Mari's Life Matters Blog | CreateWriteNow

Learn from real people, just like you, how therapeutic journaling can benefit your life. Within these personal stories you’ll find journaling tips, tricks, inspiration and ideas that help you structure your journaling practice—and discover the true value journaling can bring to your life.

Find the inspiration to keep going and the motivation to make journaling work for you and your hectic schedule. Learn about these everyday people who made the decision to put pen to paper and how it transformed their lives!

Life Matters Blog | Self Matters, Life Matters

Self-Awareness: ABC's of Changing your Inner Dialogue

Kara McDuffee

How can your ABCs skyrocket your self-confidence and success?

Have you ever beat yourself up over something you said? Or perhaps got extra critical of yourself because something turned out differently than you expected?

Of course you have - you're human! We've all found ourselves lamenting over a poor decision or feeling ashamed of something we did. A voice in our head pops out at these inopportune times, and it's usually far from self-compassionate.

You're probably familiar with this voice, also known as your Inner Critic. (You're also likely familiar with your Inner Critic. Mine tends to be quite vocal!) However, too many of us accept our Inner Critic as natural and expected. What we need to do, instead, is to question it.

If we don't stop to question our Inner Critic, two primary issues result.

Life Matters Blog | Self Matters, Life Matters

Self Matters: Tips for Reducing Holiday Stress

Billie Wade

The five-week mega-holiday begins with Christmas in July sales. However, the winter holiday season officially kicks into high gear with Thanksgiving Day in November. This time of year evokes as...

Life Matters Blog | Health Matters, Life Matters

Health Matters: What to Include in a Food Journal

Frankie Wallace

Journaling has many purposes and many benefits. If you’re trying to be more mindful of your eating habits, starting a food journal is one of the best ways to keep track of things. It can hold you...

Life Matters Blog | Health Matters, Life Matters

Health Matters: Mood Journaling for Your Health

Stacy Fisher

Your mood influences your health.

In fact, it probably plays a much bigger role than you realize.

Research shows that a bad mood can damage your heart, interfere with sleep, and increase your risk...

Life Matters Blog | Money Matters, Life Matters

Money Matters: How Can We Use the Snowball Effect in Personal Finance?

Michelle Cornish

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it is getting to be that time of year where it won’t be long before that flaky white stuff starts to fall. In my household, we always seem to announce the first...

Life Matters Blog | Self Matters, Life Matters

Self-Awareness: When Is The Scarcity Mindset Pulling You From Happiness?

Kara McDuffee

Have you ever felt like you’re not enough of something? Or perhaps, that you don’t have enough of something?

I’ll answer for you: you have. I know because it’s not merely a universal feeling we...

Life Matters Blog | Self Matters, Life Matters

Self Matters: Chase Away Stress with the Joy of Acceptance

Billie Wade

Acceptance is the challenge of the day. While life always has an element of uncertainty, the unknown now seems amplified both in terms of quantity and duration in everyday life. We have adjusted,...

Life Matters Blog | Health Matters, Life Matters

Health Matters: Body Positivity Journaling

Stacy Fisher

There’s no doubt about it: journaling is good for your health.

Journaling is a deeply therapeutic and healing exercise, especially during life’s more challenging moments. Mari L. McCarthy’s book, ...

Life Matters Blog | Money Matters, Life Matters

Money Matters: Are You Making Progress Toward Your Financial Goals?

Michelle Cornish

We are officially over two-thirds of the way through 2021, and the fall is a great time to check-in on your financial goals. Even if you didn’t set any goals at the beginning of the year, taking a...