Written Inventory

I've started to make a little crisis list at the back of my journal.  I've told other people to do this for years without bothering to do the work myself.  I'm continually amazed at the power of writing things down and not only because writing is a creative outlet for me, a pleasurable release; something really clicks into place when stuff that is in my head is looking back up at me from a piece of paper.  The same thing goes for discussing issues with other people, using words actually spoken out loud.  Thoughts can seem so terrifying and insurmountable bouncing around inside my head.  I panic.  I don't know what to do; I act rashly and make wrong decisions.  When I write them down they lose a lot of power.

"Really?" I say.  "Really?  This is what's eating you up?"

This is one of the reasons our founders have us make a written inventory.  They got it.  And lest we members of The Fellowship spend too much time patting ourselves on our collective backs about the brilliance of said Fellowship, let's remember that every spiritual, moral, and religious organization in recorded history has emphasized writing stuff down.  We know because they wrote it down.  They didn't just think about like drunks do.  A drunk figures thinking about something is as good as doing it.

For my crisis list I write down the date and then I write down what's bothering me.  Then I write down what I think the solution is.  It helps to see the game plan.  Sometimes it's clear I need to do something about what's bothering me and seeing that on the paper lets me know I can act or I can stew.  And sometimes I see the solution isn't clear or it's in the future and I have to wait.  If my car is making a weird, rattling, clunking, grinding, whirring noise I need to call my mechanic and make an appointment, and then I need to wait for the appointment.

See?  Action and waiting all wrapped up in one problem.