READ: How To Reboot Yourself

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

It's summer and for me, that means time off with my family and the headspace to focus on my writing and to reassess my life in general...which means I've been reflecting on all the plans I had for this blog and what I hoped it would be. I haven't kept up with posts as much as I'd like to but I do love having this space to talk about writing in general so I'm starting with this post and hoping to get back into the swing of at least posting once a week here. 

The post How To Reboot Yourself from Mike Vardy at Lifehack reminded me of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and her podcast Happier. In the book and on her podcast, Gretchen talks about how when you have some kind of life change, it gives you an opportunity to start fresh. It can be something huge like starting habits after you move or when you start a new job. For me the summer is like a clean slate. It's a clear breaking point when I can start up new habits. This year I really wanted to focus on yoga so I got an unlimited membership at my favorite local yoga studio. I've been going at least 4 times a week so far and am hoping to keep it up for the rest of the summer. I also wanted to zone in on writing revisions of my YA novel and to get that done before the end of June. I'm making good progress but I know I need to step up my game a bit. And then there's blogging. I also want to zone in on my blogs and making sure to keep up with them because they are a wonderful opportunity for instant publication and it helps me to have a place to get my thoughts out of my head.

Maybe you don't have the summer off like me but even starting a new week on Monday can be a sort of restart. Don't feel that you have to have summer off or move to a new city. If you feel like you might need a reboot, read Mike's post and try one of the idea he suggests. When it comes to writing, even a new notebook could be a great restart or finding a new place to write and making a commitment to write every Tuesday...just do it once and then do it again and over time it becomes a habit. But also, I know there are times when I've needed a break from my writing and maybe that would be helpful too. Take a break and plan to start up again with a fresh outlook. 

Have you ever tried a reboot for your writing or something else?

Can you recognize a time in your life when you experience a reboot 

and maybe you weren't even trying?

How did it feel? How did it impact your mindset?

I'd love to hear your stories!

READ: Rising Strong by Brené Brown

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

A couple of weeks ago, it was a super windy day. I mean gusts of winds stormed through our culdesac and I braced myself as my hair blew all around my face as I walked Perdi. It was a Wednesday. I know because it was also garbage day. 

It was garbage day and the garbage cans and recycling bins lined the end of all the driveways. Perdi and I made it to the end of the street, we did our usual loop and then headed back towards home. Up ahead, across the street from my house, our neighbor's garbage can had blown over. Contents of their garbage can now were strewn all around their part of the circle. A Pringles can was slowly clattering it's way towards us.

Ugh. I was annoyed. A voice in my head complained about people and how they can't keep things nice and can you believe they would let their garbage just take over the street and were they going to clean it up and ohmigosh, the nerve. I walked the whole way down the street so cranky and mad at them. 

And then I realized, they probably took their garbage out, went to work and had absolutely no idea the wind had taken their garbage and spread it all over the street for everyone to see and be annoyed with. And here I was judging them for something they had no control over. In Rising Strong, Brené talks about seeing people through a lens of "they're doing the best they can".

So what did I do? I pulled out a poop bag from Perdi's stash and put my hand in it like a glove and I walked on over there, took a deep breathe, and picked up the garbage. 

Yup. I did. 

And I'm damn proud that I did. 

Did I want to?

Nope. Not at all. Not one bit. I don't even want to repeat some of the things I picked up that day. 

But I did it anyway. 

Because for all I know, they were doing the best they could that morning. 

It wasn't their fault the wind was being a jerk that day.

I have so many other great takeaways from this book but this one stood out the most. It's the most useful in life. Try it for a day. Try approaching people and situations with the perspective that everyone is doing the best they can and see how it changes your mentality. It lifted a burden off of my shoulders. It's easy to tell a story, whether I'm telling a story about myself, how others see me, or how I see others. My brain likes to fill in the gaps when it doesn't know the whole story. I bet yours does too. That's kind of how brains work. That's why I love this new way of looking at things. It's much easier to be compassionate if you start with the fact that everyone is doing the best they can offer at that very moment. 

I owe a huge big thanks to Patience Bertana for sharing her love of books and knowing I would like this one enough to buy me my very own copy. She was right. It's a gem of a book. I love Brené Brown's work. I've blogged about her Ted Talk on Listening to Shame before and if you aren't familiar with her, I definitely suggest checking out her Ted Talks or her books or her website or her Instagram. Really, she's amazing anywhere you can find her!

Have you read one of Brené Brown's books?
Is there a book that has shaped the way you look at life?
I'd love to hear about it!

READ: Malcom X's Thoughts on Taking Action

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date.

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

March means the Slice of Life challenge from Two Writing Teachers. It's a month-long blogging challenge. I've participated twice before and both times I learned about myself as a writer. It's powerful to write and publish something every single day. 

In 2015, I blogged about myself and how I started on this journey towards really and truly needing to tell my stories and recognizing that my voice is important. This post shares this conviction and also lists all of my posts from March 2015. 

I'm not participating this year but I've been thinking (still) about telling my stories and inviting others to share their stories with me. Just last week I stopped a friend in the hallway at school and said, "Can we sit down and have coffee sometime and chat?"

When I explained more, she warned me she's going to tell it like it is and I smiled. That's exactly what I want. This year, I'm passionate about having conversations. I want to hear what others are thinking, experiencing, feeling. It's too easy to walk around shaking my head and keeping my thoughts to myself but if I continue to do just that, I'll never impact change.  My friend Shawna Coppola shared this piece from Malcom X on Twitter recently and it's been reverberating around and through me ever since. 

I invite you to read Malcolm X's words below and to share your thoughts with me. 

Some things take hold like this did because they ring true. I want to help people all over the world...but the more I think about this, the more I realize my biggest impact is with people close to me. People I see often, people who know me, people who trust me. Engaging in conversations about race right now is as important as ever. 

We all have circles of influence. 

We need to elevate that influence, amplify our voices, cause a stir.

We need to be thoughtful, be cautious, be safe.

But also, be brave, be open, be a safe place.

Be a friend.

Would you like to sit down and have coffee sometime and chat? 

Send me an email at jen {at} teachmentortexts {dot} com.

READ: I Am Here Now

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

Wandering Urban Outfitters a few weeks ago, I found myself amused by the book collection they had. I wrote down a few books I'd love to buy someday but there was one I definitely couldn't pass up in the moment. It's called I am here now and is "A creative mindfulness guide and journal" from The Mindfulness Project. See how I couldn't pass it up? It just seemed so perfect.

I haven't worked through all of the exercises yet but I've enjoyed many of them for sure. I was already in love after the first page. I had to fill in information about myself and draw a self-portrait.

But my favorite part was that underneath the box were these words:

"It is what it is."

Sometime in the fall I stayed home with our six-year-old because he wasn't feeling well. He had recently begged us for a Twitter account so he could follow the Twitter account his class has at school and I warned him that he wasn't supposed to tweet since he was sick. 

So of course, what did he do? He secretly tweeted his class, telling them he was home sick and "It is what it is." 

Which made me laugh but also wonder where he came up with that...until I heard myself saying it. Suddenly, every time I uttered these words, they stood out to me and I realized he got these words from me. Sometimes I have moments like this when I realize just how much I influence my kids but it also lets me learn about myself. I can see myself in them. 

Then I saw these words on the first page of this notebook: "It is what it is." I underlined them right away. Yes. These are my words. It is what it is. And when we are faced with what is, we need to take a deep breath and decide how to proceed. But if I've learned anything about being mindful, it's that we have to accept every moment for what it is and decide how to move forward. Dwelling on the past isn't helpful and looking too far into the future isn't always helpful either. Focus on the here and now and do what you can with what you have. Whether it's about enjoying it or accepting it, doing something about it or moving on, first we have to open our eyes and see what it is. 

As 2016 comes to an end, I'm especially thinking about the words, "It is what it is." I'm taking a breath and realizing there are some things that as much as I wish they weren't true and that as much as I wish I could wake up and find that it's all been a dream, I just can't. So I have to remind myself, it is what it is, and now I have to decide what to do next. 2017 is a new year and I'm feeling more ready, excited, and anxious as ever to make the world a better place. Being mindful helps me feel centered but also helps me be in a better place to make an impact on more than just myself.

It's surprising how little time we take to focus on ourselves but how important it is. If you're looking for a book to get started in exploring mindfulness, this is definitely a great book for you to explore!

READ: Find The Good

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

You might think the life of an obituary writer might be sad and depressing but if you read Find The Good: Unexpected Life Lessons From a Small-Town Obituary Writer you'll see that it can actually be fulfilling to celebrate people and their lives. I try my best to join in on Ruth Ayres' Celebrate posts every week because it helps me reflect, realize, cherish the ups and down life brings my way...or that I happen to find along the way. 

Find The Good was a book that also gave me the opportunity to slow down, sip the sweet tangy lemonade, and soak up life. The whole book felt like sitting in an Adirondack chair after a long day, it just felt full of life but full in a satiated kind of way, not in a weighed down kind of way. It's a beautiful homage to life. Through story, Heather Lende shares some wise life lessons worth paying attention to. 

The thought of dying might be scary but the idea of celebrating the life we get to experience is beautiful. At a writing retreat with Brenda Powers from Choice Literacy a couple of years ago, she shared two amazingly-written obituaries. The were full of voice and without knowing the people, they felt like my neighbors. 

Here are two obituaries I found just as powerful, one celebrates Carrie Thiederman and the other celebrates Mary Stocks. Please know that you don't have to read them but I found reading about their lives as a simple way to remind myself to find the good in life while I can. 

If you're looking for a calming read and an intriguing look at writing and life, I recommend Find The Good by Heather Lende. 

READ: Big Magic By Elizabeth Gilbert

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

I'm sure you've heard people buzzing about Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. It's definitely an inspiring book to read for anyone living a creative life. Some of it is a little out there but in general, I love her laid back, go-for-it attitude when it comes to living a creative life. 

Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book: 

Honestly, this is about where I feel about my writing at this point. I've been writing for about five years now and I keep promising myself that I just need to keep going. In the newsletter I sent out over the weekend, I shared my thoughts on the word persist. What I know best about the writing process at this point is that I just have to keep going. 

"Do whatever you want to do.
Pursue whatever fascinates you and brings you to life.
Create whatever you want to create - 
and let it be stupendously imperfect, 
because it's exceedingly  likely that no one will even notice.
And that's awesome."

"Do what you love to do, 

and do it with both seriousness and lightness.

At least then you will know that you have tried and that

- whatever the outcome - 

you have traveled a noble path."

I love her thoughts on curiosity. She talks about passion being a scary and maybe elusive thing but that we can be curious and follow our curiosity and it feels possible and fun.

"I believe that curiosity is the secret. Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living. Curiosity is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Furthermore, curiosity is accessible to everyone."

 She gives us permission to live a creative life. For whatever reason, there are so many things - people? society? - that hold us back from living a creative life and thinking it's worth living. But she says just be curious, be creative, make time for it. Just do it. It's okay to let our creativity out.

"Just say what you want to say, then, and say it with all your heart.

Share whatever you are driven to share.
If it's authentic enough, believe me - it will feel original."

Too often we get stuck. Either we are scared to start or we aren't sure where to start or we don't want to make a mistake. But in the end, we just have to beign. 

"Begin anywhere. Preferably right now."

If you're looking for a soul-filling type of book to help you think about, embrace, get started or keep going with your creative life, this is it!

READ: The Art of Asking

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

You may have seen my post about Amanda Palmer's Ted Talk The Art of Asking. It's definitely one of my favorites. Her honesty and raw-ness is fascinating. I could listen to her talk forever. Luckily, she wrote a book where the expands upon the ideas she shares in her Ted Talk. 

On Sunday I ran into a friend who I haven't seen since last June. She walked up to me at Starbucks and when as soon as I registered who she was, I jumped up and gave her a big hug. And then I was so excited I had to give her another hug. 

I love people. As an extrovert, I get energy from others. If I could just hang out with my friends all day, it would be awesome. I've learned that I still love my quiet time and need downtime to decompress. Whether you're an extrovert like me or an introvert, I believe we all want to feel included.

Amanda explains,

"Here's the thing:

all of us come 

from some place 

of wanting to be seen, 

understood, accepted, connected."

I'm really loving blogging here at Story Exploratory and I hope you enjoy it too. I mean for it to be a space where you feel welcomed and invited and valued and seen. Thank you for stopping in!

READ: The Crossroads of Should and Must

In the last five years, I've had three new-to-me jobs and changed school districts. When I first started teaching, I was pretty sure I was going to be a special education teacher forever. And here I am still in education but definitely in a different career path than I expected. 

I'm a blogger and a writer. My dreams of connecting with other writers has expanded in the past few years. And here I am with two blogs devoted to writing - one dedicated to education and one a bit broader. 

How did I get here? It was my first job change that forced me to examine my shoulds and my musts. When I left teaching, I realized I had moved into a position that I felt I should work hard at. I'm a dedicated worker, I put my heart into my work and doing my best. But I realized what I must be spending my time on is really my family and my writing and my yoga practice. My shoulds and my musts weren't matching up.  

This book is full of suggestions for how to recognize your shoulds and zone in on your musts...and then helpful ideas for how to relish and make the most of your must - to follow your passions. It's awesome!

This book is vibrant and inspiring and grounding at the same time. It reads quickly but it's powerful. If you think you know your shoulds and your musts or if you think you might need some help opening your eyes to your shoulds and your musts, this book is for you! Just think about this quote:

"If you're not prioritizing the things you say you care about,

consider the possibility that you don't actually care about those things.

Often, knowing what we want is the hardest part. 

What do you want? Do you know?" (p. 97)

There's a power in writing to uncover your shoulds and your musts. Writing helps me see into my heart and I'm sure it can help you. 

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

READ: The Little Book of Mindfulness

Last year a friend sent a copy of Flow magazine to me as a gift and I discovered mindfulness and the power of it's potential. It was a major inspiration for Story Exploratory and I do believe taking time to be aware of everything around us truly our perspective and how we perceive life. 

I found this sweet book near the checkout at my local bookstore. It's a small book full of exercises in mindfulness. 

One of my favorite activities is to practice gratitude by writing down something you appreciate from the day. The book notes, 

"Studies show that the regular practice

of gratitude and appreciation, 

including writing down 

the experiences you feel grateful for,

can lead to better health, 

less stress and 

a more optimistic outlook on life."

Another idea to end the day is to write down your "EGS" for the day:

"what did you Enjoy today,

what are you grateful for,

and what are you Satisfied with?"

I like how these two ideas work together but also how the second gives some guidelines for how to focus your thoughts on not just being grateful but also on recognizing what was fun during your day and what you can feel content with even if it maybe wasn't the absolute best day of your life...because not every day can be you absolute best day ever. 

We can appreciate all the days we are given!

I appreciate you and that you stopped by to read my words!

What are you reading today?

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date.

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

READ: Whatever You Are, Be a Good One #IMWAYR

I'm fascinated by hand-lettering and all the creative people bringing words to life in unique ways by putting pen to paper. As much as I love my digital tools, the gentle swirl of a pen and the ebb and flow of ink through the letters is beautiful. 

I enjoyed a lovely cup of tea while reading Whatever You Are, Be a Good One: 100 Inspirational Quotations Hand-Lettered by Lisa Congdon. It reminded me of my aunt who has done calligraphy for weddings and other special events for as long as I can remember. I always loved seeing her bottles of ink and the special tips on her pens as she dipped them into the pitch black liquid. Sometimes she would sit me down and help me practice loop after loop, trying to make them all evenly sized.

Whatever You Are, Be a Good One: 100 Inspirational Quotations Hand-Lettered by Lisa Congdon is a lovely collection of motivational quotes, brought to life on the page by Lisa. I'm new to Lisa's work but I'm already in love with her website and her blog and have spent time poking through the pages. I'm sure you'll enjoy it too!

My favorite quote of the book is:

"The aim of life

is to live.

And to live means

to be aware, 

joyously,

drunkenly,

serenely,

divinely aware."

-Henry Miller

I'll share more about my new puppy, Perdita, but she's already reminding me to be in the moment. She loves to just sit at the end of the driveway or the edge of our yard and just look around at everything around her. Don't worry...there will be pictures soon!

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

READ: V Is For Vulnerable #IMWAYR

A colleague shared V is for Vulnerable with me and I didn't realize it was written by Seth Godin until I sat down to read it last week. I'm a definite Seth Godin fan. Tribes is my favorite of his books (although I'm not a fan of using the word "tribe" to talk about a community) and I enjoyed his Skillshare class The Modern Marketing Workshop. If you haven't heard of Skillshare before, I recommend checking it out, there are so many classes to choose from. And I also suggest following Seth's blog, it's short and to the point and usually insightful.

V is for Vulnerable is an alphabet book for harnessing the growth mindset. It's illustrated by Hugh MacLeod who does an excellent job of bringing Seth's thoughts to life. Visit his website to sign up for a daily email with "insights and inspiration". 

I wrote down a few quotes that struck me and lots of ideas as I became inspired but one in quote in particular really stood out. 

"Heroes

are people

who take 

risks

for the 

right reasons."

Should we always take a risk? Probably not, but there are times when a risk is worthy and all the excitement and hope has to face the fear and hesitation. And being able to weigh out the pros and cons and decide a risk is worth is pretty heroic. 

I find power in others telling their stories and I hope you do too!

Check out It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at Book Date

For the kidlit version, visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

Welcome to Story Exploratory!

Welcome to Story Exploratory, a place to find your story, nourish your creative mind, set your story free, and ultimately make the world a better place. We're committed to giving individuals, groups, and organizations the opportunity to practice mindfulness through writing and align their work with their values and beliefs. 

Check in here for thought-provoking reads, intriguing videos to watch, opportunities to connect with others, and ideas for putting pen to paper or fingers to keys and exploring the story within you. 

Read posts will share tidbits 

from our very favorite writing resources.

We'll share our favorite inspirational videos for you to Watch.

Write posts will give you exercises or activities to help you
 practice mindfulness through writing and connect to your story.

We'll be sharing upcoming opportunities to Join in with through challenges, workshops, and webinars.

We're glad you're here to explore the story within you!