Three Writing Prompts for a Extra Intentional Life

Each morning, my two boys seize their baggage of vehicles and vehicles, dump them out on the ground, and fortunately line them up into site visitors patterns. On the finish of the day when it’s lastly clear up time, my husband and I patiently maintain the baggage open whereas they put them again into the bag one-by-one. Fancy automobile. College bus. Dump truck. Excavator. They identify and declare all of them, and regardless of our makes an attempt to hurry up the method, they bristle after we attempt to rush them.

The intentionality wherein my boys put away their toys each night time makes me take into consideration how we are likely to rush by means of our day, with out taking the time to “identify and declare” what really occurred. Even when your night routine consists of journaling to replicate on the day, we not often take the time to drill right down to the precise methods we may have been extra intentional with how we spent our time, consideration, and focus.

Brief writing prompts are an efficient technique to get to the basis of a mindset block which may be stopping you from shifting ahead in a sure space of your life. Set a timer for quarter-hour, and check out these three writing prompts to stay extra deliberately.

1. Write a breakup letter to your stuff.

When you’re discovering it laborious to begin your decluttering journey, otherwise you’ve stalled or misplaced motivation, writing a breakup letter to your stuff is a strong train. It may present you the place you’re nonetheless holding on, and what your stuff actually means to you. I discovered about this train by means of Courtney Carver and it is extremely eye-opening. Begin with “Expensive Stuff” and see what comes up.

Right here’s my letter:

Expensive Stuff,

It isn’t your fault, actually.

I put a burden on you that you just have been by no means meant to hold.

The burden of my happiness. My greed. My pleasure as a result of different individuals needed you however I used to be the one who possessed you. My aid in distracting myself for a short time longer from the issues I didn’t wish to face.

You have been unknowingly a part of a fantasy life I created the place my damaged items and darkish locations have been hidden beneath your shiny veneer. You held so many guarantees– that you’d repair it someway, that you might make me into the individual that I longed to be. Smarter. Extra lovely. Envied by others. Higher. For some time I believed it, till the belief got here that nothing outdoors of me may do the work I wanted to do on the within.

I allow you to go along with appreciation, realizing that you just did serve a function. You allowed me to grasp the facility you held over me, and now not have. I may allow you to go along with gratitude as a result of I now not concern that I’m nothing with out you. You don’t outline me.

I used to suppose that you just have been pointing me within the course of my greatest life, and I listened to your voice telling me the place I ought to go and why. As I allow you to go, the noise is silenced and divulges a quieter, however stronger voice inside me, which is guiding me and rising stronger day-after-day.

Thanks, and goodbye.

2. Write a letter out of your concern.

Have you ever ever given your concern the area to talk and let you know what it has to show you? We spend a lot time and power pushing it away, it doesn’t happen to us to cease, flip round, and face it head-on.

Within the Fear Unmasked meditation by Sarah Blondin, she tells the story of a woman who lastly asks the concern suffocating her to talk and inform her what it needs to show her. To her amazement, her concern responds. “I want to let you know you’re alive. I want to remind you of the life within you longing to be lived extra totally…I’m however a fierce and dependable reminder that life–your life–is in your palms…I’m right here to serve your larger good.”

In a current podcast interview with Rachel Hollis, creator Elizabeth Gilbert recounts how she takes workshop college students by means of an train the place they write a letter from their concern. It begins very merely: Expensive , I’m your concern and that is what I wish to let you know…. Gilbert recommends spending not less than 5 minutes permitting concern to talk and respectfully listening with out interruption.

After I did this train, I used to be stunned with what got here up for me. I’m able to pursue writing and educating as a profession fairly than a part-time pastime, however my best concern is my potential to deal with the tasks of being “all in” with this pursuit and lacking out on the essential moments with my boys. As I wrote in my letter, “You’ll be able to’t do all of it, so what will endure?”

I do know that I must be very intentional with my time and power with a purpose to attain my profession targets and nonetheless stay in accordance with my values. Seeing my fears written down was extraordinarily highly effective and allowed me to really feel extra assured in taking my subsequent step.

3.Write a letter to your self to study out of your previous and decide your future.

I turned 40 just a few weeks in the past. Like every little thing else throughout COVID, the day was not what I had initially deliberate. Regardless of feeling blessed for every little thing I’ve, I nonetheless felt a way of loss as a result of I wasn’t celebrating this milestone the best way I had hoped. I made a decision to write down a letter to myself to remind myself of every little thing I had discovered over the previous 12 months. You’ll be able to learn the full letter here, however here’s a small excerpt:

Expensive Emily,⁣

On this very particular birthday, I simply need you to know that I’m pleased with you. You may have discovered quite a bit about your self and what you’re able to this previous 12 months. ⁣

You may have confronted your fears and the darkish elements of your self you’ve averted up to now. You introduced them into the sunshine regardless that it hurts typically. You’re achieved with beating your self up, with shrinking again when you might have one thing stirring in your coronary heart and tingling on the guidelines of your tongue and your fingers.⁣

You’re studying. You’re rising.⁣

It’s so simple to give attention to what hasn’t occurred in a 12 months like 2020 that it’s laborious to recollect the methods we’ve grown and altered. To be able to understand how we wish to stay going ahead, it’s essential to replicate on the place we’ve been. A birthday letter or an end-of-year letter is a good way to do that.

Along with writing a letter to your current self, additionally it is a useful train to write down a letter from the attitude of your future self. Writing your personal eulogy generally is a highly effective train that can assist you stay extra deliberately as a result of it might present you the areas the place you wish to direct your time and a spotlight so you’ll be able to look again in your life with out regrets. If you wish to see the precise questions I used to write down my very own, you could find them right here.

Identify it to Declare it

These writing prompts don’t take a lot time, however they are often highly effective instruments to uncover what could also be blocking you from dwelling a extra intentional life. Whether or not it’s the stuff reflecting your fantasy self, the concern that’s preserving you from pursuing the dream that gained’t let go, or issues in your previous that you just’ve seen as errors fairly than alternatives to study, these writing prompts will allow you to achieve readability and confidence as you progress ahead in your journey.

In regards to the Creator: Emily McDermott is a spouse, mom, and ease seeker, chronicling her journey at Simple by Emmy. She loves to bounce, write poetry, and spend time together with her husband and two younger sons.