I love writing from quotes, especially by women writers. (Have you ever noticed how many more quotes there are by men than women?)
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
Mary Oliver.
Prompt: When I think of "astonishment" what comes to mind is....
Follow up prompt - Do a mental review in your mind from the last week. What astonished you?
Make a list of up to 10 moments of astonishment.
Tell us about it... if nothing astonished you, write about that… now set the timer on your phone or on your stove to 5 minutes and simply …. Write….
(Here is what I wrote)
I am something of a queen of astonishment. I like to think I make it a way of life.
Sometimes it is the only way I can get through all the Mom-Schlepping or during the school year, the endless meetings and appointments and homework sessions.
I look over the day and ask myself, “What astonished me?”
The power of this is multi-fold:
It opens you to being astonished AND it invites you to see from a perspective of, “Wow, you mean I am able to be astonished, even by the everyday things?
When you are open to astonishment, the everyday becomes remarkable and as a result, you will become happier. Don’t believe me? Try it for a week, report back, and tell me how your life feels now.
Looking over today: what astonished me? It is only a little after 10 am. What astonished me so far? I admit, I am having challenges in thinking of anything in particular though I could argue I was astonished to wake up feeling exceptionally well rested AND I was astonished I could stay in a pleasant mood even when my love was angry AND I was astonished to be able to spend more than an hour writing this morning. It felt so cleansing and freeing, I feel like I have had an hour long massage!
The five minutes I set for this is… up. So I need to stop typing for now. I will, however, look extra forward to reading what astonishment shows up in your life today… and tomorrow… and next week. If you choose to write along with this prompt, please add a link to your writing in the comments here on my blog OR wherever you found this prompt posted (SITS, Facebook, twitter, etc.)
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Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world. She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives.
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I am to provide value for folks there mostly about writing, art and life coaching. I do my best to NEVER be boring because we know that's the worst thing for an artist to do.
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