As I sit here this morning doing a writing exercise with the sounds of Spongebob in the background, my thoughts drifted to when I learned how to write cursive. Sister Jacquelyn in 3rd grade at St. Alphonso’s taught us proper cursive penmanship. I had picked up some cursive writing in 2nd grade when we lived in Chicago and I attended Ascension school in Oak Park, but I started over in 3rd grade so I could learn the basics, the foundation of cursive writing technique. It was so much easier to write and learn when I had the opportunity to receive good teaching with others in my grade, instead of coming in behind everyone and trying to catch up as I did in Oak Park. 

I remember Sister Jacquelyn taught us to hold our pencils loosely so that our pencil would move easily with the curves of the letters. And she wondered how she would be able to check and see if we were doing that. I suggested that she go around the room while we did our writing exercises and pull on our pencils so she could see how tightly we were holding them. I remember writing and feeling her pull my pencil through my hand as I wrote. Lol. I also remember feeling a little annoyed because she messed up a letter I was doing good on. But I was holding my pencil properly. 

My writing exercise this morning, although very helpful and meditative, is long and repetitive. And I found my hand getting tired. I realized I was gripping my pen tightly. As I made my hand relax and loosened my grip, I felt a level of comfort…the movement of writing became fluid…the letters seemed to float across my paper as my mind guided my hand to let go. There was a sense of peace in my writing exercise that was missing when I hung on too tightly. 

Letting go. Releasing my grip on things I believe I need to control….doing so brings peace and comfort and allows things to flow as they should. 

There are valuable lessons and reminders everywhere. I want to be open to recognize and receive them like this morning. What a blessing!