Welcome to the final prompt for Summer Journal 2025. Finally! Sorry for tardiness (again). I was busy melting in the high heat of the day- and night. I know those of you in places with over 100 degree weather are shaking your head at me…but I do not like it hot, I do not like it in this spot, I do not like it, it makes me rot. OK, that is my tribute to Dr. Seuss on what is looking like another too hot day. Let’s get to the final simple but potentially profound prompt.
In 2018-2019 I wrote and shared 200 journal prompts on my Instagram feed (thejournalenthusiast). Each prompt was a “found” prompt, meaning torn and taken from the page of a magazine, newspaper, mail item, advertisement, or the occasional fortune cookie. If you are looking for writing prompts, is all you have to do is look around! Most writers are astute observers of the small unnoticed things. But each of us has the capacity to draw upon what we are drawn to. Do you find yourself prompted to respond to random blurbs in magazines? Do you like to tear titles out of magazines? Do you see a billboard, and think- hey that’s a great prompt? Welcome to the journaling for discovery and delight world! On a side note, I took the second round of 200 Day Journal prompts off (at around prompt 50) of social media and began sharing on the blog instead. I’ll share a link at the end of post. But just search 200 Day Journal and all the prompts will come up here as well!
Option 1: Where are you right now? Look around. Pretend you are a detective and look at your surroundings as if you don’t know you. You are a stranger, a sleuth looking for clues about who has been here, and what is revealed in the surroundings. Look with new eyes. See everything from a distance…what observations and conclusions can be made by what is seen? Or maybe you are traveling here from a distant planet…what can you learn about the place you are by looking around? Just have fun with the observational direction of this prompt.
Option 2: As you go about your day, look around. Keep your journal handy, or a small notebook handy. As you go though the day be on the lookout for the prompt…the mother of all prompts, or a plethora of smaller prompts that invite you to explore them further. Write, tear, take or capture with your phone camera your chosen prompt (s).
Option 3: Word Collage. Grab a magazine or three, a gluestick and scissors, a cup of coffee, tea or lemonade and tear away all the words that resonate and create a word collage however you feel inspired to do so. Stick them in a page on your journal. There is no wrong way to do this. You can write in response to the final creation as a whole or explore the individual words.
Bonus Prompt: The random song that came into my head for this prompt by the Little River Band, Lady. So here it is for your listening pleasure and bonus writing option. What comes to your mind when you hear this song? Any memories associated with it? Is this your first listen? This is the seventies music- write about who you were in 1978 (when this song was released). How old were you ? Where did you live? What were you doing?
Thank you for joining me for this journaling journey! As promised you can find some of the prompts linked here: #200DayJournal Prompts 51-200 also though there are some inactive links in this post, there is a link to the first 200 prompts list that works here: Putting 200 Day Journal to Rest for the Rest of the Season – Adjusting my Focus
I will be sharing some concluding thoughts in a follow up post, but if you would like me to include your thoughts, how you did or your favorite prompts, a specific journal challenge or question you want me to address, or anything at all, please e-mail me at dawn.paoletta@gmail.com.
Thanks again!
Enthusiastically, Dawn
Enthusiastically, Dawn 