Thursday 8 October 2009

Journaling to Unearth Your Memories - Prompt 2

The things we fear tell us far more about ourselves than we realize. Not all reasons are deep, but many have layers that we hardly ever peel. So today, think about fears. What did you fear as a child? Fear of the dark? A monster under your bed? Or perhaps you feared a grizzly uncle or even an older sibling or one of your parent? Make a list of all the things and/or people you remember being afraid of. Don’t think about it. Just make a quick list of anything that comes to mind, even if the fear was short lived. Keep going until you can’t think of nothing else. Once you have your list, go through each item one by one, and in detail first write what you remember. For example, you remember being afraid of your great aunt Nelly. When was this? Do you know why you were afraid? Did you do something wrong and were trying to hide it, or was it simply the way Nelly was that made you afraid? Or maybe she was drunk, and you were always afraid of her when she was drunk? Write all you remember about feeling that fear. Now try you think of it from an adult perspective. Do you realize now why you were so afraid? Is the reason quite different from what you remember as a child? What does it tell you? Does it tell you that you have changed, or is it simply your perspective that has changed? Now go through the list again, and again in as much detail as possible, write down if you conquered that particular fear, or is it still there? If you did conquer it, how did you do it? If those fears still exist, dig deeper. What exactly are you afraid of? Is there any way you can overcome them? Do you want to overcome them? This prompt could be used on ongoing basis. As you grow and change, so will yours fears. Good luck, facing them.

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