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This page is filled with writing prompts.  You'll find instructions for each article or activity.

Refresh the page to get a new quotation above.  All of these are called Proverbs. 

Think of a story to illustrate the proverb.  Sort of like a fable. 

A Writing Exercise That Increases Awareness And Description Skills

Practice attaching words to feelings requires time to do.
Without a system that helps you monitor that time, the
minutes or hours could feel unproductive.  With the right
exercise, you can then use that time wisely, as well as save
you time and frustration.

Learning to apply the right words to our six senses is a top
ingredient to the mixture of writing.  Its language brings
the reader into the story.  All of us easily know how we
feel, or what we're seeing (okay, most of the time), what
we're hearing, smelling, tasting, and sensing, and can
usually explain it in 50 words if pushed to do it.  But, how
do you describe it in one or two words without the pushing?

Also, by beginning with good material, the remaining part of
the writing process becomes easier.  This exercise will help
you improve your beginning.

This is a simple exercise that you can do anywhere, anytime,
in a space of minutes or longer.  You can practice Monday
mornings in the garden, the doctor's waiting room, or in the
lunchroom.  It can last as long as a television commercial
(oops those aren't short any longer), or you more
aggressively with a devoted 30-minutes a day.  Whatever
length of time or place you have, it will always improve
your skill.

You will want to sit while completing this exercise.

Okay, let's start with the most difficult spot, your
supplies -- paper and your writing instruments.  Landscape,
portrait, small, or regular size sheet of paper doesn't
matter.  I define what paper size to use by the amount of
time available and my location.  If I'm mobile, I use my
small journal.  If I'm at my desk or at home, I use a
regular size paper.  Sometimes lines, sometimes not.
Sometimes the exercise flows over to two or three sheets.
Don't limit the experience by paper size.  Have fun with the
recording tools as well.  Experimentation is the key to our
curiosity.  And, curiosity is the foundation of a writer.

Draw a circle on the page and place your name in the center.
Large, small, in color, black, or blue, again it doesn't
matter.  Use whatever flips your pancakes at that moment.
In other words, whatever feels good at the time.

Your objective is to describe your five senses, six if you
have that gift, with words.  Write the words that express
that sense in the space inside the circle randomly around
your name.

Here is how you would use this exercise to increase
environment awareness and description.  Write your words in
the location on the paper relevant to the direction it
appears.  For example:  I'm sitting outside my office on a
9th floor balcony at the moment, I hear a heavy humming from
the tires on the wet pavement below and birds chirping above
me to the right.  I would place the words for the tires on
the bottom left and the chirping on the upper right on my
page.

Here are nine prompts to help you expand your experience.
* Write words describing your atmosphere--the quality of
air.
* What are the clouds doing?  Can you see animals in their
shapes?
* The temperature of your location.
* The source of light and its quality.
* Where are people standing or sitting?
* Shadows, are they're any?  Where and how do they fall?
* Predominant colors, wall colors, wallpaper, molding, chair
railing, textured ceiling.
* What do you smell?  Using comparisons are a great way to
relate to your reader.  The air feels like just getting out
of the fogged shower stall.
* Are there other people around you?  How do they smell,
their clothes, their shoes?  Guess at what they might do for
a living.  Are they dressed like someone on their way to
work, doesn't work, a mom, dad, baker, or what?

After you are comfortable describing your environment, spice
the exercise up another notch.  Compare your descriptive
words to something else.  For example:  The room you are
sitting in feels like a sauna with my clothes on.

Continue spicing up the exercise to increase your awareness
and descriptive powers--use people and objects.  Since you
are most familiar with yourself, begin there.

After practicing on the most familiar subject, yourself,
create a list of other familiar people in your life.  Then
sort the list from most familiar to least.  Continue down
the list.  Somewhere during these lists and practice
sessions, you will begin to feel comfortable with your
skill.

You can continue taking the exercise to another level.  This
time you are ready to expand your awareness and adaptation
to words.  Visit the local mall; sit in the food court for
smorgasbord of new enriching thoughts-to-words experiences.

Here are 11 prompts to help you expand your levels:
* Describe what you are wearing.
* How does your body feel?
* What are your hands doing?
* How does your throat feel?
* How are you holding your mouth?
* Eye movement
* Breathing
* How do you feel in general, in detail?
* Name your mood.  Does it have a flavor and color?
* Describe your feelings with reference to music.  A certain
song or type of music.
* How does your hair smell, clothes, the chair you're
sitting on, the book you're reading?

Be patient with yourself while practicing.  This exercise
isn't the easiest to complete, however, it is the most
effective.  Even if you aren't a writer, this exercise will
help you triple your awareness skills in a short time
period1.  This exercise also helps police officers,
speakers, judges, attorneys, or anyone else that uses their
awareness skills to see and put it into words.  This is also
a NLP--neurolinguistics programming skill--for those aware
of this process.



Catherine Franz provides writing and marketing assistance
to individuals who want to write and businesses that want to
increase business.  For more ideas and programs, visit The
Abundance Center at: http://www.abundancecenter.com

Do you agree?  Why or why not?

Writing to Make Things Right

Sometimes through the passage of time, self-development
work, psychotherapy, or a life-altering event, we come to
realize that in less thoughtful moments we have hurt someone who was once important in our lives.

If you decide to take steps to make amends, a written letter
of apology may be the best way to do it.  You can write and
rewrite until you have said exactly what you want to say. 
And it doesn't require an immediate -- or for that matter,
any -- response from the other person.

As a part of this process, think through whether or not to send the letter.  Start with these questions:

What do I want to accomplish by writing this letter?
a.      to get some closure or peace of mind on the past
incident, or
b.      to rationalize or get a response to my behavior

Is the purpose of this letter:
a.      to accept responsibility for my own actions openly, or
b.      to make sure the other person knows I think they were
partially responsible for what happened. 

What do you want or expect to have happen if you send the
letter?
a.      The recipient will feel better about what happened and
leave it at that, or
b.      I hope they will apologize too.

After giving it a good deal of thought, if you honestly
believe your answers are in the "a" category, you may be
ready to write a letter you can feel good about sending.

Strategies to Consider

ƒá      Mail this important a letter.  Don't send it via e-mail,
especially if you haven't communicated in a while or if it
was a major break in your relationship.  Some letters are
treasured for a lifetime.  Make this a document you could
feel good about in twenty years.
ƒá      Don't write in anger or immediately after you have
suffered a loss.  Wait to get some perspective to take any
action.
ƒá      Do multiple drafts and don't send your letter until
you've spent at least several days thinking about what
you've written and imagining how you would feel if you
received this letter.
ƒá      Make your letter two pages maximum.  If the explanation
is too long you may be rationalizing your behavior or trying
to prove a point rather than simply apologizing.
ƒá      Consider sending the letter at a meaningful time -- an
anniversary of a special event you shared, or just after a
birthday.
ƒá      Don't say anything you don't mean and can't say
sincerely.  This defeats the purpose of the letter.  Be
honest and forthcoming about your own behavior, but don't
say anything that could further hurt the other person.
ƒá      Don't expect a response, but give your current address at
the end of the letter to allow for one.  However, be
prepared for the possibility of an angry letter in return. 
Just because you have come to terms with this event doesn't
mean the other person has.


Writing the Letter   

1.      Take full responsibility for your mistakes without
rationalizing them.  Put yourself in the reader's shoes -
write what would you most want to hear in an apology. Even
if the incident was only partially your fault, take
responsibility and apologize for your part, without
mentioning any fault on the part of the recipient.  Don't
suggest they owe you an apology.

Dear Joe,
I've thought about our last conversation many times over the
past year.  I am writing to let you know how truly sorry I
am that my harsh words cost me your friendship. I have no
excuse for treating you the way I did. I made a terrible
mistake in accusing you of betraying our friendship.  I
wasn't happy at work and took my frustrations out on you
instead of really looking at what was bothering me.

2.      Make sure you apologize using words like "I'm sorry" or
"I apologize" and ask for the other's forgiveness.  You
can't write an apology letter without a direct apology. 
Also consider that it may take some action on your part to
truly make amends -- paying back money or communicating your
fault to a third person.

I want you to know that I am deeply sorry for the pain I
know I caused you last Spring.  I hope in time you can
forgive me.

3.      Show vulnerability in your letter.  You will want to
reveal enough of yourself and your thought process to show
sincerity and that real soul-searching went into the letter.
However, know that the reader may have an emotional
reaction to the receipt of the letter and may show it to
others.   Don't reveal details if you don't want them shared
with others, such as being in therapy or having an illness.

I particularly regret the way I ended our relationship.  It
took me a long time to understand my own feelings and
actions and I can only explain them in this way:  I got so
worried about our corporate projections and deadlines that I
stopped thinking about what was really important.  I was
impatient and quick tempered, and lost perspective.  It took
a hospital stay last year to make me slow down.

4.      Mention something about the person for which you are
grateful or that you will always remember about your time
together.  Gratitude is often an important component of
getting perspective on a relationship.

Even though our friendship has ended, I want you to know
that I will always treasure the memory of the surprise party
you gave for my 30th birthday and the camping trip we took
three summers ago.  You always knew how to celebrate special
occasions.

5.      Be careful about giving too much information about what
you are doing now.  Do that in subsequent communications, if
the reader wants any.  If you are anxious to tell an old
boyfriend that you are now in a new relationship or your
former boss that you have a new and even better job, you
might not be writing for the right reasons.  Say only what
is relevant to the apology or won't be controversial,  so
you aren't distracting from the good intent of the letter.

I hope your move to Chicago has been good for you.  I don't
see the old gang as much as I'd like to, but I think they
are all doing well.  Thanks for taking the time to read this
letter.  Sincerely,

A final note: It's never too late to write an apology. 
Sometimes it is valuable to you to write a letter to a
person you can no longer locate or even someone who has
died.  The important thing is to know your thoughts and
complete the communication by writing them down.  

Jan B. King is the former President & CEO of Merritt
Publishing, a top 50 woman-owned and run business in Los
Angeles and the author of Business Plans to Game Plans: A
Practical System for Turning Strategies into Action (John
Wiley & Sons, 2004). She has helped hundreds of businesses
with her book and her ebooks, The Do-It-Yourself Business
Plan Workbook, and The Do-It-Yourself Game Plan Workbook.
See www.janbking.com for more information. 

"Learn The Most Important Skill To Stop Failure"
@copyright 2003 Garth Gibson


Like most things in life the secret to ending failure
in your life is not really a secret.

It is not something that remains beyond understanding
or explanation, a mystery.

In fact everyone learns it if they expect to be
successful. So its hardly mysterious.

But it is misunderstood and overlooked.

So much so that every English dictionary
since the first one in 7th century AD and the
scholars that wrote them have yet to explain
it correctly.

Although it is a formula or method on which
success is based. It is not mathematical or
highly structured.

But despite not having a mathematical
equation I can tell you the exact moment to
the millisecond when you will stop failing.

Benjamin Franklin once said---

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue
to reach out.

You see the trick to ending failure does not lay
buried in the latest self help book. That is until you
learn to view failure as a learning experience.

Success can be directly proportional to how much you
try. But failing is generated by trying.

Eliminate failure as an ending point but instead make
it an starting point.

Do this and you need never to consider yourself a
failure or remain unhappy.

_______________________________________________________
Garth Gibson, is editor of Success Widgets!,
this month he is giving away the "I Turn On My Success
As Easy I Turn On My TV" e-course. Just send email to
mailto:unleashed@garthgibson.com or visit
http://garthgibson.com/weblog/blogger

Do you think Mr. Gibson is correct in his assertion that if you lose the fear of failing we will be successful?  Why?  If not, what do you think is the key to success?

What is the Deal with a Race-Based Award?

By Jan A. Larson

Omaha Westside High School annually presents an award to the
"Distinguished African American Student" and recognizes that
student as part of the school's Martin Luther King Day events.

Three enterprising students threw a wrench into the celebration
this year and earned suspensions for their efforts.

An Omaha World-Herald article [1] described how twins Paul
and Scott Rambo, along with fellow student and native South
African, Trevor Richards, plastered the school with posters
featuring Richards giving the "thumbs up" sign along with a
message urging support for Richards for the award next year. 
Richards moved to Omaha from South Africa six years ago and
is white.

Predictably, the politically correct school administration threw a
fit and threw the three teens out of school for a day.

The boys shouldn't have been suspended.  They should have
been applauded.

These young men clearly saw through the politically correct
nature of this award and drew attention to that fact through their
satirical display.

With all students eligible for other awards at Westside, these
students thought that an award that excluded everyone but those
of a particular skin color seemed patently unfair.

They are right.

Imagine the outrage that would have resulted if there had been
an award for whites only.  A definitive way to ascertain if a
particular policy/award/benefit, which has as its determining
factor a physical characteristic, is appropriate is to replace the
physical characteristic with another one.  How about an award
for the "Distinguished Short Student," the "Distinguished Fat
Student" or the "Distinguished Disabled Student?"

The so-called leaders of the African-American community in
this country lead a constant "struggle" for equality.  Well,
equality is a two-way street.  When minorities, any minority,
demand equality, but then turn around and use their minority
status to gain an unfair benefit, the entire goal of the
achievement of true equality is compromised.

High school students cannot be expected to see the big picture
on this issue, but I suspect that if the award winner, Kingsley
Okafor, really thought about it, he might very well determine
that winning an award for which over 1500 of the 1600 students
in his school were automatically excluded on the basis of their
race, is not really worth winning.

Principal John Crook, demonstrating no spine when presented an
opportunity to deliver a powerful lesson to the entire student
body, shirked his duty and took the coward's way out by
suspending the three students.

Crook, who categorized the incident as, "... offensive to the
individual being honored, to people who work here and to some
students" might be wise to also consider the big picture.  Any
award given to anyone where the primary determinant is the
color of one's skin, whether that may be white, black, brown or
any other color, is offensive.  It is offensive to any clear thinking
members of the human race.

I sincerely hope the three young men caught in the middle of this
incident don't come away thinking they did wrong.  Crook was
wrong and this award can only be categorized, at best, lame and
at worst, racist.


[1] http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=1640&u_sid=983292 
 

What are your thoughts?  Should there be raced based awards?  Does having these type of awards constitute racism?  Has anything like this happened at your school?  Do you think it is unfair?

Back to The School of Life Experience
10 Quotes for Lessons from Life
© 2003
Julie Jordan Scott
 
 At the return of students to "halls of learning" it is also an
 exceptional time to assess our own process through the
 School of Life Experience.
 
 These quotes inspire, enlighten and hopefully will stretch
 your thinking in relationship to learning, lessons and education.
 
 One way to take the quotes and make them into lessons themselves
 is to take each quote and journal or free flow write from the quote
 itself.  
 
 Copy the quote onto a piece of paper (Or copy and paste
 into a document) and simply allow your responsive
 thoughts to move from your mind and heart to the paper
 or keyboard.
 
 Lets take our School of Life Experience even deeper than
 we ever have before!
 
 Now Begin......
 
 1.  "The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable
 combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted
 by formal education."
 
 Maya Angelou
 
 2.  "There is divine beauty in learning, just as there is human
 beauty in tolerance."
 
 Elie Wiesel
 
 3.  "Education is the knowledge of how to use the whole of
 oneself. Many men use but one or two faculties out of the
 score with which they are endowed. A man is educated
 who knows how to make a tool of every faculty--how to
 open it, how to keep it sharp, and how to apply
 it to all practical purposes."
 
 Henry Ward Beecher
 
 4.  The shortest and surest way of arriving at real
 knowledge is to unlearn the lessons we have been
 taught, to mount the first principles, and
 take nobody's word about them.
 
 Henry Bolingbroke
 
 5.  "We should not look back unless it is to derive useful
 lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of
 profiting by dearly bought experience."
 
 George Washington
 
 6.  "Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education."
 
 Victor Hugo
 
 7.  "Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons
 you must pay attention to it."
 
 Deepak Chopra
 
 8.  "We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms
 for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly-full
 of words and do not know a thing. The things taught in
 schools and colleges are not an education, but the
 means of education."
 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
 9.  "Have you learned the lessons only of those who
 admired you, and were tender with you, and stood
 aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from
 those who braced themselves against you, and
 disputed passage with you?"
 
 Walt Whitman
 
 10.  "Education is a social process. Education is growth.
" Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself."
 
 John Dewey

=========================

Julie Jordan Scott facilitates amazing personal growth through live
workshops, tele-classes and the written word which will empower
you to live with passion so that you can create Heaven on
Earth now in your work, your relationships and
more.  Visit http://www.5passions.com to receive
your fr*e*e goodies now and schedule your coaching session.

A Story to Tell: A Quick Guide to Narrative Writing
by Shery Ma Belle Arrieta (mailto:shery@writesparks.com)


"So what happened?"

When someone asks you that, what do you say? You respond by telling a story - when it happened, where it happened, how it happened and why it happened.

This is what we call narration.

If descriptive writing aims to appeal to your reader's five senses, narrative writing aims to tell an event that occurred by providing details.

Description and narration, when used correctly in writing, greatly contribute to a story's success.


=> Ingredients for an effective (good) narration

1. Supply all significant details or events. They are important in building up and supporting your main idea or story.

2. Flush out insignificant details. Don't start talking about how expensive your cousin's lipstick is if you're
narrating her job interview disaster.

3. Narrate in a logical and organized way. Don't go from one detail to the next without providing any obvious transitions to aid comprehension.

4. Pace your narration. Don't let it drag. Otherwise, you'll risk boring your readers.

5. Make a point or lead to a conclusion.

=> Your Narrative Detail

What should you include in your narration? It's always effective to begin by identifying the who, what, when, where, why and how.

However, some writers get carried away and end up including too many details to suit their readers.

Instead of overcrowding your narrative with details, decide which ones are vital to your story, which ones should you put major emphasis on, and which ones are minor but significant details.

=> Your Readers Influence Your Narrative

The details you include in your narration is largely determined by your target readers.

Ask yourself -

1. Who would be likely to read my story?
2. Who could benefit and/or learn from my story?
3. Who are the people I'd like to share my story with?

=> Arranging Your Details and Using Conversation

The most logical way to present details in your story is by chronologically narrating them. But it's also possible to begin your narrative using flash back and other similar literary devices. The important thing is that your narrative is cohesive and the details are organized.

Dialogues enhance and advance the meaning of your story so don't be afraid to include them in your narrative.

=> Now It's Your Turn

And now it's your turn. Write short narratives using the following prompts -

1. a memorable event
2. the strangest thing you've experienced
3. what happened to you earlier today
4. an embarrassing moment
5. your birthday last year

Copyright 2003 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta


=> Resource Box <=

Shery is the creator of WriteSparks! - a software that generates over 500,000 Story Sparkers for Writers.  Download WriteSparks! Lite for fr*e - http://writesparks.com
 

Courage To Live
Kathy Gates, Professional Life Coach
www.reallifecoach.com

What does courage mean to you?   Do you think of  the firefighters who lost their lives in the World Trade Center towers?  Do you think of the men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq? 

What about the courage to admit a mistake?  Or the courage to stop someone from hurting you?  Or the courage to stand up for what you believe?  Or the courage to just be yourself? 

Yes, all those things take courage, but all of those things also have something else in common.  Do you think any one of those things can be accomplished without feeling some fear?  No.  There cannot be courage without fear.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment or decision that something else is more important than the fear.  Courage is what you do IN SPITE of the fear, in spite of the resistance, in spite of what you want right now.

But you don't have to show the kind of courage that it takes to get on the 6:00 news.  You can show courage every day.  It takes courage to go against "that's just the way it is."; or "what can I do about  it?", or "I've always been this way"; or "They won't let me...". 

Courage is deciding not to put your current desires above your desires for the future.  Courage is deciding there's something more important. 

For me, courage brings to mind the Bible story of  David fighting Goliath.  In order to get into the Promise Land, David had to fight his giant.  Don't you image he had something else he would have rather done that day?  Fighting a giant wasn't likely at the top of his list.  But he chose not to put his current desire over his true desire. 

In order to get into your own personal promise land, you'll have to have courage to stand up to your personal giants too. 

It takes courage to end an unhealthy relationship.
It takes courage to quit an unfulfilling job.  
It takes courage to say No to someone who is using
you.
It takes courage to set up a new spending plan.
It takes courage to say Yes to your dreams when it
means putting your self-esteem out there for the
whole world to see (well, that's relative, but you
know what I mean).
It takes courage to reorganize your time so that you
spend it on what is most meaningful to you. 
It takes courage to ask for what you need and want
in your life.
It takes courage to be honest.

Courage doesn't mean that you don't recognize the difficulty of the task.  Not at all.  It does mean that you are willing to do it anyway, to push yourself out of the comfort zone, to give it a try. 

Courage is standing up to whatever mental-emotional-physical "Giant" is in your life.  

Resolve to live in such a way that courage, not fear, directs your life. Resolve to determine your own worth, not let someone else decide it for you.  Resolve to stop working hard to build someone else's dreams. 

It's time to find the courage to take your future into your own hands. 
================
Professional Life Coach Kathy helps people who are
burned out, stressed out, and fed up to find the
courage to get back in touch with the foundations of
their life.  www.reallifecoach.com

What does the author above say about courage?  Do you agree?  Why or why not?  What kinds of things do believe it takes courage to do?

What is this tiger looking for?  Where is he going?  Does he have a family?  Where does he live?