Resolve 2013: Reduce Stress: Find and Follow Your Bliss …by the uber-talented Cassiel Knight
Finding bliss can be a changeling endeavor. And it’s not something that happens overnight. To continue our Resolution Tour, here’s fabulous author and editor, and good friend, Cassiel Knight, to give me…er us a few hints {wink, wink}.
Cassiel Knight: Blood on the Moon (Children of Egypt, Book 1)
I found it interesting that my dear friend Susan Lute listed this one as one of her resolutions. You see, I know she has stress, but I also know she’s following her bliss. Maybe not exactly as she’d like, but in a large part, she is. I decided that I’d write this to help her out versus whether or not I’m living my bliss. In a lot of ways I am (except for the writing part) so I’m feeling pretty good going into 2013.
In reading this, Susan might argue with me (bring it, girlfriend! J) but really, I think she is following her bliss—much more so than I am.
Why? Well, she’s writing. Maybe not as much as she’d like or as often as she’d like (do most of us feel like we write as much as we should or want to?) but she is writing. And editing and getting books published. She’s not writing for a publisher, she’s writing for herself and more importantly, she’s getting things up regularly. She’s building her backlist. And that is with family members moving in and a busy full-time job.
Plus, she’s now working from home. And again, while I know that her working from home job is keeping her quite busy, she’s still working from home with more freedom to schedule her writing around the day job. So, to me, Susan is following her bliss. But where she might be stuck is scheduling her writing around her day job.
So, I have a few loving suggestions for her:
* Schedule work and writing time—I know that sounds easy, I should be doing this myself, but it does work. Are you sitting at your desk through lunches and breaks? Give yourself permission to take a lunch break, go to another room in the house and write. Or edit. The point is things aren’t going to fall apart in an hour.
* Learn to say no. Seriously. And couldn’t we all learn this? We know, as women, we tend to want to do and take care of everything but we don’t need to. And our family will love us even if we tell them no every once in a while.
* Pare down your to-do list. Do you have one? How long is it? Sure, there’s a thrill to crossing things off but on the other hand, do you cringe when you see how long it is? Does everything need to be done?
Finally, I’d love to leave her with a final note, a beautiful prayer my husband taught me and I vow to think about more often in 2013: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Have a fantastic 2013! 
Cassiel Knight resides in the beautiful, and evergreen, state of Oregon with her husband of over 20 years and two female Shih Tzus, which are her children in every sense of the word. When she isn’t editing, writing or reading (and that is most of the time), she can be found playing with her Shih Tzus, gardening
(when the weather permits and sometimes when it doesn’t) and cooking fancy meals as long as someone else does the dishes. She writes paranormal romances with kick-assitude that blend archeology and mythology—just a few of her favorite things—for Samhain Publishing, Lyrical Press and Champagne Book Group.
You can find Cassiel at these places: Her website, Here at See Jane Publish, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter.
…and just so you know I was paying attention, I LOVE Cassiel’s suggestion to pare down my to-do list. I hereby resolve to have no more than 3 items on it at a time. Whew…that feels much better.
Posted on January 2, 2013, in guest post, Susan Lute and tagged archeology, Cassiel Knight, Champagne Book Group, find your bliss, follow your bliss, kick-assitude, Lyrical Press, mythology, reduce stress, Resolve 2013, See Jane Publish, Shih Tzus, Susan Lute. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
That book looks really interesting. I’ll have to find i t. I don’t know if I really get this resolution. I don’t stress much, I guess because I don’t have a stressful job. About the only time i stress is around relationships. Best way not to stress is not to have a relationship. Just kidding. ANyway, I’m checking out the book.
You mean we’re allowed to pare down the list without DOING the list?! Well, heck, sign me up! (Although that’s another list LOL.)
Har har. I was raised by an Irish Catholic Marine DI. I wouldn’t dare NOT do my list. I’m just happy to have less items on it at a time.
The Serenity Prayer has long been my favorite. Following it takes work on my part. I like the rules you suggest. I find that following my bliss has more to do with scheduling it than anything else–and then not feeling guilty that I’m taking time for it.
I love the Serenity Prayer and was very happy Cassiel reminded me of it.
The scheduling advice is especially helpful for me. I tend to jump over and check email and surf blogs while I should be writing. Thanks, Cassiel!
I agree. Hard to follow, but good advice. I come back to it time after time
Cassiel, those are all great rules to follow and I like the prayer.
Paty! Indeed.