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Journaling Prompt – The Beauty of the Dialog

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
The Beauty of a Dialog
[Photo by: izarbeltza]

Havi Brooks of the Fluent self talks to monsters and to blocks. Her dialogs, as I see and interpret them, is actually an intricate monologue. Her conversations are so soulful and sensitive, it has been my absolute pleasure to eavesdrop.

Dialogs are taking a huge place in our lives. From the mundane morning conversations over cereals and PB&J toasts to the monsters that creep inside our heads and hold us back from moving forward with our lives. Gems are often found in both types of conversations, as with all the types of dialog in between.

The bigger the conflict in the dialog, the more interesting it’s bound to be. Taking the less traveled road and trying to negate the conflict and find a bridge between the conflicting voices guarantees a fascinating conversation with some interesting insights into the writer’s (our) mind.

It is also a FANTASTIC journaling prompt.

For this week’s journaling prompt narrate the dialog that goes on between the following duos:
(pick any two that looks interesting to you)

  • Aristotle & Robot
  • Hostage & Captor
  • Killer & Victim’s parent
  • New born & an Old man on his deathbed (variation: young self – current self – old self)
  • Soldier & Terrorist
  • Sprout & Sun
  • Farmer & Banker
  • Lion & ant
  • You & a Cockroach
  • Running shoes & TV couch
  • Creative child & Self critic
  • Cicero & (pro)Blogger
  • Egg & Sperm
  • Left brain lobe & Right brain lobe.
  • Mathematician & Magician.
  • Plaintiff’s lawyer & defendant.

Share

  • Which of the duos do you gravitate to?
  • What other interesting conflicting voices can you think about?
  • Have you eavesdropped (or participated) in an interesting/hilarious & heartwarming conversation lately? (between your kids, for instance…)

It would be a pleasure reading your dialogs, so do share and leave a comment on this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Write A Love Letter To Your Body

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Body Love
[Photo by: Ally Aubry]

The sun is shining. The sky is blue. Summer is just around the corner (at least on this side of the globe). And thus, with a smile and the sweet promise of a vacation, the self loathing begins.

Oddly enough, poor self image has nothing to do with our actual size. Some of my most well rounded friends are constantly complaining about the way they look. My sister (who I swear can wear her 6 year-old-and-skinny daughter’s clothing) has been guilty of self bashing her figure as well. I complain too, but that’s understandable 😉

Summer is the season that brings out the worst of our self image and this is not surprising at all. Cute tank tops and bathing suits are hanging on department stores’ displays. Magazines are filled with perfect photoshopped images of skinny models. Fashion becomes less forgiving and there is less material for camouflage…

Therefore I suggest that just before the season officially starts we will try to nip our self loathing habit in the bud.

For this week’s journaling prompt write a love letter to your body.

  • Write everything you love about your body. What are your strongest features?
  • Write how your body has been there for you when times were tough.
  • Write how your body represents who you are and makes you stand out in the crowd.
  • Write about the way your body represents your hard work, strong will and resistance.

This isn’t about beauty or feeling beautiful, it’s about appreciating your body and loving it.

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Are you going to join the self loathing group or are you going to love your body this summer?

Share and leave a comment on this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Reminiscing On The Past Everyday Life

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Everyday LifeDocumenting everyday life has been extremely popular in the past year. I am also a strong advocate of capturing life and telling the stories – the exciting ones as well as the mundane. But what about the past?

We enjoy taking pictures of the alarm clock in the morning, the toast with the tall glass of cool orange juice we have for breakfast. We document our desktops and our running shoes and even the number on our front doors. But what about the past?

No. We do not forget the past, do we?

We ARE telling the stories of our parents and their parents. We share how we met our significant others. We tell the story of the day we graduated. We don’t forget the story about the time we were down sick. We document our vacations especially the long ones to exotic destinations far, far away.

But we DO forget something. We forget to write about our PAST EVERYDAY LIFE. We forget to write about the ROUTINES we used to have.

We don’t write about the special smell there was in the air during the last month of school. We seem to have forgotten to mention the big bowl of sour cream with strawberries and bananas we used to LOVE. The omelet we used to eat, provided it was completely covered in cottage cheese… Have we written about those lazy summer days when we all had lunch together, listening to oldies on the radio and eating sweet watermelon for desert – those where the days when the inside of the watermelon was as red as a rose and a million black as coal seeds decorated it.

What about all those memories? Where are they documented?

For this week’s journaling prompt I send you back to days past. I urge you to sit down and reminisce on the past everyday life.

Today’s everyday life are spoken for and widely covered. Yesterday’s significant events are documented as well. So it’s time to bring back memories of the past everyday life and write them down.

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Do you find yourself reminiscing on the past everyday life? Do you have a fond memory of a routine from your past? Share and leave a comment on this post – I’d love to hear your stories 🙂

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Journaling Prompt – Hone Your Writing Skills With Colors

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Colors
[Photo by: Steven Fernandez]

Most people are blessed with all 5 senses: Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. I am constantly using all five senses throughout my creative journey and cannot imagine what would I do if one of my senses was impaired. However I have come across very creative people who were unable to see, hear or taste, so I know that creativity can for a certain extent compensate for the loss of one of the senses.

One of the things I cannot imagine how can one compensate for is the ability to see colors (which is funny as my father is color blind). The broad spectrum of colors, the different tones and shades, the richness, the effect of combining different colors together. I find those very hard to explain verbally. Which is why I think it will make the perfect creative writing exercise.

For this week’s journaling prompt try to describe colors to a blind person. How would you transcribe the visual record? Clearly it is going to be futile to use the color’s name, so how else can you describe it?

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Do you think colors can be described to a blind person? I am interested to hear your thoughts on that matter and would be delightful to read your colors description!!! So please leave a comment and share.

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Journaling Prompt – Indicate Mother’s Day Differently

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I love my mom farther than my words can reach. Therefore, for mother’s day, this year, I want to indicate my appreciation differently. Instead of going on and on about how great my mom is, I want to concentrate on the first memorable [obviously there is no way to remember the breastfeeding part] experience that created the strong bond between us.

Each mother and child have one moment in life in which they feel the bond between them is sprouting. I am aiming for this moment and trying to recall and capture it forever.

For this week’s journaling prompt write about the moment the bond between you and your mother was established.

You might want to make a copy of your journaling and send it to your mom, she will surely treasure the memory.

Variations of this week’s journaling prompt:

  • Write about the “moment” the bond formed between you and your kids
  • Encourage your kids to write/tell you what was their “moment”
  • Interchange memories of the “moment” with your mom – this moment is not necessarily the same for both of you.

I want to share my moment with you in honor of my fabulous mom:

Shortly after the beginning of elementary school I became very sick. It was probably a virus I caught up from our guinea pigs (The poor guinea pigs did not survive…). My immune system completely shut down and no doctor could provide a diagnosis. The prognoses were not positive. The doctors looked worried and perplexed. I can only imagine what my parents had gone through. I was just a small child, feeling weak and drowsy, but not aware of what’s going on.

My dad stayed with my 2 older sisters at home and my mom slept on a mattress beside me at the hospital 24/7.

I remember one night, My fever went way up and nothing they did reduced it – I had an ice wrap, an alcohol bed – you name it… The test results showed another aggravation in my condition. I felt bad and my mom encouraged me to channel my thoughts into something positive. I came up with a song about two lions hugging each other and creating some healing heat together. Rest assured I also “composed” this song and sang it very loudly and repeatedly all night long…

In the following morning something had changed. The test results started showing an improvement. A true miracle the doctors thought. I know what had cured me. Now you know what it was too.

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When did the bond between you and your mother sprout? How are you going to honor your mother on May 10th? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment 🙂

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Journaling Prompt – List Your Current Favorites

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
List of favorites
[Photo by: liz_com1981]

Were you ever asked what is your favorite song? book? movie? destination? I was. Many times. I seem to easily find the answers, but each time I am asked again – the answers change.

My favorites keep on changing based on periods in life, mood, trend, different experiences, etc.

Therefore I think compiling a list of favorites and updating it monthly, annually or at any other rate that works for you, might be a great journaling prompt.

This is going to serve as an important document of your life, perpetuating various thoughts, moods, fashions and trends in a course of a year, several years or however long you choose to update your Catalog of Favorites.

This week I am prompting you to make a “FAVORITES” scrapbook or journal.

So grab a new journal and start documenting:

  1. What is your favorite book?
  2. What is your favorite song?
  3. What is your favorite color?
  4. What is your favorite destination?
  5. What is your favorite memory?
  6. What is your favorite TV show?
  7. What is your favorite movie?
  8. What is your favorite food?
  9. What is your favorite dessert?
  10. What is your favorite treat?
  11. What is your favorite car?
  12. What is your favorite piece of clothing?
  13. What is your favorite fashion accessory?
  14. What is your favorite perfume?
  15. What is your favorite leisure activity?
  16. Who is your favorite author?
  17. Who is your favorite actor/actress?
  18. Who is your favorite singer?
  19. Who is your role model?
  20. Where is your favorite place to be?

You can go ahead and answer all those question, you can add more questions or pick your favorite 10 and answer them annually, or monthly or once in a blue moon… Whatever works for you!

For an additional “historic value” try to find images that correspond to your list of favorites – either take them yourself with your handy-dandy camera or give Google Images a try and combine those images in your list.

Share

Have you noticed a change in your list of favorites? Would you like to follow and observe your favorites? What are your current favorites? Leave a comment and share with us 🙂

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Journaling Prompt – Exercise your Journaling Muscle

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Hone your writing skills Every bit of journaling that comes from the heart is a good journaling. Saying that, many times we have such a precious memory to keep or a thought to treasure that we feel stumped. We don’t seem to find the right words to write. We just feel like our journaling muscle is a bit rusty and ragged.

My initial advice is to just write. You can either write everything down on a scratch piece of paper and edit select the highlights later –or– to go ahead and just write (which is what I usually do).

However, if you insist on honing your writing skills then I have the perfect exercise for you – it will stretch your journaling muscle and will make you sweat words and sentences like there’s no tomorrow.

For this week’s journaling prompt we are going to exercise our journaling muscles by putting our words through a mood swing.

Start by writing down a single paragraph. Write about your day. Write about a recent vacation you’ve had or about the fact you haven’t been out on vacation for a lo-o-o-ong time. Write anything (even a one-paragraph-short-story).

Now write this paragraph down, again-and-again, each time with a different dominant tone:

  • Dramatic.
  • Romantic.
  • Humorous.
  • Journalistic (newsworthy…)
  • Sarcastic.
  • Sad. (Think obituary)
  • Happy.
  • Mad.
  • Hopefull. Zen induced…
  • Childlike. (riming?)

Have fun at the word’s gym 🙂

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Do you struggle with your journaling sometimes? Did you find this exercise helpful? Share your thoughts and share your work by leaving a comment on this post.

These prompts might be helpful as well:

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Journaling Prompt – Write About Your Beauty

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

BeautyIt is extremely rare that I feel beautiful. A couple days ago it happened. I was preparing for Passover eve’s service and something in the anticipation and the preparation, doing my hair, applying make-up, dressing up, wearing jewelry and high heels, everything together had made me feel momentarily beautiful.

You may think it’s vain. Maybe it is. But I believe that feeling beautiful is important. I envy those who feel beautiful more frequently. I aspire to do so myself.

Sometimes the beauty comes from within. An aura of love and happiness is flooding you and you feel beautiful. Sometimes beauty is obtained by external accessories. I don’t think it matters. What matters is that you FEEL beautiful.

Whether the looks I spy are looks of admiration or of mockery, so be it – as long as I feel beautiful.

I used to think that as a feminist women I should always emphasize my wits rather than my beauty, but I have discovered that man love to strut just as much. “Big-shot” male lawyers are wearing suits and ties and diamond cuffs to help them feel more confident (or more dominant, more successful) – why should us women be denied of that feeling of accessorized confident?

Confucius had once said:

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

For this week’s journaling prompt I want you to not only see your beauty, but also to write about it. Grab a pen and your journal and write: “Today I looked at the mirror and felt BEAUTIFUL, because…”

Writing your feelings helps you validate them, and I want you to validate your sense of personal beauty. What makes you feel pretty? Is it a new hair do? Is it exercising and eating sensibly? Is it a glow of happiness? Are you shining because you are loved? What is it? Write it down.

To sum up this journaling prompt I want to share a quote by Peter Nivio Zarlenga:

Beauty is being in harmony with what you are.

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What makes you feel beautiful? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

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Journaling Prompt – Your Freedom (and a $50 Gift Card Giveaway)

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Freedom
[Photo by: H. Koppdelaney]

Today is Passover’s Eve. The Jewish people are celebrating their freedom. I think it is a great opportunity to explore our freedom today. To think what makes us “free” or what do we need more (or less) of in our lives to set us free.

What freedom do we seek? Is it financial freedom in the current recession? Is it freedom of love? Freedom of thought? Freedom from an oppressive workplace?

What tools do we need in order to obtain our desired freedom? Do we need some more courage? Do we want some less responsibilities? Do we need to take an initiative and leave or maybe to regroup again?

For this week’s journaling prompt lets explore our freedom or our yearning for freedom.

  • Do you feel you are living your life as a free person?
  • What aspects in your life makes you feel free?
  • How would you define your freedom? What does being free means to you?
  • In which facets do you feel deprived of your freedom? What would you like to change? What can you change right now?
  • Where do you seek your freedom? (Finance. Romance. Friendships. Traveling. Education. Career. Family. Art. Religion. Nationality. Physical abilities.)
  • What traits can help you become more freestanding?
  • What traits do you already have to assist you in finding your freedom?
  • Describe a life absent of any constraint. How would living those life feel like?

$50 Gift Card Giveaway for Scrapbook.com

To celebrate our freedom I am giving away to one of my readers a $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE to: Scrapbook.com. That means the winner is FREE to choose his/her own fabulous prize!!!

This giveaway is open for everyone, from all over the world.

This is how you can enter the drawing: (feel FREE to choose ANY of the following options. You may even choose more than one option!)

  1. Leave a comment on this post telling what would you like to see more of on Creativity Prompt.
  2. Link to this page on your blog, spreading the love to your readers. Then leave a comment on this post with a link to your post.
  3. Link to this giveaway on a forum or a group discussion board and then let me know by leaving a comment on this post with a link to your post.

Rules –

  • You have until April 14th 2009 at 10pm PST to participate, afterward comments will be closed. The winner will be announced later on.
  • The winner will be picked at random out of all the comments on this post.
  • Each person can leave only one comment per option (in total, up to 3 comments per reader).
  • Leave a valid e-mail on the comment’s form, as the gift certificate will be sent digitally to that address.

Update

Contest is closed!!!

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Journaling Prompt – April Fools Edition – Play A Reporter

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
April Fools
[Photo by: Demi Brooke]

April Fools. One of my least favorite days. It isn’t that I don’t like a good joke, but I am very gullible (and apparently too honest) and I always fall for these pranks. My husband takes full advantage of it and he pulls pranks on me all year round…

Today I have an idea for an April Fools’ piece of mischief and I want you to take part in it… (and to document it in your journals, scrapbooks, local newspaper… Where ever…)

Your April Fools Assignment is: Write a note of admiration to someone (your husband??? colleague???) and sign as “Your number one fan“. Feel free to add a special touch with a rose or a bar of chocolate. THEN put on your reporter’s glasses and document your victim’s quest to find his secret admirer…

Not only is it going to be hilarious, but you are going to perpetuate a memory of a fun tradition as well.

Share –

I’d love to hear your stories, if you take part in this practical joke. Leave a comment on this post and share.

Do you want to share other practical jokes you have pulled, or jokes that have been pulled on you? Feel free to share, you know I want to hear I am not the only one….

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