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Posts Tagged ‘Journaling Prompt’

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Journaling Prompt – Concentrate Your Thanks Giving On One Person Or One Thing

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Concentrate Your Thanks Giving On One PersonI have a million things to be thankful for. My family. My friends. My health. My readers. My life style. My adventures. My education. My opportunities. My dream coming true. I have so many things to be grateful for that I don’t even know where to begin.

Each item I add to the list brings happiness and joy and warms my heart. Names come up and places I have been at. Delicatessens I have tried. Sweet memories.

The thing is that when I try to come up with a list so many things flood my brain and my heart at the same time. Smile after smile, and at times – some tears, accompany all the great things I appreciate having or having had in my life this year and in general.

It’s a good thing. Don’t get me wrong. I am GRATEFUL.

But I want to give each item on my list the attention it deserves. So no list for me this year. I am trying to concentrate on one thing I am most grateful for.

Without further ado, if you are with me on that, concentrate on one person or one thing you are most thankful for this year and write down why.

Nadav, my dear husband.

I love you so much. You have been the light of my life.

You make me laugh. Constantly. Even when I’m blue or sick – you can always crack me up.

You make me think. You make me rethink and then think some more. You make me try harder.

You make me aspire higher. You make me better.

You motivate and inspire me. You make me believe in myself and you remind me time an again of accomplishments I have long forgotten.

You make the day brighter and the night more magical. Thanks to you I wake up with a big smile every morning.

I am so happy to have you in my life, Nadavi.

This year I am most thankful to have you!

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Who or what are you most thankful for this year? Share your gratitude by leaving a comment on this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Give Thanks To A Complete Stranger

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
A Complete Stranger
[Photo by: Derrick Tyson]

A week before American Thanksgiving lets try to remember together the kind strangers in our lives and give them thanks.

Think about all the faceless people around you. People you have seen once, never before and probably never again.

Think about the person who stood before you inline and after one glance at your stressed expression, or nagging child, gave you his place in the queue.

Think about the person who made you smile while you were upset, without even knowing.

It doesn’t have to be a recent encounter, either. It can be a person you had stumbled upon long ago but you can still remember his random act of kindness or the lesson you have learned from him while your lives had briefly brushed against each other’s.

Now, open your journal and write.

Document your chance meeting and what you have gotten out of it. Write down how the stranger has enriched you, even if just momentarily and express your sincere gratitude.

Start a gratitude journal and register these random acts of kindness regularly. Don’t constrain your thanks giving to your near environment, remember the strangers in your life too.

After all, every one we come across makes a dent in our life, leaves an impression and these accumulated marks are part of what makes us ourselves.

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Which stranger would you like to thank and why, participate in the discussion by leaving a comment on this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Narrate An Inspiring Picture

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Beauty holds great powers. One of its super-powers is to break through blocks, including the writer’s block.

When you look at an inspiring picture, the beauty in it so vast, so powerful, words start to come up by themselves.

At first you can only identify a few single words, scattered in the wind of thought, but the longer you look at the picture, the more you can keep up with the flying words and identify more and more of the words and string them together into beautiful sentences, portraying everything you see and feel while looking at it.

For this week’s Journaling prompt I urge you to look at some amazingly inspiring pictures and follow the word flood.

You will be amazed with the results this technique yields.

Don’t stop at other people’s photos. Take a look at the latest pictures you’ve taken or at your favorite ones and start writing.

Narrate the beauty and transfer it into words.

You can write an entire scene – what you can see in the picture, what is the sequence of events that has brought such beauty and what will happen next…

Then…

Let me read it (please, please, please!)

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Please share your narrated beauty! I’m looking forward to read about your beauty in the comment section of this post.

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Journaling Prompt – How Can You Treat Yourself Better

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Mommy and IThis 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.

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

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Journaling Prompt – Write About A Real Life Spooky Experience

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
A Real Life Spooky Experience
[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?

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

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Journaling Prompt – Borrow An Opening

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Writing technique: Borrow An Opening
[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.

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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.

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

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Let The Pictures Tell The Story

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…

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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!

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Journaling Prompt – Record Your Fall Traditions

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Fall TraditionsRight 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?

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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.

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Journaling Prompt – With A Snap Of A Finger…

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

With A Snap Of A Finger...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.

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

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Journaling Prompt – New Technique: Volcano Eruption

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Volcano at Landmannalaugar, IcelandI 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.

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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.

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