This Moment, and the Next

Dear Stranger...

I don't know who you are, or what you're going through right now. Wherever you are, though, you are not alone.  If nothing else, I am sitting in this coffeeshop as I write this, hoping you have so many reasons to smile today. Either way, you're living in a moment right now. Soon, you'll be on to the next moment, and this is both a good and a bad thing.

I want to challenge you to really *live* in this moment.

If it's a good moment, love it with everything you have. Don't ignore it by worrying if the next moment will be as good. Forget that anything beyond NOW even exists, and just live in your moment.

And if it's a bad moment, remember that yes...there is a future. There will be another moment after this one. And dear stranger, I firmly believe your future will be a good one. I promise you - you haven't run out of good moments. There is light in the future and there is light in your eyes and even right now, right here - be hopeful.  ♥

Burrow deep down into the present and feel it for all it's worth.  Make peace with the darkness - get just comfortable enough that you can remind it that it can't stay forever.  Make peace with yourself - admit to yourself that you are beautiful, in just the right ways, and let me tell you -

you are indeed beautiful.

You are capable of doing this - take a breath and another breath until you're in the future and this moment is better than the last and

sometimes progress seems small even under a microscope.

but it's worth it, and I believe in you.

love,
a friend

The Friendly Neighborhood Journal is Coming to You!

So, I've been alluding to a Thing on Twitter for a really long time....
.
.
.
and it's finally here.

In collaboration with the amazing Aimee Meester, I present to you...

Do you like writing letters to people?
Do you like getting mail from frens who live in places you've never been before?
Are you friendly? I hope so.

Then you should definitely join our group of nice people writing nice things to each other.  The Friendly Neighborhood Journal is a lil journal that will be passed around the country (and likely the world), accumulating journal entries from many frens.

If you sign up, we'll put you on the route and someday in the next few months, the journal will arrive at your doorstep. You'll be able to read through what everyone before you has written, then contribute something of your own - art, poetry, encouragement...then you'll send it on to the next person! (Note: international people can definitely sign up, and we'll just make sure the person before you is okay with shipping internationally.)

me with #thefriendlyneighbhorhoodjournal

You can follow the journey through the Twitter hashtag, #thefriendlyneighborhoodjournal, and post your own picture with the journal when it gets to you.

One of the best things is that you have no idea who's gonna ship the journal to you. You might get it from a beautiful person you've never talked to before, or maybe it'll be your best friend from Twitter, and they'll have sent you a personal letter to and maybe a nice bookmark in the package.  It'd be so cool if you made some new writing frens or pen pals out of this as well. Feel free to mail extra stuff along with the journal for the next person!

Comment or email thefriendlyneighborhoodjournal@gmail.com with any questions, and sign up soon, because there's always the possibility that this will be a Cool Thing and run out of space before you can say "duh-caroline-and-aimee-are-already-cool".  If you know someone who'd love this kind of thing, share this post with them and peer pressure encourage them to sign up!

I can't wait to see where this lil guy goes. :)

- sign up here -

Much love,

Caroline (and Aimee) 💙