Creativity Prompt » Journaling Prompt

Journaling Prompt – How Can You Treat Yourself Better

2009-11-04T06:37:04Z

This week’s journaling prompt is inspired by my mom, who read to me in confidence something she had written in a time of change.

Let me backtrack a little bit, tell you something about my mom and tie it all in with Monday’s inspiration prompt.

My mom used to be a teacher. She was the kind of teacher who gives part of her body and soul to her students. She used to teach in schools whose students came from a social economic background that did not leave much hope – but my mom had given hope to her students, who had won national writing contests with her guidance and encouragement.

After many years of teaching children, she was injured while guarding a kid at school with her own body. Using her human shield she took on a kick aimed at a kid that had ruptured her liver and could have killed the poor kid.

My mom, the fortress of comfort and safety, became sick. Her body weakened and after a few more years she was asked to retire for medical reasons (after repeatedly winning educational trophies – each and every year).

The early retirement (just a few years before she was at the legal retirement age) hurt her more than the kick and its medical repercussions has ever done. She lost her ray of light – helping children reach their full potential.

Little by little, year by year, she started withering in a way that had broken my heart. She stopped thinking about herself altogether and only lived for others. Only cared for others. Only breathed for others.

Just a week ago she called me and for the first time in a long time she looked genuinely happy. She said she has decided to take a step towards accepting herself and loving herself again and she is going to do that through writing and painting.

Then she read to me.

And I cried inside.

She wrote about how writing makes her feel.

And I wept. Inside.

I am so happy for her and wish her only the very best. Hopefully her new teacher will be as wonderful to her as my mom was to her students.

I want to spread my mom’s educational spirit and encourage you to take the time and list what are the things you can do for yourself, what activities can you engage in, that will make you feel better and love yourself.

How can you treat yourself better? leave a comment below and share with me. I love hearing from you and I almost always reply.

Check out the new “Make Your Own Planner” workshop and you may solve this year’s holiday gift shopping problem. An affordable workshop that keeps on giving…

Journaling Prompt – Write About A Real Life Spooky Experience

2009-10-27T23:43:21Z

[Photo by: THOR]

Halloween is right around the corner (for those of you celebrating this holiday).

This holiday had started as a Celtic New Year ceremony and evolved along the years to a festival of the dead.

In north America houses are being meticulously decorated with spooky decorations and jack-o’-lanterns.

For a different spin on the traditional holiday journaling about “Trick-or-Treat” adventures, the evolution of a costume or transforming the house, try to foster the holiday spirit by registering a real life spooky experience you have once had.

Have you ever been through scary circumstances?
Has a scary looking person ever come across your way?
Have you ever stood up close to a scary animal?
Have you ever experienced a scary incident/event?
Have you ever had to do something scary?

Have you had a real life spooky experience you’d like to share with us? Share by leaving a comment on this post.

Have you checked out the new workshop: “MAKE YOUR OWN PLANNER 2010″?

Journaling Prompt – Borrow An Opening

2009-10-19T23:15:48Z

[Photo by: Eduardo]

The beginnings are the most difficult step in journaling (or any type of writing). Staring at a blank screen, a blank paper or an empty journaling tag can be very frustrating.

After the first sentence is drizzled onto the paper, the rest usually follow in a potent stream.

Having said that, the beginning is many times the most important part of our journaling. The opening words are like a welcoming committee, inviting the reader to keep on reading.

I have a great technique that solves the “opening-syndrome”.

Instead of desperately looking for the right words to come out, borrow the opening sentence from your favorite book, or the book currently on your nightstand, and go on from there.

To help you with this technique here is a list of the 100 best first lines of novels.

Now let see if you are up for a challenge – try to write a complete entry in your journal (or a short story, or journaling for a layout) using ONLY opening lines of other books.

Have you tried this technique? Was it helpful for you?

Have you challenged yourself with the extreme version of this technique? I’d love to read it, so please share by replying to this post.

Journaling Prompt – Let The Pictures Tell The Story And Your Words Set The Tone

2009-10-13T22:18:58Z

This series of photos I took a year ago conveys an entire story. The story of my niece trying to have it her way and disappointed at failing to do so. I was visiting home and wanted some alone time with my sister (her mother) and she wanted to keep her mom at seeing distance…

Any words will take a way from the story which the photos depict succinctly.

For this week’s journaling prompt try to accompany powerful photos with a series of powerful words that set the tone. No more. No less.

Don’t use whole sentences but rather single words.
Use adjectives.
Try to add a powerful verb.
Concentrate on the mood and setting of the story.

I would support the series of pictures above with the following words:

Negotiating.
Disappointed.
Hopeful.
Winning…

Have you tried this journaling technique before? Do you feel less pressure when writing a bullet-point list? Share your thoughts by living a comment on this point.

To set off this technique share a list of words that describes your day today. I am looking forward to hear about your day!

Journaling Prompt – Record Your Fall Traditions

2009-10-06T21:53:28Z

Right now in some places the first signs of fall are budding. Some places are already in the midst of fall. In other places it isn’t fall at all. Some places have no fall…

Here at the Bay Area in California the mornings are chillier. The foliage has just started to lose its bright green sheen. When you stroll along the sidewalk you may even spot a fallen leaf or two. You may barely notice but the season is changing.

S l o w l y.

To seize the season this week’s journaling prompt is calling you to record your special fall traditions (or which ever season you experience now).

Is it “bathing” in colorful leaves?
Is it going to the pumpkin patch?
Is it sipping a venti pumpkin spice latte?
Is it cooking your first batch of soup?

What is it that you do when you wake up in the morning and notice the fall has arrived?

Share your special fall traditions. (Share your recipes as well, if you mark the fall by cooking a special dish)
Is it fall where (and when…) you read this post?

Share by leaving a comment on this post. I am excited to hear about your traditions.

Journaling Prompt – With A Snap Of A Finger…

2009-09-29T19:35:27Z

Making the bed at 6:30 am. Heaps of laundry to wash, dry and fold. A dinner than won’t make itself after a hard day at work. Children toys scattered all over the place. A carpet that needs vacuuming. Floor that needs moping. Bathroom that need cleaning. Annual report that will certainly not compile itself and the list is loooong.

Where is perky Mary Poppins when we need her. With a snap of a finger, the sheets will make themselves. The dinner will be ready. The house will get clean and tidy and all our work will be done and ready on our desks.

Isn’t that a wish worth wishing? (Without a doubt – a rhetorical question)

For this week’s journaling prompt entertain yourself with the idea that you can get things done with a snap of your fingers.

What will you wish your fingers to take care of? List 10 chores you would gladly hand over, with a snap of a finger.

This can make a great layout or a mini album, entitled: “With a Snap of a Finger…” It will be a great idea to entertain yourself by, but also a document of your daily grind.

What would you hand over to your fingers? What are your most tedious chores? share by leaving a comment on this post.

Journaling Prompt – New Technique: Volcano Eruption

2009-09-23T15:58:51Z

I took this picture in Landmannalaugar, Iceland about a year ago. I climbed this volcano, which for me represented the battle of will over mind. (Most people just ran up and down…)

While taking this personal challenge I was thinking about the intensity of the eruption and the meaning of the eruption – both physical and metaphorical.

Journaling. Real openhearted journaling is a lot like a volcano eruption.

Your inside is burning and feels like it is going to explode and once you let it out – burning magma is pouring out. Once you really let loose and allow your best and worst feelings to come out, you can no longer control the flow.

However, as the emotional build-up is completely dissolved and all there is left is rubble you can then start afresh.

For this week’s journaling prompt try the volcano eruption journaling technique.

Step 1: Erupt. Go to whatever “quiet place” that works for you. Take a pen and a paper pad (or your journal) and start writing about a subject that has been smoldering in your mind lately. Write non-stop for an hour or so. Let your feelings and thoughts loose. Allow yourself to rant, to judge, to over analyze, to have pity, to envy, to covet, to wet your journal pages with salty tears (if it comes to that). WRITE – without editing, without thinking, without boundaries. Just write EVERYTHING.

Step 2: Start afresh. Take a break. Breathe deeply. Sip a tall glass of green tea or a fat mug filled to the rim with hot chocolate or a frothy cappuccino. Take a walk. Go to sleep. Steer clear of your journal for a while and relax. Then come back, read what you have written and come up with a positive and constructive thing to write for every negative scribble that erupted before.

Have you tried the volcano eruption technique? How did it work for you? Leave a comment on this post and share your thoughts and experience.

Journaling Prompt – Record Your Personal Change Of Seasons

2009-09-15T21:45:44Z

[Photo by: Aunt Owwee @Flickr]

Sometimes I look at the four seasons – summer, fall, winter and spring – as Mother Earth’s clothing. The change of season sets a change in both the color palette and the texture (fabric) of its couture.

Fall is extremely colorful with a warm palette and a thick coat of loose foliage, nonchalantly covering all surfaces. Just like a woman with long curly hair whose hair falls down naturally on her shoulders.

Winter brings in a cooler palette. In some places the gray hues tones are ruling in a classic tailored suit and in others earth wears a festive and glistening white dress – like a bride flaunting her pristine beauty at her groom.

Comes spring and the artistic spirit of Mother Earth is revealed along with the appearance of flower buds. Vibrant and colorful and beautiful, filled with anticipation, a song is sung in her broad heart – like a carefree muse.

During the summer, Mother Earth strips off of all the color and heaviness of the year and gets ready to absorb warm sunshine rays – like a beautiful diva, wearing her swimsuit and tanning at the beach.

While observing the change of seasons I have noticed that I change along with them.

The spring wakes me up, brings color to my cheeks and prepares me for the summer – my favorite of all seasons. As the air gets cooler and the leaves are changing their color and fall I begin to dread the winter with its rainfalls and darkness, which makes me feel lethargic and wish I could stay under the covers all day long.

I know for a fact that many people are the exact opposite of me.

Some enjoy the purity of winter and cringe to the thought of the frying rays of sun.

What about you?

Record your personal change of seasons.

How do you change in a course of a year? When are you the happiest and when do you wish the season should end before it started? When do you feel most prolific and efficient? Have you noticed any change?

You can take this opportunity to look at your personal seasons on a larger scale. Have you noticed a certain cycle in your life? Can you compartmentalize your life to clear-cut periods that shows significant change in your life, your personality, your growth?

How do you change in a course of a year? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.

Journaling Prompt – Answer The Most Profound Questions

2009-09-09T00:06:43Z

[Photo by: Jody McNary]

I have recently stumbled upon a fascinating quote by Richard Bach:

“The simplest questions are the most profound.

Where were you born?
Where is your home?
Where are you going?
What are you doing?

Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.”

This quote appeals to me for two reasons:

Its attribution to the most important things in life: your origin (roots), your plan and your actions towards it.
Its attribution to the changes that appear as time goes by. Even the most profound aspects of life are affected by the passage of time.

Make use of Richard Bach’s brilliant observation and answer these questions in your journaling. Don’t forget to put a date on your journaling.

After a while go back to your answers and see if there’s any change. Record the change. Has anything remained the same?

What is your answer to these questions right now? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.
What other important aspects of life do you cherish? Do they change over time as well?

Can questions referring to the past, such as “where were you born”, really change over time? I’d love to hear your thoughts about it!

Journaling Prompt – Paint a Self Portrait With Your Words

2009-09-02T13:54:22Z

Many strong and capable women squinch to the thought of having their photo taken. There are many reasons for that reluctance. The two most common reasons are fear of being perceived as vein and self absorbed and inability to think about ’self’ and always concentrating on others.

Due to the same misconceptions you may find layouts about your significant other, children, grand-children, close family, heritage but either very few or more often none about yourself.

Same goes for journaling. You write about your family, friends, your day but you seldom write about yourself in a documentary manner. You seldom (or never) describe yourself and document the “dry” facts about yourself and your own history.

Why not changing this RIGHT NOW?

To embark on your autobiographic mission start by painting a self portrait with your words.
Describe yourself as you are right now:

You can concentrate on physical traits, characteristics, actions or all the above. You may write in the first person or the third person. Past tense or present tense. With or without adding any background. Just start, then go on.

She sat against her blinking white screen. Her mahogany hair was clasped back with a couple of black bobby-pins. A number of unruly curls had broken through the thin metal prongs.

Her somewhat long and slim fingers ran frantically across the keyboard racing with her blazing mind. She was desperately trying to catch up with the downpour of thoughts and beating waves of self awareness.

Her green eyes opened widely amazed at what the broken dam yielded. Every freckle and each mole suddenly assumed a role in making her the unique being she is, differing her from any other person in the universe.

She took comfort in concealing herself under thick masks of anonymity but that day, a glimpse of realization had made her take a peek inside and the view was overwhelming.

The winds of change had taken her by surprise and she grieved everything that was lost forever, not even caught by ink. She promised herself she would linger no more.

How would you paint yourself with words? When was the last time you took a self portrait – either by journaling, photographing or scrapbooking? Please share by leaving a comment on this post.