Author: latahrecoverycenter

by Nancy Casey

If you look deep inside any living thing, you aren’t going to find any numbers. Nobody has ever coughed up an actual 7, 16, or 56. Or pi. You can’t dig numbers out of the ground, or pull them from the sky, either.

Yet we have zillions of numbers associated with our lives. While you gather your writing materials and set up your page, think about all the different numbers that you know about. Draw a line at the top where the title will go and set aside some room for artwork if you like.

Much information comes to us as numbers. The percentages of people who hold certain opinions. The cost of a trip to a grocery store or gas station. Dates from the calendar and the time on a clock. The weight and the girth of the planet.

We have incomes and bank balances, debts, too. We keep certain numbers private, lest someone use them to steal our identity. A trip to the doctor’s office might unleash a whole slew of numbers: height and weight for sure, and maybe some lab results or instructions to go with a prescription.

All around you there are things you can count: fingers on your hand, spoons in the drawer, pages in a book, windows in a house, cracks in the sidewalk, miles to your destination.

Do you have a lucky number? A favorite one?

Today in your writing describe some of the numbers that are interesting or useful to you. They can be numbers that you know about and use all of the time. Or numbers that you are curious about.

Here’s the catch: don’t write down any actual numbers.

Instead, use phrases like: I know how many…  or It would be hard to count… or even, Someone could look up… or It’s important to keep track of… 

You could ask yourself questions: How much…? How far…? How many days…?

Fill up a page today by writing about some of the numbers that swirl around you.

When you have finished the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

Write the title at the top of the page. Write the date on the page, too, along with a signature or your initials.

Here is an example of what someone could write.

You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not just yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

Two things that everybody has: a mind and a body. Are they separate? How do you tell them apart?

Scientists and sages have pondered those questions for centuries, without agreeing on clear answers. As an owner of both a mind and a body, your writing today will give you a chance to explore the way you see the interplay between them.

The page setup is a bit elaborate. First, draw a line an inch or so from the right-hand margin, from the very top of the page to the very bottom. In the large space remaining, draw a line where your title will go. Beneath that line, write the word “Mind” on the left-hand side of the page and write “Body” on the right. Underline those two headings and beneath them, down the center of the page, write the letters of the alphabet, from A-Z.

Next to each letter, you will write words that begin with that letter. On the left-hand side of the page, write the names of things you can do with your mind. (Remembering, for example. Or forgetting.) On the right hand side of the page, write down the names of things you can do with your body. (Digesting breakfast is one possibility.)

You might come up with activities that you do with both your mind and your body. Talking would be a good example of that. In that case, you would write “talking” in both columns.

Try to come up with at least one mind activity and one body activity for every letter. If you think about it too hard, you might end up confusing yourself (just like scientists and sages have done for centuries!) Make decisions about what involves the mind and what involves the body based on your own experience. Decide for yourself where to draw an imaginary line between the two.

After you have written something for every letter, rotate the page sideways so the inch or so of empty space runs side-to-side. In that space, write down a comment about minds, bodies and the relationships between them–something that occurred to you while you were making those two lists.

When you have finished the page, read over everything you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

Write the title at the top of the page. Write the date on the page too, along with a signature or your initials.

Here is an example of what someone could write.

You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not quite yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

It was about a year ago at this time that the reality of the coronavirus pandemic began to settle undeniably into our lives.

We have all been affected.

We have experienced changes in relationships and routines. People have lost loved ones and worried for people they care about. Support systems have been disrupted, incomes lost. People have had to give up hobbies and favorite entertainments.

And yet, we have grown. We have had new thoughts and experiences. We have coped and adapted, sometimes gracefully and sometimes not, but always getting new information about ourselves and the world.

By now, the pandemic has been going on for so long that it seems like it will never end. But it will. Someday, this whole pandemic that has engulfed our lives will be over. Finished. Done. History.

Write about what that will be like for you.

Set up a page by drawing a line where the title will go. Set aside some space for doodling or illustration. Try to imagine your future non-pandemic self, living in a non-pandemic world.

Begin by writing, “When the pandemic is over…”  Then follow up with whatever comes to mind as you imagine your non-pandemic future.

Today’s writing is a chance to celebrate in advance the reunions with people and places you have missed. Or maybe notice how the end of the pandemic doesn’t promise a return to the past.

Maybe you have ideas about how you will apply skills you developed this past year. Or perhaps you can think of skills that you haven’t used in all this time. Will you be rusty? Will you apply them in different ways? Will you be getting back to some old habits? Trying out some new ones?

For many people, the end of the pandemic will bring a new phase of recovering from the losses the pandemic has dealt.

All year we have been encouraged to dwell in the reality of this difficult time, to embrace what’s possible instead of longing for something different in a situation we are powerless to change.

Today, let loose and imagine what life will be like when the pandemic lives in the past tense.

Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel? What does it shine on for you?

Fill a page with your thoughts. If you run out of ideas, write, “When the pandemic is over…”  to encourage an idea to pop into your head. Or you can draw and doodle as you wait for a new thought.

When you have filled up the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

Write the title at the top of the page. Write the date on the page too, along with a signature or your initials.

Here is an example of what someone could write.

You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or some encouragement, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.

by Nancy Casey

Surgeons wear them. So do boxers and astronauts. And probably you, too.

Good old gloves. Today, write about some of the gloves that have graced your life. You can tell what they are made of or what color they are. Maybe you remember where you got them. Perhaps they were present for an important moment. Maybe they even saved you from disaster.

Think about all the gloves you have known as you set up your page. Draw a line at the top of the page where the title will go. Set aside some space for illustration. (If you begin by tracing your hand, you can quickly draw a glove.)

Most gloves protect your hands from something. In the winter months you probably rely on them for protection from the cold. But a glove can also protect a hand from heat. Gloves can keep out microbes and dirt. Some people count on gloves to protect their hands from cleaning agents or other toxins.

When is a glove not a glove? Consider a mitten, for instance, or a fingerless glove. Maybe you remember a time when you needed gloves and couldn’t find them. What did you use instead?

Sometimes gloves don’t protect anything. They can also be used to hide something—unsightly age spots, chewed up nails, or fingerprints at a crime scene. Some gloves are strictly for fashion and instead of protecting you, you have to protect them.

Is there a certain kind of glove you wish you had? Is there a type of glove you would never wear even if you did have them?

If you lose one glove, what do you do with the other one?

Have you ever given or received gloves as a gift? Or stumbled on a pair of gloves you forgot about? Have you ever stolen a pair of gloves?

So many gloves! The more you look around and think about them, the more you can find.

If you never, ever wear gloves, there’s a story in that, too.

Fill up a page today by writing something about gloves.

When you have finished the page, read over what you have written. Illustrate your work if you haven’t already. Think up a title that ties everything together.

Write the title at the top of the page. Write the date on the page too, along with a signature or your initials.

Here is an example of what someone could write.

You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.

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Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement,  contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.