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Beautify your words
Have you ever tried to “beautify” a line or phrase from your journal that spoke to you? The “Beautify a piece of your writing” exercise helped me distill the most important message I needed to hear from my memoir in progress about being a new mom to my mixed race boy. I am working on the “deeper story,” so I used colored pencils to emphasize words and meditate on its message for me. “I will show him the full expanse of his humanity even if others would reduce him by his ‘race.’” As I traced over the words, added pictorial symbols, and drew a sun and moon, I could feel the weight of a moral responsibility in parenting my son. But the “beautifying” process acted as a detoxification of outside messaging, which uplifted me.
Join me for an in-person workshop at my place on Saturday, April 11, from 1 – 3 to try a sampling of simple beauty exercises, including the “beautify your words” activity. Details to register can be found on the Events page.
The gentle gaze of beauty
From the contemporary breakthroughs in medical communities about how the nervous system works, we know that there are five “flavors of awe” (Dr. Passaler’s term in Heal Your Nervous System). Beauty is just one flavor that is a “serene and peaceful type of awe, filling you with an appreciation for the beauty in the world.”
Ancient yogic wisdom points to this attentive calm—the gentle gaze of the “drishti” helping one bring focus and stability to the bodymind.
The dictionary meaning of gentle that spoke to me was a kindness directed back towards the self or others (e.g., a gentle reader, for example).
The work of “grandma philosophy” on social media to share wisdom is full of recommendations to bring gentleness into our lives. “shifferdiane” on IG encourages us to have “sit and stare time” or make “happy traps” for ourselves, little kindnesses we leave in our paths for our future self to be reminded of small beautiful things in life.
I think the space to see beauty in our lives–because it is “integrated gently”; because “everything softens, settles back” when we turn our drishtis towards it; because it is meant for “safe keeping” (we want to keep our beauty “traps” safe in our treasure boxes) helps us look at ourselves kindly and tenderly and ask the most curious questions.
What questions bubble up inside of you when you encounter beauty?
Interested in a women’s journaling circle at The Writing Shed? Join me for an in-person workshop on Saturday, April 11, from 1 – 3 to try a sampling of simple beauty exercises, including “writing about green” activity. Details to register are on the Events page.
Journal entry, March 19, 2026
To my readers: Unsent letters from the Journal to the Self method are great for catharsis and clarity! If you could give your soul self some advice in a raw and honest unsent letter, what would you tell her? Our soul selves can handle contradictions and bringing together our opposites, even when it’s hard to look at sometimes. In this unsent letter, I am expressing anger with myself first and then compassion:
Dear Journal,
I’m pissed at myself! I’m in this cycle again of “go, go, go.” “Got to keep moving” is what my father says all the time. But why? Why do I keep trying to “do more”? Aren’t I enough right now in this moment? Do I really need another line on my CV, or another networking notch, or another potential lead in my professional circle?
Right now, I’ve got coals in the fire, and am waiting to see if any of these strike hot.
I notice that I am probably “go, go, go”—another email to introduce myself; another Google search for teaching programs overseas; another event I can attend to navigate more human-centered marketing—because I connect my sense of belonging and worth to work. Ouch! That’s tough to say out loud.
When I have space in my day, I think something is wrong.
And all of this “go, go, go” is keeping me from doing the thing I want to do most—write my memoir, enjoy my garden and home, read with my son, and relate to my husband in joyful ways.
If I were to write a note to my soul self, what advice would I give her? She is the one who can shed off this “go, go, go” mentality and integrate both her urges to achieve with her needs to forget.
I would tell her:
Remember your values—your presence at the entrance of creativity and beauty is enough.
You can trust the goddesses, mothers, process of miracles. You are the miracle.
You get decide the pace of your life.
You get to decide how full your days are with work.
You need time to process as an HSP. You need breaks, slow transitions, and time to reflect.
Nothing is urgent, and you are enough right now.
You can be excited in anticipation of small miracles to come.
You can be pregnant with the good work bubbling up in you right now.
You can hold it, tend it, and pray for it right now.
You can stroke the cheek and chest of the girl who just wants to belong and be seen. She doesn’t care about your resume or your professional life. She just wants you to accept her as she is, with none of the trappings.
Journal entry, Dec. 27, 2025
What’s going on?
A 5-minute sprint
I’ve been getting up at my regular time on vacation in Tucson. Seeing mom on Christmas started well–wonderful yoga and presents, but after five hours at mom’s, it was a “blowout.”
I came home exhausted, needed to isolate, and recharge hard! Good reminder to continue to practice self-advocacy with family.
A day after Christmas, I had an energizing chat with siblings–cracking open the healing egg once more with Tim’s vulnerability. I am hopeful it continues. We seem to open to meeting each other after all these years.
One more day in Tucson. Hope to be in nature, do a little shopping at “trading post” for Mexican folk art. More inspiration, yes, please!
Journaling is a vulnerable act
Dear friend,
How are you?
I am prepping January’s journaling workshop and wanted to share a brief memory with you about the first time I joined a women’s writing group.
I was in my 30s living in Lynchburg, VA. The group met on summer nights to write about our lives. We drank cucumber water and dipped bread in garlic infused olive oil.
More than the writing, I joined the group because I needed the support. There were things that I was too scared to say when I wrote alone.
In this group, I was able to share things aloud—with the loving gaze of other writers and scribblers. I was able to verbalize what had been silent for many years. I was able to receive the love they had for me.
I walked home in a daze feeling I had been initiated into the communion of women writers.
While a individual practice of journaling can boost gratitude and “deep dives” into our core self because we have uninterrupted time, writing with others boosts accountability, creates community, and facilitates authentic expression. We see ourselves in the stories of others, and are no longer afraid to express what is honest.
The workshops here at the Writing Shed are “our community lab” to collect the data of our lives, to make meaning from it, and to share these stories with our peers. And it is your presence that makes the group a transformative experience.
Journaling is vulnerable, and it’s really smart to do it with others. I know that now.
You’re invited to join the Shed’s next women’s journaling circle on Saturday, Jan 10, from 1 – 4 p.m. Make a “pay from the heart” gift to register. Registration ends Thursday, Jan 7, and is capped at six women.
Do you prefer a Zoom option instead (or in addition to)? Please let me know on my socials!
With anticipation for our next circle: What’s the next entry in your journal going to be about?
Love, Maggie
Move in Day!
The writing shed by the numbers:
🍓200 2 x 4 wood boards
🍓96 square feet
🍓60 weekends of work
🍓12 trips to Lowe’s
🍓10 roofing panels and a ridge cap
🍓7 trusses
🍓6 gallons of paint
🍓4 footings
🍓3 pairs of hands
🍓2 years of building
🍓1 pegboard
🍓1 pimped out secretary desk
🍓1 Milago heart
🍓Countless invitations to the fairies in the forest
🍓view of Oso Ridge
🍓Infinite Remi tears
🍓Boundless acts of gratitude
🍓Zero trips to the emergency room
🍓Middle aged Momma Maggie writing a million more words
Writing Retreat Day 5: Sustain
Day 5: Sustain. To retreat means to step back in a quiet and “out of the way” place. But, I don’t aim to recreate the energy of this place when I return to my life in Albuquerque. Instead, I want to continue to find practices that sustain the energy I need to continue to take risks as an artist. What does it mean to sustain a life as an artist? I chat with my diary about this in this my final retreat day. . . Watch on . . .
Writing Retreat Day 4: Free spirit
Day 4 writing retreat: Free spirit. I needed to find some play within the schedule on Day 4. I was feeling antsy, a little tired in my body-mind, and wanted to shake things up a little bit. So, I mixed in other activities with the writing ones to keep me engaged and to resolve some internal conflict I felt. I wrote in a new place at a different time and “out of order” (the order I had scheduled to complete the work) to make it feel new. I also expressed my inner free spirit by journaling about joy, playing with Oso (my German Shepard companion), and setting up some of the interiors of my Writing Shed. I also set three intentions to help see me through to the end–I will feel pride, I will allow time for reflection after the retreat, and I will express gratitude.
Writing Retreat Day 3: Settling
Day 3: Settling. I was ready to make a schedule today because I was craving the structure and the feelings of accomplishment. So much of a writing project can feel like a “no-place” or a place of very open possibilities, so I knew it would be good for my spirit to set and meet goals today. Also, some loneliness crept in (the retreat site is pretty remote), but also the feeling that I was ready to “get to work.”
