Once a month I try to connect with my hidden thoughts and feelings by writing for 5 minutes and then reflecting on my unedited writing. The post may be filled with misspellings and grammatical errors but it will contain my true voice. If you would like to know why I’m doing this activity you can click on the link below to read my first unedited post.

Unedited Mind

– 5 minutes

Why do I blog? These question has been on my mind for a while. I’ve been trying to figure this out so maybe I can have a coherent purpose. These feelings are stemming from a class I’m taking through the Good Mens Project. It’s been great and I’ve learned a lot. Things that may seem simple but profound when reflected upon. I’ve been thinking a lot about writing. I haven’t written anything for about a week and its been agonizing for me. I’m not sure why I stopped writing but I think it’s because of my focus on doing my checklist. My checklist are made of things that need to get done. Whether it be grocery shopping or taking my child to school. These consistent things take up my life. Does those things matter as much as my writing? In some ways yes. However, like anything what you value most is what you’ll spend the majority of your time doing. I haven’t been writing which has been nagging at my gut. This tells me that I need to write. I need to scratch that itch. The more I do it the habit forming process will take place. I want to write my book and ideas are flowing and pushing out. Just need to let it out. Need to spend more time on doing things that matter to me. How do you do it when you have a family? I don’t have to know all the answers right away but I do need to put things into practice. Try and write once a day for an hour and see how that goes. Or try to write for so many words and see how that goes. I just need to see how something goes. Blogging is great and I no longer feel scared about putting myself out there. You don’t have to be an expert to blog all you need is the courage to do so. Keep writing and it’ll become natural.

– Reflection

Don’t write while on your stomach. Tried to write in what I thought would be a relaxing position. It wasn’t and now I have a little kink in my neck. Good job Keola. Looking at my flow of thinking I have realized that even though I’ve quit my job to start doing things that matter I haven’t been able to do it because of the everyday schedule of life.

With kids you are always needed and because of that I seldom feel that I have time to really sit down and create. Once time is opened up I feel exhausted and I end up watching tv or playing a game on the iPad. This is my current internal battle. I know what I’m saying are excuses but how do you move past the excuses? How do you overcome your natural inclinations? A lot of people want to lose weight but how many people fail at it day after day. Is it because they don’t want to quit? Or is it because they are fighting against an insidious enemy. Habits. The habits we’ve created are sometimes rooted in us so deeply that we don’t remember how they’ve gotten there. All we know is that we can’t live without doing it.

So how do we overcome our habits?

By replacing them with new ones. So that’s my plan. I’m going to focus on creating a writing habit. By focusing on writing at least 30 minutes a day for a month I hope to create a habit that will root itself into every fabric of my life. A habit that I’ll find excuses to do.