I was re-reading my journal today and came across this piece I wrote in response to a writing prompt “This space I have created”. It speaks to the life I have chosen to live after being given the gift of recovery from breast cancer.
This space I have created …
Allows me to breathe. It is the space that evolved, that came after my treatment. This space I have created is ever changing. It is about being open to possibilities, to seeing what flows. This space I have created sometimes feels open and unlimited. Sometimes it feels confined and blocked. If I am patient the confusion will clear and it will gently open again. There will be an easy, breathing movement.
This space I have created is my space. It is a luxury and it is essential. For me to thrive and live and survive.
This space I have created is soft and warm and open. It is also protected and safe, although safe is sometimes an illusion. Hurt can enter, but I am learning to breathe and trust that all will be well again. I am learning to let the hurt flow through this space, to feel it, and then let mother earth absorb it. To be supported and held by the earth.
This space I have created is something I am building. I can enter and leave but I also carry it with me. Within me.
Writing prompts
Responding to writing prompts is one of the tools I use to expand my experience of journaling. The trick is to take the prompt and write continuously for several minutes without stopping or re-reading (two minutes, twenty minutes – you choose). I’m always surprised with what appears on the page when I do this.
Do you have a favourite writing prompt?
