Catholic Quotes Day 8

“A man of prayer is capable of anything.\”

St Vincent de Paul

Prayer and praise is the foundation

This is probably getting old talking about editing the book but it\’s the mountainous challenge of my day. The last couple of days I have felt like I would rather take a bullet to my head than keep on with it. I sat down this morning and set my timer for ten minutes as that was about as much as I felt I could work on it without screaming.

I pretty much knew what was going on with myself. In writing about some of the things that I had a hard time dealing with in the monastery I found myself \”only\” writing about the negatives. And most of those negatives came about because of my own inability to voice things that bothered me in a way that took full responsibility for moving through them. Instead I would either complain or stuff things down and seethe within.

Well as I\’ve been working on the book I\’ve been dumping all my negatives on the page to the point where all it was becoming was a refuse dump. Stinky, smelly, rotting bits of blown up bits of discontent that left me mad at life and the world and certainly would not be a fun book to read.

Do you remember learning to drive and the advice that was given was to keep your eyes on the road because whatever you look at you will drive towards? Well the more I looked at the negatives in my writing I wasn\’t seeing anything else. And of course that was and is totally wrong.

I loved being in the monastery almost every day that I was there. A few times I had my moments but for the most part it was where I wanted to be and I felt it was where I was my best self. So what was happening with my book?

Basically I had driven off the road and was writing in the ditch along side the road. A definitely skewered look at my past through a very dark set of shaded glass.

As I worked on my ten minutes of correcting the edits I came across this bit of advice from my editor.

Elaborate. Be careful not to make the book a list of your gripes. Your candor is entertaining and illuminating, but it needs to be balanced by whatever drew you to the church and kept you there. What need did it fulfill?

Yes! That was where the book was going and it was dragging me down with it. I made the resolution right then and there that I was not going to write another word until I came up with a list of 101 positive and grateful thoughts about my life in the monastery. So far I have come up with 49 and I will keep at this little sunshine project for the rest of the day.

I can already feel a shift in my emotional gas tank that is filling me with renewed energy and commitment for finishing the book. I am currently on page 34 of 127 pages of this section so there is lots to go but hopefully it will make for a happier and brighter journey.

Scripture quote for the day

\”Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.\”
Philippians 4:8

Please add \”your\” three gratitude moments in the comments. It\’s a great way to pick up your day and it\’s fun for the rest of us to read!

1. Wake up moments for pushing ahead with book.
2. Sunshine and happy thoughts.
3. Starting to pray \’Morning Prayer\’ again – a renewed way to start my day.

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