This week’s webinar turned into something extraordinary! What started as a simple writing session quickly became an evening of connection, unexpected insights, and many surprises. We welcomed both seasoned writers and some who said they “weren’t writers,” but by the end of class, they certainly were!
We began with the Self-Acknowledgment Hug and discussed the neuroscience behind it: how calming the nervous system and creating a sense of safety can open the door to creativity, clarity, and self-reflection. From there, everyone created a Word of the Day cluster and spent a few short minutes writing from whatever emerged.
Some participants uncovered truths about themselves. One writer realized she had spent years seeing herself as an underachiever when, in reality, she had simply tried more things than most people. Another participant, who struggled to get words “from her heart to the paper,” discovered she actually could write once she stopped overthinking and simply allowed herself to begin. Others found themselves writing whimsical stories and poetic reflections.
One of my favorite moments came from Beth, whose cluster centered around the word “building.” Her piece began sounding like the story of a woman rebuilding her life after a storm:
She works without stopping. Her home was destroyed by the last storm’s wind, with bits and pieces strewn across the land. Everyone thought she would simply move on, but no — she returned to her original choice for shelter and home.
She’s worked all day rebuilding, piece by piece, always in the moment, seemingly with no worries, focused on only one job, even stopping to sing when she takes a break…
As the story unfolded, we realized Beth wasn’t describing a person at all, but a small bird outside her door rebuilding its nest.
It was a beautiful reminder that the simplest observations become mirrors. Sometimes creativity reveals truths we didn’t consciously know we needed. And sometimes sitting quietly with a few words and a willing heart can reconnect us to ourselves in unexpected ways. And, while I’m never surprised, I’m always moved to see the Beyond Happiness Method become something deeper than a writing exercise. Beneath the whimsical stories and moments of laughter, there is often honesty, healing, reflection, and connection.
That spirit continues in this week’s featured blog from one of our longtime webinar participants. After the loss of his wife of many years, my friend John has found that writing, community, and simply showing up for life again have become meaningful parts of his healing journey. His piece is thoughtful, heartfelt, and a beautiful reminder that recovery from grief rarely arrives all at once, but through ordinary mornings, unexpected invitations, and small moments of connection that slowly begin to rebuild a new life.
The Rotary Meeting
Back when it was common to flip the butt of a Lucky Strike onto the ground, I’d hear, “Gotta go, I’ve got a Rotary event.”
Throughout my adult years, the Rotarians and their fellow service clubs lined up along the road to the next town. Like the stalwart brands from the past— Ivory Snow, RCA, and Buster Brown, were signs for that area’s Lions, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, VFW, and others. But I avoided them. There was zero probability I’d devote chunks of busy weeks or a gorgeous spring Saturday to gathering in a high school cafeteria, strategizing how we can even more effectively voluntarily help people in Hudson Valley cities and towns.
So when I recently landed in one of those meetings, it was sort of by accident. I’d been invited to accompany Bill Cranston, president of the Kingston Midtown Business Alliance, to introduce the MBA at a Rotary breakfast meeting. It was comfortable. We talked about the MBA, chatting over bacon, eggs, and coffee. Also on the docket were discussions of a litany of community projects. Nice time.
My breakfasts these days are sociable but nonhuman. Phoebe from a shelter below the Mason-Dixon line wakes me at 6 for the dog breakfast. I shuffle downstairs to serve fresh chicken cooked overnight in the Instant Pot, each of the three bowls topped with a sprinkle of freeze-dried beef, a splash of special dental health powder; Phoebe gets her arthritis Rx – all dashed with homemade bone broth. Phoebe is the reigning canine. She, like me, has outlived more than a fair share of contemporaries. Young Bentley is the dashing 75-pound, three-year-old Golden bouncing about with what seems like 150 pounds of love-infused energy. Little Coco is a Pomeranian mix who came to us a decade ago because her annoying treble yapping was bothering neighbors in our daughter’s and her husband’s NYC apartment.
Like feral wolves who’ve just finished off their freshly caught deer, the pack circles about looking for table scraps as I eat my scrambled eggs with one eye on the morning papers and the other on the TV, wondering what crazy epithets POTUS posted on Truth Social at 3 a.m. Bentley whines as the others line upfor buttered toast that I hand out to bribe them into silence.
We are the recently re-configured family. In recent months, we’ve circled our emotional wagons, profoundly missing the bigger-than-life presence of Alex (Alexandra), who over the decades powered our days. I was hungry for an opportunity to begin a day with more than our three-bowl routine.
That Kingston, NY Rotary Club breakfast was a welcome break. The following week, I accepted an invitation to breakfast again with the Rotarians, enjoying the coffee, conversation, and bonhomie. Nobody slobbered on my leg, and I didn’t have to do any of the cooking. I easily fell into the family-style banter of people who are comfortable with one another, firing vignettes across the room and side conversation status checks on the yard-long list of community projects they’re working on. There was an upcoming Kingston Clean Sweep, a spring tradition when people come out on a Saturday morning and volunteer with brooms and trash bags – hundreds of people from dozens of groups. There are preparations for a fun canine event this summer www.MuttStrutt.DOG. In another project, the Rotary took over the local radio station for a morning where they drummed up support for even more community activities and helped raise funds.
A while later, another email invite arrived.
“Hey, what’s this for?”
“Thought you’d be interested. We’d like you to join!”
It was an easy enough decision. The breakfasts out with civic minded, generous neighbors – picture The Waltons – earnest, tender intergenerational warmth.
I joined.
The light brightened on a recent Saturday. I found myself at a high school cafeteria with an even bigger gaggle of Rotarians drawn from the Hudson Valley district which stretches from the northern rim of Westchester County to the southern border of Albany.
Picture 100 or so neighbors, from college students to grandparents, like a demographic quilt of America, talking about how their clubs’ groups support people in our communities, how we all can organize to do help even more, and how we can deliver aid even better.
In this era of right vs. left; conservative vs. liberal; anti-this vs. pro-that where opinions are fired off with so much anger it makes one’s teeth hurt, here I was in an environment where none of this manifested.
The workshops were practical — how the Interact program supports students during summers; a briefing on the history and evolution of Rotary International since 1905 including its decades-old commitment to stamp out polio; there were break-out groups on practical things clubs can do better and do more of.
Yes, I left there thinking now about what I could do.
But there was something bigger. What came through loudly was the absence of grief, complaining, or blaming – all of that noise being replaced with sleeves-rolled-up projects to repair, improve, fix, polish, and otherwise make life better.
Wow!
Our Writing Journey Continues
Our next webinar continues on Monday, June 15, and I would love for you to join us. Whether you’re an experienced writer or someone simply curious about creativity and self-discovery, these sessions are designed to be inspiring and pressure-free. Together, we’ll explore simple techniques that quiet the noise of everyday life, spark imagination, and help words flow more naturally onto the page. Come as you are, where you are, in your writing and creativity journey.
Here’s to your personal success,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
Reserve Your Spot!
Start Writing Now!
Monday, June 15, 7:00 pm EST
Whether you’ve been carrying a story for years without writing a page, or you’re a seasoned writer stuck circling the runway, the hardest words are often the first ones.
In this inspiring, down-to-earth webinar, I’ll share techniques to quiet the inner noise, loosen perfectionism’s grip, and help you enter a creative state where writing no longer feels forced and starts to flow.
“The biggest struggle is getting words from my heart to the paper… and suddenly, I could write.” ~ first-time webinar participant
You’ll leave with practical tools to help you:
Start writing more easily.
Connect more deeply to your creativity
Reduce overwhelm and self-judgment
Develop ideas into structured scenes and pages
- Create a calmer, more productive writing practice
No matter where you are in your writing journey, this webinar is designed to help you finally get your pen to paper.
Don’t miss it! Reserve your spot now.
Substack
My Substack community is growing into a space for thoughtful reflection and creative exploration. It’s FREE to subscribe, and each installment touches on writing, personal development, neuroscience-based practices, and the deeper questions that shape our lives and creative work. I’d be glad to have you there.
Many writers feel disconnected from the very thing they love most amid busy schedules, a constant barrage of interruptions, and a persistent hum of uncertainty in a chaotic and dangerous world. It was important to acknowledge that writing is possible, but the old ways of scheduling and producing no longer work. [read the full article here]
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