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Why my gratitude journal is private.

12 Nov

Have you ever tried keeping a gratitude journal? There are variations, but essentially the challenge is to make a note each day of one or more things you are grateful for.

Some people choose to share their journals with family and friends or even with the world at large. I admit that I have enjoyed and often been inspired by shared entries.

But for me, the private journal is most comfortable. If I had to share, I would likely end up feeling shallow and privileged rather than grateful. Through no grace or accomplishment of my own, I was born in a developed nation and I have an enviable life compared to the majority of the world’s people.

  • I have a home.
  • I have clean water and enough food to eat.
  • I am healthy.

I am fortunate enough to include these three things every day. It’s easy to take them for granted.

The entries in my gratitude journal could easily be judged as petty in comparison, but they are meaningful to me nonetheless. I try to bear in mind my “baseline three” each day as I record the little things that make me happy.

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Public or private truth

14 May

This is worth thinking about:

“Do we think that the things a person says in public or the things a person writes in private say more about them? I think that’s an interesting question, especially for our moment of Twitter and Facebook. We tend to feel the private is more true somehow. But people choose what to make public, and that says something about them too.”

—Sarah Dry
Author The Newton Papers: The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton’s Manuscripts

Source: The Strange, Secret History of Isaac Newton’s Papers

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5 word challenge/drabble

21 Jan

Once again, I challenged myself to create a Friday drabble that incorporates the words from the latest 5 word challenge.

Please join in and write your own drabble or 5 word challenge. Pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments.

How it works:
Friday drabble ~ Write a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble”.

5 word challenge ~ Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. (Words are posted periodically on Vox Diaspora.) Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with “5wordchallenge”.
 

This week’s challenge words: dragon, nightly, smooth, decant, trouble

Here’s my entry:

The bottle sat half hidden at the back of the shelf, caked with dust and lint. The glass was foggy, the stopper fusty with age. I paid the disinterested antique store clerk a pittance for it and took it home.

My careful ministrations removed the grime, but the smooth glass revealed nothing but my reflection. I pried the stopper off gingerly and sniffed the heady aroma of the liquid within. With reckless abandon, I chose to decant a drop onto my finger. I brought it to my lips, tasted the elixir. That’s when the nightly trouble with the dragon began.


 

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5 word challenge – shudder

18 Jan

Words for this challenge were chosen by kimkiminy:
shudder, fur, aspire, wanton, range

Here’s my entry:

Awake to wanton hunger.
Creep quietly to kitchen.
Aspire to healthy choice.
Open cupboards. Open fridge. Peruse raw ingredients.
Reconsider willingness to work for it.
Range through takeout ruins.
Fur of mold. Shudder. Pangs abate.
Back to bed.

 


 

How 5 word challenge works:
Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with 5wordchallenge and any other tags you wish to add. Feel free to pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments. New challenge words are posted periodically at Vox Diaspora.

 

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Friday drabble: Trivial

19 Nov

Join in and write your own drabble — a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble” and provide a link in the comments here or on Twitter using the hashtag #fridaydrabble.

— — —

I’ve spent the morning composing. Not musical scores, ad copy, book reviews, opinion pieces on current events, blog entries or commentary, letters to friends, short stories, epic poems, or anything approximating literature. In fact, I’ve been creating carefully worded trivia questions.

I’ve been cajoled into working for free. No salary will be paid, no money will change hands. For my efforts I will receive a fleeting moment in the spotlight, my name in lights, so to speak. I’ll have the chance to show off my keen and curious mind. Much less than 15 minutes of fame, but enough for me.



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5 word challenge – photograph

1 Nov

Words for this week’s challenge were chosen by Ross:
monochrome, stilted, affluent, trestle, anachronism

Here’s my entry:

Zachary made his way through the gallery at a stately pace, studying each photograph in turn. He took his role as a competition judge seriously, and hoped to find genuine merit among the work on display. Unfortunately, it seemed the affluent students of the academy had more in the way of fancy equipment than actual talent.

Nearing the end of the exhibit, he’d all but despaired and resigned himself to a second pass through the stilted, conventional compositions. He had little choice but to lower his expectations and select a few that were at least “good enough.” It was then that he saw it: a somber, monochrome presentation of a rickety train trestle rising out of early morning mist. It was something of an anachronism, standing out like a sore thumb among the glossy, super-saturated prints surrounding it. A beautiful sore thumb, indeed.

Best in show decided, he continued on with a lighter step.

 


 

How 5 word challenge works:
Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with 5wordchallenge and any other tags you wish to add. Feel free to pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments. New challenge words are posted weekly at Vox Diaspora.

 

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5 word challenge – study

14 Oct

Words for this week’s challenge were chosen by stevebetz:
evolve, green, growth, knack, rope

Here’s my entry:

Of all the test subjects, RP14798 is perhaps the most amusing.

In the years since the study began, she has demonstrated an uncanny knack for online propagation, with exponential growth in her digital footprint. When she hears about a new blogging platform, social media product, gizmo, tool, or app, she will be tempted (and typically will not resist this temptation) to try it. She seems eager to get in in the ground floor with a new product, while it’s green and untested. She watches to see if it will evolve to meet unique needs, if it will demonstrate a clear advantage over the competition.

Making the decision to try something is easy; the decision to leave a product behind is apparently more of a challenge. Thus the proliferation of active, semi-active, neglected, seemingly forgotten, and outright abandoned (but not necessarily deleted) profiles. It’s like a binary hall of mirrors.

This partial list of products RP14798 used/uses highlights the fickle nature of the Web, peppered as it is with the newcomers, the currently successful, the once popular but now somewhat obsolete, and the failed ventures.

   Blogger, Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, Vox, WordPress,
   Tumblr, Posterous, Twitter, Brizzly, Meebo, Vodpod,
   YouTube, Flickr, Shutterchance, Twitpic, Instagram,
   Goodreads, Shelfari, Readernaut, LibraryThing, Evernote,
   Technorati, ClipMarks, Ma.gnolia, Delicious, Bloglines, Google Reader
   Lifestream, FriendFeed, Last.fm, Blip.fm, Mog, Grooveshark
   And so on, ad nauseam.

It is this researcher’s opinion that RP14798 has her finger in too many pies. It’s shockingly easy to rope her in, and she’s loath to abandon something once she’s begun. One wonders how she’ll ever keep her head above water. Perhaps one day she’ll simply walk away from it all, never to return.

 


 

How 5 word challenge works:
Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with 5wordchallenge and any other tags you wish to add. Feel free to pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments. New challenge words are posted weekly at Vox Diaspora.

 

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5 word challenge – web

8 Oct

Words for this week’s challenge were chosen by Cavatica:
energy, connection, confuse, distinct, barren

Here’s my entry:

Lines blur in the glut of too much information. Far from illuminating, the deluge manages only to confuse. Nothing remains distinct. A barren torrent. Fizzled out. Energy spent. Connection disconnected.

 


 

How it works:
Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with 5wordchallenge and any other tags you wish to add. Feel free to pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments. New challenge words are posted weekly at Vox Diaspora.

 

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Friday drabble: 5% harder

24 Sep

This week, I decided to create a Friday drabble that incorporates the words from the latest 5 word challenge.

Please join in and write your own drabble or 5 word challenge. Pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments.

How it works:
Friday drabble ~ Write a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble”.

5 word challenge ~ Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. (Words will be posted each week on Vox Diaspora.) Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with “5wordchallenge”.
 

This week’s challenge words: tidings, darken, sketchy, vanity, crept

Here’s my entry:

Time has been unkind to the heiress. As years passed, crow’s-feet crept from the corners of her eyes. Strands of gray insinuated themselves among her dark locks. Unwanted weight settled in. Memories flitted away.

Lately, praises sung by suitors ring false, laying bare the sketchy motives of mere fortune seekers. She was once a formidable beauty. Prideful, she refused to give up her freedom for any man.

Evening brings relief. The room will gradually darken, softening lines, blurring imperfections, obscuring her age. Her vanity will be restored, if only until sunrise and its harsh tidings: you will die alone.


 

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5 word challenge returns

23 Sep

While reviewing posts imported from my old Vox blog, I’ve run across many from the 5 Word Challenge, one of the very first group activities I participated in when I started blogging.

I’d like to get 5 Word Challenge going again, and you’re all invited to join in.

How it works:
Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with 5wordchallenge and any other tags you wish to add. Feel free to provide a link to your entry in comments.

For examples, click on 5wordchallenge in my tag cloud.

We’ll take turns choosing the words. If you’d enjoy a week in the spotlight, chat with me here, DM me on Twitter, or contact me through the Vox Diaspora Yahoo! group or the ExVox forum.

I’ve randomly selected five words from the dictionary to get us started:
tidings
darken
sketchy
vanity
crept

Have fun!


 

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