you are looking forward to about tomorrow.
Sweet Dreams
Debra : )
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The Best Places for…. A listing exercise
Published April 20, 2010 | Here is an exercise to try with your journal when you can’t sleep. This idea was inspired by the Best Places to Kiss in _____ book series. You can keep writing until you get sleepy again.
Write a list of:
- The Best Places to have coffee with a friend
- The Best Places to go on a first date
- The Best Places to kiss
- The Best places to get engaged
- The best places to have a wedding
- The best places to go on a honeymoon
- The best places to go on a bookstore browse
- The Best Places to take a walk
- The Best Places to enjoy unspoiled wilderness
- The Best Places to window shop
- The Best Places to write on your laptop
- The Best Places to work out
- The Best Places to hide when you want some solitude
- The Best Places to party
- The Best Places to take your kids out to eat
- The best Places to go on date night
- The Best places to go to enjoy a water view
- The Best places to go to enjoy a mountain view
- The best places to go to enjoy a sunrise
- The Best places to go to enjoy a sunset
- The best places to go on a cruise
- The Best places to go when you need a vacation
- The best places to go when you need to connect with others
- The Best places to go camping
- The best places to go running
- The best places to go when it is hot and sunny outside
- The best places to go when it is rainy outside
You get the idea. Come up with more ideas of your own. Writing lists is always a great journal writing exercise. It is simple and it gets your mind on something else besides your not sleeping… have fun.
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Listing Movies
Published April 13, 2010 | Making lists in our journals when we can’t sleep is a good mental exercise that will get our minds off our insomnia and hopefully will get us sleepy again.
Here is a listing exercise to try:
Make a list of all movies of a certain genre (ex: all horror movies, all chick flick movies, classics, thrillers etc.) that you can think of
Make a list of your all time favorite movies
Make a list of the worst movies you have ever seen
Make a list of movies that make you cry
Make a list of movies that make you laugh
Make a list of every Oscar winning film that you can think of
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Posted in lists | 
getting sleepy, insomnia, journal writing, movies, writing lists | 
Leave a commentTen Things To Do Now If You Can't Sleep
Published February 26, 2010 | 1. Write down 100 things you want to do.
2. Write down 100 things you want to have.
3. Write down 100 things you want to be.
4. Write down what your life would be like if failure was not possible.
5. Write down your proudest achievement. How did that feel?
6. If you had just one year to live, what would you do? Who would you do it with? Write it down.
7.Get on the floor and stretch like a cat.
8. Try to remember and list all of your teachers starting from Kindergarten.
9.Make love.
10.Write down as many things as you can that you are thankful for.
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Posted in Tips to help insomnia | gratitude list, insomnia, journal writing, writing lists | Leave a comment 
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