That's okay...

Today I was at a workshop on journaling. I've kept a journal for years, but am interested in new ways of approaching my writing. What I came away with instead were three phrases:

Give yourself permission.
It's okay.
It's the process, not the product.


A friend shared this poem with me recently:

Things to Think

Think in ways you've never thought before
If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message
Larger than anything you've ever heard,
Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats.

Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,
Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he's carrying on his antlers
A child of your own whom you've never seen.

When someone knocks on the door, think that he's about
To give you something large: tell you you're forgiven,
Or that it's not necessary to work all the time, or that it's
Been decided that if you lie down no one will die.

-Robert Bly

I found the last lines to really hit home...maybe later I can tie all of this together....