Negative Thoughts

The pen project is a way for me to give without looking for anything in return.  I’ve been told many times that I really need to get out there and talk to people because the things that I say have a way of touching people.  I’m not sure if that’s true or not, I just like to talk about personal growth.  I’ve never volunteered to talk to people because I felt like I would know when the time was right.  Well, I guess now the time is right…  The last couple of weeks I’ve felt like now is the time to really get started on pushing my website and promoting life to my blog readers.

Everyone goes through tough times and sometimes it’s hard to handle.  I’m building this blog and my web space as places that people can come to read and let go of life’s problems for at least a little while.  It will be a community where other people will also influence others to be positive and not give up hope or faith.

I spent a lot of time chasing my career and a college education.  I don’t regret doing either of those things but I realized that I was truly never happy.  I felt like I didn’t reach the place that I set out to reach.  I would blame all of my short comings on situations that I thought prevented me from getting there.  Daily negative thoughts are what kept me in a screwed up situation that I didn’t want to be in.  It truly took me 37 years to finally figure that out.

Trapped by negative thoughts…

Is it really that simple?  It’s definitely that simple, one negative thought changed to something more positive can change your mood or your opinion of a situation.  It’s hard to control not thinking negative thoughts.  I’ve been working on it for over a year, I’m getting better but I’m not perfect.  I can tell you that I don’t feel as drained like I used to when I would always worry about something negative.  As time went on I realized that really things weren’t as bad as I thought.  Things that seem to be negative really aren’t it’s just a perception that I created about them.

Your life is worth writing

This pen project has helped me to think about what’s next for my life.  When I’m writing these letters I feel like I’m living in the moment.  I’m not worried about what happened today at work or what is going to happen tomorrow.  It’s me, a pen and one piece of paper creating conversation.  It truly is about the simple things in life.  Each letter I complete makes me smile because I feel like I accomplished something.  I think the reason I care so much about these letters is because I’m really not looking for anything in return.

When I’m at work and I’m trying to build the best web experience possible I’m looking for someone to tell me, “good job”.  When I’m writing letters and blogging for myself I already know I’m doing a good job so no one has to tell me.  Looking for approval from other people is what I perceive to be the down fall of many individuals.  My own acceptance of myself has taught me that I can grow beyond what anyone else can perceive for me.  These letters are my way of showing people that they can control their own life.  If you keep pushing towards whatever it is you want eventually you will see it unfold right in front of you.

It’s not even about the physical pen but about what it represents – freedom.  You have the freedom to write your own life and destiny.  You can change your path to anything that you want as many times as you want.  It’s all dependent about how you write your life.  If you fall down today, write down different goals and ideas you want to reach tomorrow.  Nothing is set in stone, but we’ve been trained to believe that it is.  You hate your job?  Change the job…  Do you feel that you are trapped in a job because of the high pay or insurance?  Figure out a creative way to compensate for those benefits.  It could be taking a job with good insurance and less pay but building a part-time business on the side that could generate the extra income you need.  There’s always a way to change or improve your life and that’s what these pens stand for.

Decide to write the life that you want.

It’s always hard to get to where you want to be.  You are going to struggle most of your life whether you have money or you don’t.  With each struggle you will learn one more thing to get you closer to your ultimate dream.  No dream is out of reach, it only disappears when you stop trying.

Additional letters

So today I wrote four more letters that are a little fancier than just using a note pad and pen.  They aren’t perfect but they look pretty good, I’m still learning to use the white pen.  I also purchased a stamp with the words, “Be the change you wish to see in the World”.  So many times in life I wanted a change but was waiting for someone else to drive the change for me.  I waited a long time for someone to help me and it never happened. I didn’t realize that the only person that could make the change was myself.

With these letters I took a different approach.  Initially I wanted to use the pen with my name branding on it to write each letter.  Considering I used really dark paper to write these letters I couldn’t use normal black ink that’s inside my pens.  I ended up going with a white hobby paint marker so you could read the words.  I’ll still include my name branded pen in the packaging.  I haven’t figured out what type of envelope I will use to mail these items yet.

First letter has been written.

Last night I wrote my first letter by pen.  It’s kind of weird writing a letter in pen when you are so used to typing on the computer.  My hand was a little uncomfortable by the time I got the second page.  It’s kind of funny considering that it was only letter number one.  Since the computer and printer have come about I’ve taken for granted the effort to write someone.  I’m dedicated to this project and looking forward to see how many letters I write.

I think once I get some responses to the letters I’ll be even more motivated.

Well, I’ve got to get started on the second letter.

The pen project has started

I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to write personal letters to people in my life.  Some of these individuals will be family but others will be friends.  I’ve noticed that I’ve been consumed with the daily hassles of life and forgot to keep in touch.  In each letter there will be the attached pen that I used to personally write their letter.

These letters are a start to changing the way I communicate with them.  I’m really excited too… As I write the letters I will also encourage them to write a letter to someone else they may have not talked to in a while.  This will be my way of doing something positive in the world.  It’s nothing big but I want to try and do my part to promote positiveness.

This week I will be writing my first letter.

I’ll also encourage the people I write to come back and post to this blog and maybe tell who they decided to write their letter too.  I think it would be awesome to see how far of a reach this project will have.