How have you been led astray in 2012? (A Journaling Exercise)

Grab your journal, your favorite beverage, and maybe a snack. But, first, make sure to get up and walk around for a couple of minutes. Stretch. Take several long, deep breaths in preparation for this Journaling Exercise. (Pardon me for a moment while I practice what I preach.) 

Okay. I am back. Are you ready?

Today has the potential of being an awkward, and possibly painful, blog post and journaling exercise. However  now that you know to prepare for this, don't let it happen. Rather, remove yourself from the emotion of what you learn. Rather, count your blessings for what you learn  After all, you can choose to do and live differently from today because of it. 

I recently read something about a 67-year old man, whom I will call bill. Bill was told he needed to have a life-saving heart surgery. The fact that his life was in jeopardy caught his attention and he started journaling. The operation was successful and he kept journaling. Years later, he said it was not the experiences in his life that he counted the most blessing. Rather, it was what he learned from his experiences that he found the most meaningful and were his biggest blessings.

You see, experience is not the greatest teacher. Instead, it's evaluated experience that is the best teacher. Bill knew this lesson well.

Do not regret the past. Rather, learn from it. 

JOURNALING EXERCISE

Now that we are in a more proper frame of mind, let's look at the year 2012 in our lives and ask ourselves this question:

How have I been led astray in 2012?

* Let us spend as much time as we possible can answering this question in our journals. Ideally, we will spend the next week on this question alone. Minimally, let's look at it over the next 48-hours. 

* Take some time to write down anything that comes to mind after you read that question. 

* Then, re-read it again and jot more things down. 

* Keep adding to the lsit over the next 48 hours to week.

* If you get stuck, ask yourself the question again.

* If you cannot think of anything more to write about things that led you astray, start to analyze why you were led astray by each item you listed.

* Look at each item and figure out how you can avoid it in the future.

* What was learned from each item that led you astray?

* Can you see why, and how, with each item you might have needed to be led astray, because it prepared you to learn from it, and something greater will come from this evaluated experience? In other words, it will be useful to you. But, ask yourself how. Learn from it. 

MY PERSONAL STORY

This is a lesson that is very near and dear to me at the moment. I shared what I learned in a blog post on 30 November 2012, in which, I stated how I realized that for 11 years now, almost 12, I have been spinning my wheels and have missed the true calling the Lord has for me and my life. I took the what I perceived as the "more interesting  route, which actually meant was less intimidating. I took the easy route. I chose my way, and not God's. I did what I wanted to do and not what I was born to do. I lived a life of untapped potential. 

The realization dumbfounded me and, frankly, totally astounded me. I was horrified. It was something that hit me pretty hard. 

I did something I spent years trying to avoid: Wasting my life. 

I kept trying to make a living as a fiction writer. That sounds more fun than writing about journaling--and surely more interesting than memoir writing. My life was too boring to tell and share with anyone else, after all. Or, that was what I told myself. And, anyway, who wanted to journal? (Excuses, excuses, excuses!)

I also realize I was a woman ahead of time. Journaling was NOT common 11-12 years ago. You could not find blank journals everywhere--not like today. 

I also realize I had to mature and live a little more before I could live my true potential. 

What is even more interesting is what I am really meant to do. I will share this with you in the upcoming blog posts on this blog. 

Just trust me. I had to be led astray all this time--so I could live my untapped potential. I do not regret a moment of my past. I now know what I was really meant to do. I was not ready to do that until today--and even now I have a long way to go. But, I am willing to start now. If I would have started to do what I was really meant to do 11 years ago, I would have not been ready. In fact, I would have refused to do it because it seemed boring to me and was not something I would have liked. But, my, how times change. I am grateful for spinning my wheels this year. I needed to in order to do what I am going to do in 2013. 

So, now, it is your turn. Please do today's journaling exercise. 

~ Stacy Duplease

(Image Credit: Microsoft Images Online.)