Journaling is not just about facing facts of your life...it's about opening your mind and your heart to possibilities. It's about believing in yourself. And if you are generally big on feeling down, it's about believing that good things CAN happen to you.
So today, Dare to Dream. Journal about something you would like to be, or achieve, or see. Anything....it might be something like travelling to a dream destination, or finding the man/woman of your dreams, having a child, having grandchildren, being famous...anything. Go all out.
BE DARING.
DREAM OUTRAGEOUSLY.
Don't even think about it not being realistic. Don't tell yourself that it probably won't happen. Who cares about reality....this is your time to dream. So go and dream. And have fun!
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Journal Writing Prompt 21 - Right Now
Today's journaling prompt is all about focusing on right now. Right this minute. (well, as soon as you read this, and open your journal).
Open your journal...write the date, the day, and what time it is
Then start writing, what's on your mind.
What are you thinking about? What's your state of mind? Are you happy? Sad? Worried? Normal?
What's driving you? Focus on the moment. Focus inwards. Pay attention to your thoughts, and write them down, as quickly as possible.
The purpose of this prompt is to learn to pay attention to the moment, as well as to later evaluate what's taking your energy. Are you worried about stuff that has nothing to do with your present life? Are you focusing on the right thing at the right time? Are your energies divided unequally? Pay attention. Assess. Journal.
Open your journal...write the date, the day, and what time it is
Then start writing, what's on your mind.
What are you thinking about? What's your state of mind? Are you happy? Sad? Worried? Normal?
What's driving you? Focus on the moment. Focus inwards. Pay attention to your thoughts, and write them down, as quickly as possible.
The purpose of this prompt is to learn to pay attention to the moment, as well as to later evaluate what's taking your energy. Are you worried about stuff that has nothing to do with your present life? Are you focusing on the right thing at the right time? Are your energies divided unequally? Pay attention. Assess. Journal.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Journal Writing Prompt 20 - Recharge
Oh boy, it's been a while since I posted here. Sorry about that. I was having 2 weeks of real vacation for a change. 10 days holiday/family visit in New Jersey / New York, and then rest of the week off at home with my husband. Hardly any work. No looking at to-do list. It's been refreshing and relaxing.
So that's our prompt for today - Recharging Batteries
How do you recharge yours? Do you at all? Do you know when you need to? I will admit, I rarely give myself time off. Sure I have time off from my day-job, but not from my home-job as a writer + mental stress out telling me to push myself to do this and that. Sometimes, I know I need to take a break, and so I take a day or a weekend off. But I am not good at taking the time to recharge my batteries. At least not without guilt for "wasting time."
How do you feel? Are you okay to just sit down, do nothing, or watch TV? Or do you suffer with guilt? Journal about this. See whether you are taking care of your self, giving your mind and body time to charge and energize, or are you pushing yourself too much?
So that's our prompt for today - Recharging Batteries
How do you recharge yours? Do you at all? Do you know when you need to? I will admit, I rarely give myself time off. Sure I have time off from my day-job, but not from my home-job as a writer + mental stress out telling me to push myself to do this and that. Sometimes, I know I need to take a break, and so I take a day or a weekend off. But I am not good at taking the time to recharge my batteries. At least not without guilt for "wasting time."
How do you feel? Are you okay to just sit down, do nothing, or watch TV? Or do you suffer with guilt? Journal about this. See whether you are taking care of your self, giving your mind and body time to charge and energize, or are you pushing yourself too much?
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Journal Writing Prompt 19
"Melancholy diminishes as I write. Why then don't I write it down oftener? Well, one's vanity forbids. I want to appear a success even to myself."
Above quote is from Virginia Woolf's diary. From October 25, 1920. So many years before our time, and yet I bet it would resonate with each one of us. Just look the amount of prompts you have in that one quote.
Let's break it down. And see how you can use this.
"Melancholy diminishes as I write" - How does journaling make you feel? Does it ease your burdens? Does it give you insights? Does it surprise you? Does it comfort you? How do you feel as you write in your journal?
"Why then don't I write it down oftener?" - Well, why don't you? What stops you from journaling regularly, or frequently? What are the reasons you think are facts? What are the excuses you make to yourself?
"Well, one's vanity forbids. I want to appear a success even to myself." - I don't know about you, but I'm certainly familiar with this problem. It is sometimes easier to use self-deprecating humour or comments to others, but admitting failure to oneself is harder. It may be just little failures, or perhaps just injury to one's vanity. How do you deal with it? Does your journal know the truth about you, or does it know the truth as you want it to be?
Above quote is from Virginia Woolf's diary. From October 25, 1920. So many years before our time, and yet I bet it would resonate with each one of us. Just look the amount of prompts you have in that one quote.
Let's break it down. And see how you can use this.
"Melancholy diminishes as I write" - How does journaling make you feel? Does it ease your burdens? Does it give you insights? Does it surprise you? Does it comfort you? How do you feel as you write in your journal?
"Why then don't I write it down oftener?" - Well, why don't you? What stops you from journaling regularly, or frequently? What are the reasons you think are facts? What are the excuses you make to yourself?
"Well, one's vanity forbids. I want to appear a success even to myself." - I don't know about you, but I'm certainly familiar with this problem. It is sometimes easier to use self-deprecating humour or comments to others, but admitting failure to oneself is harder. It may be just little failures, or perhaps just injury to one's vanity. How do you deal with it? Does your journal know the truth about you, or does it know the truth as you want it to be?
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Journal Writing Prompt 18 - Busy Life / Stress / Responsibilities
Let's face it - this must be one of the most common excuse for not journaling. People have jobs, families, hobbies, and other obligations. Most of the time it feels like we don't even have time to do what we need to do, let alone sit down and journal.
I picked this topic today, because currently I am going through incredibly busy period. That is saying something since my to-do lists are usually a mile long. But usually my busyness is self-made, whereas right now, there are more external factors outside my control. Most of the time my days seem to go in such a flurry of movement that it seems like blink of an eye between beginning of a Monday and ending of Sunday.
But here is the thing - I STILL JOURNAL.
Okay, admittedly I don't write pages after pages on most days. Though some days, I even do that. In fact, when I am incredibly busy it almost seems more necessary, because there are far more things going through my head and much less time to process them. So journaling means taking the time to clear my thoughts, reflect on what I am doing. As I said, I can't do it everyday, but I still manage to capture the highlights of my day.
So here is an assignment for you - no matter how busy you are, take few minutes to write in your journal. Write about your day. Write about what is keeping you busy. If you can't seem to focus on your thoughts because your brain is scattered all over the place, then write about all the things that you are doing, thinking. Even if it is mere fragments of thoughts going through head, and they make no sense. It doesn't matter. Write. Journal. Capture those thoughts.
If you are stressed - what is stressing you out? You may not find all the answers right now, and that's okay. At least you will know the causes.
Responsibilities - are your burdened by them? Perhaps you wouldn't even want to admit that it is a burden. Very well, but you are shouldering those responsibilities nonetheless. What are they? What do you HAVE to do? And now here is the interesting bit ....what IF ...you didn't do it? That's right. Go ahead. Speculate. What will happen? This will either show you the importance of what you are doing (in which case, hurray to you, and feel empowered for having this power over something), or make you realise that you could either stop doing this or delegate it.
So go ahead and journal. Your days may be busy, but make sure that your life is still productively busy, not merely stagnant.
I picked this topic today, because currently I am going through incredibly busy period. That is saying something since my to-do lists are usually a mile long. But usually my busyness is self-made, whereas right now, there are more external factors outside my control. Most of the time my days seem to go in such a flurry of movement that it seems like blink of an eye between beginning of a Monday and ending of Sunday.
But here is the thing - I STILL JOURNAL.
Okay, admittedly I don't write pages after pages on most days. Though some days, I even do that. In fact, when I am incredibly busy it almost seems more necessary, because there are far more things going through my head and much less time to process them. So journaling means taking the time to clear my thoughts, reflect on what I am doing. As I said, I can't do it everyday, but I still manage to capture the highlights of my day.
So here is an assignment for you - no matter how busy you are, take few minutes to write in your journal. Write about your day. Write about what is keeping you busy. If you can't seem to focus on your thoughts because your brain is scattered all over the place, then write about all the things that you are doing, thinking. Even if it is mere fragments of thoughts going through head, and they make no sense. It doesn't matter. Write. Journal. Capture those thoughts.
If you are stressed - what is stressing you out? You may not find all the answers right now, and that's okay. At least you will know the causes.
Responsibilities - are your burdened by them? Perhaps you wouldn't even want to admit that it is a burden. Very well, but you are shouldering those responsibilities nonetheless. What are they? What do you HAVE to do? And now here is the interesting bit ....what IF ...you didn't do it? That's right. Go ahead. Speculate. What will happen? This will either show you the importance of what you are doing (in which case, hurray to you, and feel empowered for having this power over something), or make you realise that you could either stop doing this or delegate it.
So go ahead and journal. Your days may be busy, but make sure that your life is still productively busy, not merely stagnant.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Journal Writing Prompt 17
Keeping a honest journal takes time and effort. I'm not talking about honesty in terms of facts, what you did, what you ate, wore etc. I am talking about honesty of feelings.
How did you feel when various things happened to you? What about feelings you don't want to admit? What if you got so mad at someone you know you really wanted to hurt them? Or perhaps you felt attracted to someone you shouldn't be feeling attracted to? Or maybe you are ashamed of something you have done.
Do you admit those feelings? Sometimes, we don't do it, because writing them would be admitting and acknowledging them. At other times, we don't do it, because we are not aware of it.
Avoidance is easy. Acknowledgement takes an effort.
So today I want you to acknowledge and accept one negative feeling. Pick one negative emotion. Whether it's anger, shame, pain, greed, jealousy....whatever you want.
Pick an emotion and write a letter to it.
Yes...I am talking about ....Dear Anger...
Then free write. Set a timer for minimum 10 minutes, longer if you feel up to it. Start writing. Don't worry about what you are writing. Don't worry about words or grammar or reptitions. Just write.
When you finish the letter, sign it. Seal it in an envelope.
Put that envelope away.
Give it a few days, or even few weeks, depending on how strongly whatever your wrote effected you.
Make a note in your calender, set a reminder in your PC, in your Blackberry...whatever you use. Make sure. Do it.
Set a date. And on that date, open that letter, read it, and journal about it.
Writing the letter was admission of your feelings.
Reading it, and journaling about how you feel as you read it, is acknowledgement of those feelings.
How did you feel when various things happened to you? What about feelings you don't want to admit? What if you got so mad at someone you know you really wanted to hurt them? Or perhaps you felt attracted to someone you shouldn't be feeling attracted to? Or maybe you are ashamed of something you have done.
Do you admit those feelings? Sometimes, we don't do it, because writing them would be admitting and acknowledging them. At other times, we don't do it, because we are not aware of it.
Avoidance is easy. Acknowledgement takes an effort.
So today I want you to acknowledge and accept one negative feeling. Pick one negative emotion. Whether it's anger, shame, pain, greed, jealousy....whatever you want.
Pick an emotion and write a letter to it.
Yes...I am talking about ....Dear Anger...
Then free write. Set a timer for minimum 10 minutes, longer if you feel up to it. Start writing. Don't worry about what you are writing. Don't worry about words or grammar or reptitions. Just write.
When you finish the letter, sign it. Seal it in an envelope.
Put that envelope away.
Give it a few days, or even few weeks, depending on how strongly whatever your wrote effected you.
Make a note in your calender, set a reminder in your PC, in your Blackberry...whatever you use. Make sure. Do it.
Set a date. And on that date, open that letter, read it, and journal about it.
Writing the letter was admission of your feelings.
Reading it, and journaling about how you feel as you read it, is acknowledgement of those feelings.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Dr. Who Moleskine 2.0
I decorated my last moleskine with Dr. Who stickers. That's well-worn now, and full of course, so while I am using Jane Austen journal for a bit of a change, I spent some time decorating my next moleskine. Dr. Who theme again :-) So that's Dr. Who Moleskine 2. Totally Love It!! This is going to be my next personal journal, and I can't wait to use it.
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