Enthusiastically, Dawn

Today is the official first day of our Fall Into Journaling journey. Each day for the next 21 days at 12:01 AM there will be a new prompt for you to respond to in your journal-Why on earth that time? At some point while planning it seemed a brilliant idea to me, but really now that we are here, I’m thinking …why, Dawn?

Anyway, here we are at the onset of our journaling journey, and I want to mention a few things to help you get the most out of this writing adventure, and share an interesting side-note about these prompts.

If you are new here and want to find out more, head here: Fall Into Journaling

Tips for Starting

1. Read over the blog post and prompt
2. Prepare your space
3. Get comfortable and enjoy your time

If you have more time and want to write more, you can. However, I suggest setting the timer and stopping when the timer goes off IF you are trying to fit journaling into a busy schedule and want to build some traction in creating the habit. It may seem jolting to stop, but it will help your mind shift, and also help you to look forward to the next session. Creating a ritual, or taking time to prepare your space also is part of this habit building process. These details may seem silly. Don’t ignore these small “requirements” mentioned in my previous post here. Process helps build a routine. Routines helps us accomplish our goals, and eventually create a satisfying, empowering habit or practice.

The gift of journaling and writing for personal growth, learning and living a reflective life is a beautiful and precious gift to give to yourself. Yours for the taking!

Remember…

~to keep writing by keeping the pen moving, this style of writing is called freewriting, or sometimes stream-of-conscious writing. Write, whatever comes, no judging, criticising or self-editing. The prompt that gets you writing may lead you to unexpected places. It is just a place to start. Where you go from there depends on your pen leads. The point? Jump in, write from where you are, and enjoy the power of discovery that writing can facilitate, and the joy of delight of a regular journaling practice.

~it doesn’t have to be perfect or even pretty. I will dedicate a whole post to how bad social media can be for journaling. Your writing/journal does not have to look like a picture. If I took your brain out of your head (not suggesting anyone do this) and plopped it on the paper, it would be gross, right? Sticky, drippy…ewwww. Well… let’s let our pens pour our messy, grey matter words…and scribbled meanderings without The Journal Performance Squad (whether real or imagined) showing up.

~however if your journal is the only place where you have full reign of the beauty and freedom of creative expression – making beautiful pages is your joy- writing with perfect penmanship a pleasure then by all means, please express yourself as you wish!

~your notebook or journal is your Daily Pass to self-expression, reflection, discovery and delight.

~if you miss a prompt, I say-don’t try to keep up or catch up …just jump in where we are and take it one day at a time. This is a “challenge” for 21 days, but life happens, hopefully you can maintain a flexible attitude and adjust, but no need to add to the pressures of life by feeling you have to catch up. No, I say, instead- extend your challenge and add the prompts at the end of our challenge. I hope that makes sense.

~Choose to write for 5, 7, 10 or 15 minutes. Set the timer for your chosen time for that day and write until the timer goes off. At that time you are done.

~at the top of your page, it might be helpful to write the prompt (optional), the date and time (highly recommended) and the AMOUNT of time chosen to respond to the prompt (definately). AT the end of this challenge , we will have a bit of assessment and this input will be helpful for you.

Prompt 1: The Best is Yet to Come

Today’s prompt is almost cliche. But it’s not, really. These words, originate in a poem by Robert Browning titled Rabbi Ben Ezra in a response to the Jewish scholar’s writings and works.

Let’s fall into journaling for discovery and delight, shall we:

If you want to read the full poem for yourself you can go here: Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert Browning After reading the poem, you can go ahead and sit quietly with it and only THEN set the timer to write. Respond to the poems over all, or any part which speaks to you or stands out.

Or

you can explore the author Robert Browning, and anything about him, his life, the time period he lived. I am fascinated with biogrophies, and the lives of creatives such as artists, poets, painters, writers, and the like. There are so many interesting jumping off places of exploration historically, and artistically, intellectually. Time periods, people, cultures, and trends. A rabbit hole of endless exploration…however, we do need to get to writing.

NOT YOUR CUP OF TEA? Or short on time, dive off into the deep end with these:

We turn the prompts inside out and upside down – the only thing that matters is that they inspire you, by awakening your mind, stirring your heart, or touching your soul. All things are possible…so let’s play with the prompt.

>Do you believe the best is yet to come? Why or why not?

>How does the statement “the best is yet to come” sit with you? Has anyone ever said this to you before? What prompted them?

>I believe the best is to come because…

>I don’t believe the best is yet to come because…

>In order to embrace the words, “the best is yet to come”, I need to…

>Write about a time you remember being fully convinced that the best was yet to come, write about an optimistic, hopeful time asking what it is you can learn from what you see in retrospect.

Or

Respond to this stanza of Browning’s poem:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith, ‘A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be
afraid!’

The side-note of these prompts is the fact that the pics (of the prompt in the notebook) are from the second round of the 200 Day Journal from back a few years. It actually starts with Prompt 82 (this prompt 1). I had to stop at the time, but on Instagram and my blog, we had journeyed through 281 prompts together! Crazy. And my precious daughter (in Heaven) painstakingly took those two hundred prompts off Instagram for me so I could eventually put them into a book. But that’s for another day. Right now, let’s write!

Happy Journaling!

Enthusiatically, Dawn