by Tina Games | Nov 13, 2013 | Healing, Inner Peace, Journal Writing, Life Story, Motherhood
In my work as a life purpose coach and journal writing facilitator, I gently guide mothers on a path through their own life story – connecting the dots of what I call “pivotal life moments.” It’s these moments that bring a deeper, richer understanding of one’s life purpose.
Adversity is a big part of the life purpose journey. How we face the more challenging parts of lives, such as sorrow and grief, paints a bigger picture of why we’re here and what we’re meant to gain in order to better understand ourselves and the world around us.
As mothers, the relationships that we have with our kids are significant. But what happens when the relationship is suddenly cut short by tragedy? How do we make sense of it – and how to we go on?
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by Tina Games | Oct 28, 2013 | Connection, Divine Communication, Journal Writing, Spiritual Growth, Synchronicity
As a Life Purpose Intuitive, I attract highly-spiritual people who are looking for more meaning in their lives, both personally and professionally. They want to feel more connected by being fully present in each and every moment, receiving the divine messages that are intended to guide them on the next phase of their life’s journey.
I call these divine messages synchronicities – and they can show up anytime, anywhere, and from anyone. They can even come from the angelic realm.
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by Tina Games | Oct 21, 2013 | Authenticity, Creativity, Fulfillment, Inner Goddess, Journal Writing, Life Purpose, Life Story, Moon Phases, Motherhood, Personal Growth, Self-Care, Self-Love, Spiritual Growth
The Journaling by the Moonlight (JBTM) brand is expanding!
Come join a dynamic team of JBTM facilitators and add a rich, life-changing process to your menu of client services by offering workshops, retreats, and coaching programs based on the Journaling by the Moonlight process.
Originally created for mothers, this unique process is ideal for creative and spiritually-minded individuals who yearn for a deeper connection to self, and who are ready to tap into their inner light – what I call the “full moon within” – and claim their authentic self, both personally and professionally. Based on the phases of the moon, Journaling by the Moonlight gently guides individuals from darkness to light as they create an authentic vision filled with purpose, passion and creative expression.
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by Tina Games | Feb 10, 2013 | Authenticity, Inner Wisdom, Journal Writing, Moon Phases, Spiritual Growth
Like the moon, we all go through phases in our lives. We have ups and downs, we go forward and backward – and sometimes we seem to circle back around. We may hide behind the clouds or peek from beneath the clouds. But in the midst of what can feel like a blackout, when we are open to making a connection with our authentic self, we can get to a point where we’re able to beam with full light.
During a new moon phase, the sky is completely black, with the exception of little sparkles of light in the form of stars. It’s the point in every month when the moon takes a retreat and begins to grow again, redoubling her light and reflecting new creative energy on all worldly things.
For women with a strong desire to live life more authentically, this phase represents a time for our own retreat and withdrawal from the outside world. During the darkness, it’s an opportunity to reflect on who we are -underneath the layers of life. It’s a time to turn within and write about our inner thoughts and feelings.
It’s a time to ponder where we’ve been, how we got to where we are now and where to go from here. It’s an opportunity to explore new ways of thinking and to prepare for a new path of travel – and it marks the ideal time for connecting with our inner selves and our heart’s desire.
This is a time where dots start to connect and patterns start to reveal themselves – just as the stars do in the night sky. Everything has a place and everything has a purpose. Now it becomes our job to find our place in the next phase of life’s journey.
The energies of the dark moon can feel especially potent. That’s because they are. They represent the unknown – and they can send a magnetic pull to lure our willingness and our desire to find out – “What is it that is waiting for me?”
Grab your journal during this dark moon phase and ask your authentic self, “Who am I and where do I want to go from here?”
The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
by Tina Games | Nov 20, 2012 | Creativity, Inner Wisdom, Journal Writing, Personal Growth, Self-Care
While the holiday season can be quite joyous, it can also bring up a lot of stress and overwhelm – and for some, it can stir up feelings of pain or loneliness.
According to the American Institute of Stress, more than 110 million Americans take medication for stress-related causes each week. And when the holidays come along, people already predisposed to stress can find themselves feeling blue and more anxious than usual. Even those who don’t ordinarily feel stressed under the pressure of events or deadlines, still find that the holiday season can play havoc on day-to-day routines.
So what can we do?
“Plan for stress,” say the experts – just like you plan ahead for any calamity you want to avoid. The more prepared you are for the upcoming schedule, the more relaxed you’ll feel going into it.
During the holiday season, I always think of the film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It seems to capture the “heaviness” that can come around this time of year, with a gentle reminder to really appreciate the smaller things in our lives. It requires a mindset shift – a change in our perspective.
The good news is – you don’t have to let stress ruin your holidays. You can begin this shift in perspective by pinpointing what you’re anxious about.
• Are you feeling stressed because you’re not going to be able to fulfill your children’s gift requests?
• Are you and your partner wrangling over holiday expenses?
• Are you overloaded with too many invitations and don’t know how to say no.
• Are you feeling left out because your friends are enjoying the season and you’re not?
Start by considering your attitude. There’s no magic bullet, but your attitude can make a difference. Ask yourself, “Is my situation a small, medium or large problem? How upset do I want to get over it, and for how long?”
Look at the possibilities around you, not the restrictions.
Learn to recognize common holiday triggers, so you can disarm them before they lead to a meltdown.
• Relationships – Relationships can cause turmoil, conflict or stress at any time, but tensions are often heightened during the holidays. Family misunderstandings and conflicts can intensify, especially if you’re thrust together for several days. On the other hand, facing the holidays without a loved one can be tough and leave you feeling lonely and sad.
• Finances – With the added expenses of gifts, travel, food and entertainment – the holidays can put a strain on your budget and your peace of mind. Not to mention that overspending now, can mean financial worries for months to come.
• Physical Demands – Even die-hard holiday enthusiasts may find that the extra shopping and socializing can leave them wiped out. Being exhausted increases your stress, creating a vicious cycle. Exercise and sleep – good antidotes for stress and fatigue – may take a back seat to chores and errands. And to top it off, burning the candle at both ends makes you more susceptible to colds and other types of health issues, both physical and mental.
The key is – don’t forget to take care of yourself during all the busyness! Take a few minutes for meditation or journaling – or perhaps an hour for a morning run or walk – or a good stretch during yoga.
As an avid journal writer, I find that dumping my anxieties out in my personal journal helps clear the space for me to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. This one simple act helps me turn overwhelm on its head and look at it from a different viewpoint.
Here are a few journaling prompts that can support you during a hectic holiday season. They’re broken down into categories (based on the type of journal writing prompt).
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Springboards
These are simple statements or questions that help you focus and clarify your writing. Like the diving board at the swimming pool, they provide a jumping-off place.
• What brings me peace?
• How (and/or what) do I want to celebrate this holiday season?
• As this year closes, I choose to let go of –
• This holiday season, I need —
• My stress triggers are –
Captured Moments
These are captured images in our mind – that freeze a moment in time. They are usually brief (often two or three paragraphs) and focus on the sensory descriptions of an event.
• My best (Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s) ever
• My most challenging (Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s/holiday) ever
• A memorable Christmas morning
• A memorable holiday family dinner
List of 100
Lists are great for clarifying, itemizing, gathering and noticing. Lists of 100 are particularly useful when you want to find out what’s going on beneath the surface of an issue or you just want to clear your mind. And it’s okay to repeat yourself (it just means it’s important)!
• Gifts you’d like to give to the world
• Ways to a peaceful heart
• Ways to cope
• Things that cause me stress during the holiday season
• My “holiday” to do list
Unsent Letters
Because the whole point of an unsent letter is NOT to send it, you’ll benefit from the opportunity to get as angry, sad, swoony, unreasonable, silly or indignant as you want. Unsent letters are a safe, satisfying way to release pent-up energy.
• Someone who has passed on
• Family member you’re having a struggle with
• Disappointment
• The year 2012
Tapping into Your Inner Wisdom
When we take the time to really go inside ourselves, we always know the right answer. Choose a question (or two) that is relevant to “self” during the holiday season. Some examples are:
• How can I stay calm?
• How might I contribute to peace on earth, good will toward all?
• What is the message of the season for me?
• How can I embody the true meaning of the holidays?
• What is my next right action with (someone with whom you’re having difficulty)?
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Journal writing is an excellent way to ease holiday stress – and to minimize or make sense of any pain or loneliness that may surface during this time of year.
Here’s to the power of journaling through the holiday season!
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Tina M. Games is the author of Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery (an interactive book with an accompanying deck of 54 journaling prompt cards). As a certified creativity coach and life purpose intuitive, she is the “Moonlight Muse” for women who want to tap into the “full moon within” and claim their authentic self, both personally and professionally. Through her signature coaching programs, based on the phases of the moon, Tina gently guides women from darkness to light as they create an authentic vision filled with purpose, passion and creative expression. For more information about her work, please visit: www.JournalingByTheMoonlight.com where you can receive her 12 best tips for journal writing.
by Tina Games | Sep 18, 2012 | Authenticity, Inner Goddess, Inner Wisdom, Journal Writing, Life Story, Personal Growth
Imagine for a moment a pebble thrown into a pond. It creates a ripple that goes on and on and on. I believe that mothers are a significant part of the ripple effect – that will transform the world into a more loving, more nurturing place.
When a mother is living life with complete authenticity, she’s subconsciously giving permission for her kids to do the same. She’s truly at her best – creating powerful change for herself, her family, her community – and for the world at large. It’s all part of “the ripple.”
It’s my belief that “a happy mother makes the best mother” – and our kids really do want to see their moms happy!
But what if something goes awry – and “the ripple” stems from a place of frustration, confusion, disconnect or unhappiness?
My transformational work with mothers came out of my own experience of connecting with the moon during a really dark period in my life. Shortly after the birth of my first child, and after making some fairly significant life changes at the same time, I fell into depression – a place that felt so foreign to me, a place where I felt like I had fallen into a black hole with no way out. It was during this time, a period that spanned over two years, that I had disconnected from everything that made me happy. Because my son suffered from chronic illnesses related to serious colds and severe ear infections, I made a very difficult choice to give up a successful career in order to care for my son full-time. I hadn’t realized until this experience how much of my identity was tied into my career. Without it, I felt very lost and very unhappy.
It was during this time that I fell back on a great passion of mine – journal writing. And as a mom of a baby who did not have a normal sleep schedule, I found myself exhausted and emotional much of the time. So night after night, after I’d get my son settled and after my husband went to bed, I’d grab my journal and retreat to my favorite chair – beside a big bay window where I caught a glimpse of the moon. It was the moon that taught me the meaning of transition. I’d watch this beautiful lunar goddess, night after night, move in and out of her various phases. And before long, I began to connect her phases with my own emotional tides.
I noticed that the moon always began in darkness and gradually, she’d move into full light – and cycle back around again. And I noticed the contrast between dark and light – the darkness of the night sky against the beautiful full moon light. I started connecting to this – as if I was being divinely guided through my own transitions of dark and light. I began to notice the ebbs and flows of my emotions. There were good days and bad days.
So when I came to the point of writing my book, Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery, I wanted mothers to realize that every human transition begins in darkness and gradually moves into light, where we get a glimpse of what is possible. And then we retreat, to ponder the many ways we can manifest these possibilities into reality. This requires deep work, where we step into our own truth and into our own power – and where we can emerge in the most authentic way possible. This is what I call the Blue Moon phase – when we finally realize that we are here on this Earth to be WHO we are, to put our personal thumbprint on the world in the most truthful, most authentic, most unique way possible. Each one of us are individuals being divinely guided on our own purposeful path.
Because moms are natural role models, our kids are observing all the time. There’s a lot of truth in the saying, “Monkey see, monkey do.” In other words, when a mom is modeling the value of following her heart, her kids get it – much more than they would if she was just saying it. Kids feel energy. They know when a person is happy and when they’re not. So why not be happy – and let the ripple flow?
Wouldn’t the world be a much better place if we were all following our hearts? If we could truly live life with passion and purpose, everything would have a richer and deeper meaning. It would create a ripple of positive and loving energy that could literally heal the world.
Each and every one of us has the power to create great change in the world. And this change has the most impact when we begin with ourselves – looking in the mirror and honoring the person who is staring back.
WHO is this person? Do you really know her at her core? If you were to remove every label that she wears – mother, wife, partner, community leader, business owner, loyal friend, etc. – who is she?
Imagine for a moment – each of these labels being a blanket. Slowly remove each blanket, acknowledging the label it represents, and set it aside. Continue doing this until you have no more labels except – SELF.
Who is SELF? Take a moment to describe SELF from the inside out. How do you feel when you’re not bombarded by what the world thinks you should be? What are your passions? What are your dreams? What makes you come alive? How does this person – from the inside out – want to show up in the world?
These are great questions to ponder in your journal, allowing yourself to answer them – truthfully and completely.
When we start chipping away at the exterior labels, what do we look like on the inside? What is our “diamond in the rough?”
Once we discover this, we’ve connected with our authentic self. And it’s from this place where purposeful, powerful and magical ripples are created.
What kind of ripple are you sending out?
