If you lose the moment, you might lose a lot
Reflective journaling prompts on creative agency
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I trust that if you opened up this post, there’s something in it for you.
This is a letter full of gentle questions for when you feel far from yourself and what matters most to you.
This is a letter full of gentle questions for when you feel not only close to yourself, but like you’re grooving with LIFE in an important way.
This is a letter full of gentle questions for when you just need to write because you know that writing connects you to yourself and life in a way that feels as restorative as swimming and warm bread and fresh sheets and tight hugs and literally stopping to smell the roses on your walk and a much need new day all in one.
I hope you spend some time with these prompts, even if they just float through your thoughts for a minute (like Tsundoku, the Japanese concept of purposefully having unread books, the writing prompt can still work its magic!)
For those new here: these are not fiction prompts, or anything along the lines of what we do in the Community Discovery Writing Gatherings. These are reflective questions.
These reflective questions are usually shared in our monthly journaling circle that meets on the last Sunday of every month (through 2024). These are really sweet because they’re short—30 minutes—and don’t involve sharing or breakout rooms. I just ask some questions and you can write or draw to them, or even stare out the window for 30 minutes since that’s also part of writing.
Right now, the journaling circle is on summer pause. I hope you join us for the next one in September:
Even though we aren’t meeting, I’m still sending out the prompts! In addition to the freshly baked ones below, here are the most recent prompts in case you want to explore the backlog and indulge in some slow reflection:
I keep these behind a paywall because the journaling circle financially supports my work as an artist and writer, and it's a perk for paid subscribers
If you’d like to write to these prompts and join for future circles, or write to the prompts in your own time, you can subscribe below!
Before sharing the first writing prompt, here’s a thinking prompt for everyone:
How can you approach journaling or writing in a way that you normally wouldn’t consider?
(Ok for anyone who has no interest in writing, apply this to an area in your life that feels stagnant or distant, or even to a habit or practice that you know and love well)
For example…
You might explore these writing prompts while riding public transit, and scribble them messily in a small notebook
You might draw them out in a mind-map on construction paper with lots of curly letters
You might respond to the prompts as an email to yourself that you schedule send to deliver one year from today
You might do this as an exchange of voice notes with a friend
You might write these on the last page of a notebook, even if you’re nowhere near filling it up
In thinking about the creative potential within the everyday—I’ve been obsessing on this topic for years—I think a lot about what assumptions we carry around what’s possible, what’s worth it, what the timeline has to be, what’s for us or not for us, what’s difficult, what’s life-giving.
Shifting your way of doing something, even and especially just a little bit, is a power move—not in the domineering sense, but in the rooting into what’s possible sense. This is about claiming opportunities for small shifts as a practice of curiosity and (creative) agency.
Those two practices—curiosity and (creative) agency—carry some potent reverberations. This is what we’re getting up to in Pivoting Toward Wholeness.
(Now is when I hear Hillary Duff circa 2003 in my head: Why not (why not) do a crazy dance? / If you lose the moment, you might lose a lot / So, why not? Why not?)
Before getting into the writing prompts, some things to have on your radar…
🌹 Studio Happenings 🌹
GOODBYE Community Discovery Writing Gatherings. Two more gatherings before retiring this beloved offering, because it’s time…
Just in case you’ve never heard of Community Discovery Writing Gatherings, here’s a video that explains it all:
In CDWG, we use discovery writing as a way of centering curiosity and de-pressurizing the creative process.
And then, there is an invitation to share what you’ve written. Not because it’s ‘good’ or ‘worth’ sharing, but to ~practice sharing yourself~ in a spontaneous, creative way (and in very small groups).
And if you don’t want to share, being a creative witness is powerful, too.
Saturday, September 14th 11:00am EST
Sunday, December 15th 11:00am EST
Your registration includes entry into both gatherings.
All registration closes on September 14th.
The proof is in the pudding, err testimonials (which you can read at that link above). This is not one to miss!
The pre-sale for Pivoting Toward Wholeness—a course on the creative potential of the everyday—is officially open.
The short of it:
Six weeks of intentional time and community where you can practice attuning to a felt-sense of wholeness creatively and consistently for pivotal shifts. This is about unshaming practiced patterns that aren't working for you while actively practicing ways of being that honor your exquisite YOU-ness.
Here, we practice attuning to wholeness with an emphasis on our innate creativity.We begin in January 2025, but the Pivoting Toward Wholeness pre-sale ends on September 14th. It includes access to the Community Discovery Writing Gatherings and Cultivating Clarity, a two-part workshop on getting clear through a journaling practice called Harvesting. Learn more about it all here:
