Category: writing prompts

We come to this season from different traditions, yet all traditions celebrate the miracles of this time of year. I come to this time through the lens of Christianity.  Advent is a time of quiet solitude.  Winter solstice honors the quiet of the winter months where the ground is cold and dark so the seeds can rest and germinate for the coming spring. It is difficult to follow our bodies yearnings to be still and listen in the busiest time of the year.  How do you balance solitude and community?  I’d like to reflect on the Christmas story, but with a different look at the gifts of the Magi. These are gifts offered for our journey.  I’ve gathered these 18 gifts from Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book Simple Abundance.  They include:

Unconditional love.    Selflessness.    Trust.    Faith.    Forgiveness.

Wholeness.    Second Chances.    Comfort.    Joy.    Peace.

Reassurance.    Rejoicing.    Generosity.   Compassion.   Charity.

Wonder.    Acceptance.    Courage.

Reflections:

1. Where are you on your journey with each of these gifts/qualities.?
2. Which ones are challenging for you?  Which are fully integrated into your life?
3. How do they play out in your life?
4. Which one would you like to carry with you through this season?
5. Are there any that are easier to give than receive?

May you find time in this busy and miraculous season for solitude to be still and listen.  A time to go inward and reflect on your life and the meaning of this time of year.

Happy Holidays to all.

Remember to free write with no editing or critiquing.  

Americans long ago dedicated a day during this month for the sole purpose of inviting and expressing gratitude. Even though Thanksgiving has just passed, I send you wishes for seeing with grateful eyes.  Angeles Arrien, in her book Living in Gratitude offered the following prompts for us to reflect upon.

—What are you thankful for today?

—In what ways do you express your gratitude? How do others know you are grateful?

—What family rituals and expressions of gratitude have been passed on to you? Which ones have you continued? What new ones have you originated?

—As the year begins to wind to a close, reflect every day of the coming month upon the blessings, opportunities, fruits, and harvests that have come into your life this year. 

—To whom or what are you especially grateful for in your life? In what ways are you shifting your perspective from looking at what is not working to developing “grateful seeing”—looking first for what is working and what is good in your life?

—Whom have you helped this year? What circumstances have ignited your generosity and gratitude?

—What positive changes have occurred in your life that you can directly attributed to your gratitude practice this year?

Remember to free write with no editing or critiquing.  

So many skins have fallen off of me. My “skins” have included old messages and assumptions about life that developed in my childhood, behaviors that bound me to unhealthy ways of approaching life, religious beliefs that kept my spiritual world too small, and boxed-in views of my self-identity. Skin-shedding has been a time of discovering what keeps me from growing.  Joyce Rupp, Dear Heart, Come Home

1)    What skins have your shed?

2)    What skins would you like to shed?

3)    Have you spent time in the darkness?

        -What do you most resist about the cave of darkness?

        -How has darkness been a teacher for you?

        -List significant times you have experienced darkness.

Fear often enters into the process of skin-shedding.  Kathleen Norris writes: “Fear is not a bad place to start a spiritual journey.  If you know what makes you afraid, you can see more clearly that the way out is through the fear.”

List your fears.  Study each fear, which ones are imaginary and which ones are real?  

What comes to you as you write down your fears?  Choose one or two and do a ten minute free write about that fear.  

Remember, no editing or critiquing, just write all that comes up for you.

Our families are our first teachers. We learn what is expected of us, what is important to succeed, and what failure looks like.  We develop our first ideas of our identity and what we believe about ourselves. We also learn about family traditions, rituals, and our first understanding of religion/spirituality.

This prompt will help you create a family portrait of your family with words.  You can use an actual family picture to go by or invent one in your imagination.

 List your family members and briefly describe each.

Their personality…………….

Their ambitions……………..

Their values…………………

What is the most important thing you learned from each parent………..

What is the most important thing you learned from each sibling…………

Self Portrait

What was your role in the family? Write how that played out in your childhood and how it impacted you as an adult.

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If you could sit down and talk with one family member, extended family included, who would you choose?  What would you ask them?

Reminder, no judging or critiquing in your first draft, just get it down on the paper.