journal prompt

Simply Begin Again – Podcast 133 (5:50)

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Ever feel stuck or discouraged about moving forward? Here is a simple exercise that makes all the difference.

Transcript

Welcome to the Sabbath Cafe Podcast. This is Episode 133 – Simply begin again.
For transcripts and more episodes, please go to sabbathcafe.substack.com.

Hi everyone! Thanks for listening to the Sabbath Cafe Podcast. And welcome to our first episode of 2025. I hope you all had a good holiday season and had a good restful time.

Usually me and my family, we take a break in some downtime at the end of the year. And so by the time January rolls around, supposedly we’re all ready to go, right? I was very excited. I had a great break with a lot of new ideas. And so I thought, “Great. January started, new year. I am ready to go and jumping into all these new projects.”

But sometimes, when you’re so excited about a vision or all these things in your mind and you sit down at the table to start working on it, all of a sudden, you feel so intimidated.

I think for me it’s a few things all mixed together there’s the self-doubt of starting new projects, and then just trying to get back into anything after a break always takes time. And I know for sure that the first couple of tries, I will be making mistakes just because I’m trying to remember some of the things… trying to warm up.

And as a recovering perfectionist, I often get stuck at this stage. I don’t know why, but the idea of making mistakes often keep me from moving forward.

And a few years back, I learned about this exercise of beginning again, how to begin again. And it has been so helpful for when I feel paralyzed in the process.

This is actually an old Franciscan advice or exercise. Basically, it’s to treat yourself as a beginner. And whatever project or whatever you’re trying to do, just think of yourself doing it as a beginner. And it sounds simple, but it’s such a powerful tool.

When we begin again, we wipe the slate clean. We just toss away any expectation of ourselves and just reconnect and focus on what we need to work on.

And it also helps to get rid of any guilt or shame you may feel about taking a break. The feelings of guilt and shame, they only keep us stuck looking at the past. They don’t really help us move forward. And so when we begin again and start over, we can kind of put those things aside and simply jump back into the process.

This is so helpful when you want to make any long-term changes. Whether it’s about exercising, eating better, or just building any new habits, it takes time for these new routines to form and to adapt. And so whenever you find yourself falling back into old habits or quitting new routines, there’s no need to beat yourself up. Just simply begin again.

This idea of starting and restarting as a beginner is also a great exercise for us folks who wrestle with ADHD tendencies. This practice removes so much of that self-criticism that we always hear in our thoughts that brings the guilt and the shame. And so this exercise is remove those things so we can simply move forward and start to re-engage with the process.

If you have ADHD tendencies, you know what I’m talking about. Even before we start anything, that critical inner voice almost always has already killed any motivation. And so whenever I feel those old voices starting again, I just have to remind myself to simply begin again. Then I can just stop all those criticisms and remove all that self-sabotage.

And so if you have been thinking about starting or restarting any projects or habit in the new year, I hope you will give this a try. Simply begin again and just take that next step.

Treat yourself like a beginner and enjoy the process of learning and discovering.

Treat yourself as a beginner and give yourself the grace to practice without any expectations.

Learning to begin again really helped me get unstuck so many times in my process. I hope it’ll be helpful for you too.

And that’s it for this episode.

For transcript and the podcast archive, please visit sabbathcafe.substack.com.

Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.

Changing seasons and finding closure (Podcast #126 and transcript 6:31)

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I just finished a pretty busy season recently, and took a journaling break. What I discovered was unexpected, but exactly what I needed to finally have closure. Here’s my story.

Download the bonus guided journal worksheetDownload

Transcript

Hi everyone welcome to the Sabbath cafe podcast.  I hope you’re doing well.  

The last couple of months really felt like they flew by for me because since January I started helping out my parents. I helped them with some part time care-taking and I also drove them to their physical therapy appointments.     

Also, my husband started a new job.  And to make things work, we had to really make sure that we’re on a strict schedule so I can help with my parents and still make sure my family’s needs are met.  And that turned out to be a lot of work for me.  Thankfully, the therapy program finished recently and so my schedule is more flexible now. 

And just reaching this milestone and seeing how my parent’s condition have improved, I was so encouraged. Now you’d think that this would mean my stress level would come down.  But for some reason, my emotions were still wound up really tight.  And so I realized that I probably need to sit down and unwind my thoughts.  So one afternoon, I had some time, and I decided to journal.

And journaling is my go to tool to try and process my thoughts anytime I feel like I have a lot of emotions jumbled together or I feel like my thoughts are going way too fast and I’m not quite sure how to change or shift them… I would purposely spend some time journaling. All I’m doing is just to write out my internal thoughts on paper.  And then, when I’m able to see what my real concerns and perhaps even uncover underlying fears,  then I’m able to actually deal with these issues and move forward.  

And what’s interesting was that as I was writing down my thoughts, I started to see how much of my heart and my thoughts still revolved around my parents and my caretaking role. I discovered that emotionally, I wasn’t quite ready to let go yet. 

Actually, their recovery process is only about half finished.  But, over and over again, I sense the Holy Spirit speaking to me that this is a good time for me to take a step back.  And God reminded me about the things I’ve put on hold, and that includes my own family’s needs. And even though I am still helping out with my parents,  it’s actually a good time for me to shift my focus back to my own life and continue down my path.  

And I find myself asking… “But they’re still in the middle of this healing journey.  If I let go, then who will help them?”  And that’s when God reminded me about what things looked like back in January… and it was pretty difficult.  And to see how far we’ve come, and how much things have improved. It just really hit me how faithful God has been through the whole process.  He was  the one who started us down this path of healing.  He was the one who took care of my family, and answered my prayers. And that He will be faithful even in the next season.  And it’s time now for me to let go of the responsibilities I took up in the last season, and to entrust my family to God so I can start my new season too.

After I had processed though these thoughts with God, I felt much more at Peace.  Even though my family’s healing process is not finished yet, I feel much more ready to release them into God’s hands.  In a sense, through this time of journaling and reflection, God was teaching me how to have closure.  Even when my emotions may not be ready to let go, but when I took the time to reflect and think back on this last six months, and how faithful God has been.  I was more ready to trust God with all of the questions I still had. 

After I went though this exercise, it really helped with my attitude. I find myself having an easier time trusting God about my family, and becoming more excited to see what new things God has in store for me. 

Often, we’d go through life changes without spending time to reflect on what happened before or to dialog with God about any questions we still have.  Even if we move into the next season, these lingering thoughts may open doors to doubts or regrets in the future. I’m grateful that God didn’t ignore any of my concerns and He helped me work though them, so I can be at peace moving forward.  

If there are any questions or thoughts from your past that often pop up, I would encourage you to not ignore those thoughts and to dialog with God about them.  Maybe you can find closure and peace in those areas too.   

And to help with that process, I’ve created a guided journal PDF.  You can find the PDF and transcript for this podcast at www.sabbathcafeblog.com.  

Thank you so much for listening and we’ll see you next time!             

Mini-podcast: Any advice for yourself during quarantine? (Covid Reflections #3)

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In this last part of our Covid Reflections minicasts, let’s think about what we’ve learned and see what wisdom or advice you’d like to share with yourself during quarantine.

This finishes up the Covid Reflection series. I will be starting a new series in the next episode. Stay tuned!

Mini-podcast: What did you learn during quarantine? (Covid Reflections #2)

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For part 2 of the Covid Reflections series, I’ll share a surprising lesson I learned from a simple grocery store run. This podcast was originally recorded for Jifcast. Enjoy!

Mini-podcast: How did you change during quarantine? (Covid Reflections #1)

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Through all the ups and downs, many of our communities are slowly transitioning out of quarantine. It’s a great time to reflect on the past few months, and process through this unprecedented event. Here’s my mini-cast (3 min) to help with the process.