Sunday Journal Prompt

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”

 – Alphonse Karr, A Tour Round My Garden

 

Thanksgiving marks a time of feeling gratitude for the people in our lives and the blessings of the preceding year. Researchers at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic and beyond have discovered that expressing gratitude boosts immunity, decreases risk of disease, boosts empathy, minimizes resentment and aggression, improves self-esteem, raises resilience and improves sleep quality.

For several months, I’ve kept a gratitude journal on my nightstand in which I’ve written one line before going to sleep. Whereas I process challenging encounters or work out problems for twenty minutes during my morning journal writing, this gratitude list took less than a minute each night. I didn’t think it would make a difference. However, I’ve found that it helps me shift any negative thinking, feel less worry and go to bed reflecting on a positive moment of the day. Taken collectively, the lines of gratitude give me a snapshot of the gifts in my life.   

What are you thankful for today?

 

Sunday Journal Prompt

“I write to create myself.”

– Octavia Butler 

In a high school philosophy class, I learned about Locke’s tabula rasa concept—the theory that at birth the mind is a “blank slate” without rules; sensory experiences shape who we are. It’s the “nurture” over “nature” argument. While I found it intriguing, I didn’t fully buy into it, given how many personality traits I had in common with my parents and even with grandparents and relatives who had passed away before I was born. 

As I reflect on the nature vs. nurture debate decades later, I see it as limiting, and somewhat reactive. Yes, we are partly the amalgamation of our genetics, our experiences and our environment, but we are more. Rather than defining ourselves by others, we can chart new ground, creating a new version of ourselves in which we take ownership of who we are and who we want to be. Now I see a blank journal as a different type of tabula rasa: a clean slate from which to create our future selves. 

Who are you? Who do you want to be? Launch your future self on the page.

 

 

Sunday Journal Prompt

“Those who teach the most about humanity aren’t always human.”

– Donald L. Hicks, Look into the Stillness
 

When we visited Nuniq, a one-year-old polar bear cub at our local zoo, he dove into the water and swam beside us as we made our way around the exhibit. When I knelt and placed my hand on the glass, he maneuvered a ball to the window between his nose and my palm. And when we went downstairs to the underwater viewing area, he dove down and placed a paw on the glass between us—a beautiful soul seeking and making a connection.

We don’t need words to make a connection. And by giving ourselves opportunities to be present in our lives—to be open to the unexpected—meaningful moments emerge.  

What can you learn from the animals in your life?




 

Sunday Journal Prompt

“Every time I get a script, it’s a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It’s like falling in love.”

 – Paul Newman

Not planning to move, I rarely notice home For Sale signs when driving. However, one stopped me: Rather than touting an updated kitchen or a reduced price, the panel atop a house’s For Sale sign said, “Fall in Love.” Those three words prompted me to look at the house—a charming little home on a country road.

To some degree, isn’t falling in love what we all want? Whether spending time with people, choosing a major in college, selecting a career path, trying out a new restaurant, reading a book by your favorite novelist or traveling to a new town, it’s always a joy to feel the sense of exhilaration and euphoria associated with falling in love. It’s a feeling we get, not something that can be quantified by checking off boxes.

When have you felt the sense of exhilaration associated with falling in love? How might you create opportunities in your life to fall in love in some way?