And Then

Exploring ourselves can sometimes be a painful process. It is hard to admit to having dark feelings, or frightening thoughts. Yet not dealing with what strives inside us can be paralyzing us, keeping us from enjoying the world. Sometimes it is important to simply push through. Other times you may need a breather. You may need to force yourself to leave the negative feelings aside and explore your joys. To play.

Play is good for adults as well as children. Play teaches, though gently. Sometimes the lesson is completely lost upon us, we don't even know what we are learning. 

For the next few days, I propose a writing exercise for your journals that is play. Each day there is a different step.

The first step, for today, is to write the following paragraph down, exactly as I write them in the center of a clean page in your journal. Decorate around the paragraph. Use the paragraph to be the basis of a short story, surrounding the paragraph with sentences before and or after. Construct a mind map of the paragraph, putting a square about the paragraph and forming connecting lines leading to other sentences and thoughts. All that is up to you. However, write down this paragraph. Easy right?

Neither of the children could find the ball. "It must have gone into the woods", the younger one said. The children headed toward the edge of the woods. They were allowed to go in a few feet but not beyond the wooden fence that bounded the park side of the woods from the main part of the woods, with its hiking paths and streams, lakes and caves, and all sorts of wildlife. There they could only go if they were with an adult. But the ball wouldn't have gone over the fence of course. That was too far away. "Let's go look," the older child said.

Enjoy!