Exercise- Writing down 100 Things You Love

By: Christine McFarlane

Today I was looking for some inspiration to get me to put pen to paper. Sometimes it can be difficult to get into the act of writing, when you are feeling bogged down by things. When that happens I love opening one of the many writing books that I have and randomly choosing a writing exercise from it.

Today I chose the book "The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life," written by Julia Cameron, and interestingly I chose an exercise that had to do with drama! Cameron explains that "Drama in our lives often keeps us from putting drama on the page. Some drama happens and we lose our sense of scale in our emotional landscape and "when this happens, we need to reconnect to our emotional through line. We need a sense of our "before, during, and after life," and this exercise is a personal antidote for too much drama."

I found myself setting aside a half hour and making a list of almost 55 things that I personally love. I still have 50 more to go because I found that writing the list was quite a task! I listed the usual ones like, loving to walk, listen to music, reading, writing and then I began to struggle with what else there is that I really love, and I know that I repeated myself.

Well here's part of my list:

100 Things I Love:

1.bears
2. lions
3. eagles
4. my nieces
5. my friends.
6. my freedom
7. my apartment
8. solitude
9. reading
10. writing
11. walking
12. friends
13. television
14. movies
15. games
16. photography
17. painting
18. movies
19. jeans
20. bookstores

I won't bore you with my whole list because it is quite lengthy, but if you ever need to find some inspiration, you should try this exercise. Sit down somewhere comfortable, pull out a piece of paper and a pen, and just start listing everything you love.

The whole point behind this exercise is that it will also help when stress hits you, and you're feeling beside yourself. Keep a copy of your list in your wallet or in your desk drawer and pull it out to read. It will instantly connect you to a sense of well being apart from your current drama.

Till next time, happy writing or whatever it is you like to do!