Simple Writing Prompts: An Easy Way I Found My Truth With Journaling and How You Can Too
Simple writing prompts and answers are easier and less time consuming to reread in my journal. But simple doesn’t mean that they are not important, deep or easy to put into practice.
Do you read your journal?
I do, when I journal something I like to reread it often. This especially applies to the lessons I journaled about.
One of the reasons why I do that is because I want to REMEMBER the lessons I learned that help me achieve my goals and dreams. If I don’t do that, I will just forget them. I really enjoy living in the moment, but I guess it makes me forget things a bit more often nowadays compared to in the past.
(Oh well, the past doesn’t exist anyways when you live in the moment, enjoying blissful peace. I am just saying, there is a reason why your dog or cat is so happy and chilling so hard next to you.)
Luckily I can do both, because of my journal. I only have to think actively about the past, future and my lessons during my journaling moments.
This week, I also reread my introduction to Journal Prompts again and reflected on what I wrote about the advice I received.
Reading it, I still am not sure why people gave me certain advice in the past even though it seemed contradicting.
But while thinking, consuming information and journaling about the truth, I came to a sudden light bulb realization this week.
Do you want to know what it was?
Before I say it though, I want to remind you of a few disclaimers.
Like I said in the Journal Prompts introduction, this is what I recently journaled about. It does not mean I couldn’t have realized these lessons earlier in life, I just never did.
Sometimes when you see something from a different angle, all the previous advice falls into place like when you find the missing puzzle piece and then it CLICKS.
In addition to that, because it sometimes takes a while to understand something, it doesn’t mean it was rocket science.
So, the realization I mentioned is probably going to sound really simple and obvious. But for me personally, it was something that was mind blowing.
During my next journaling session, I’ll probably also have to journal about how that is a limiting belief for me. Because why do I feel like I have to give several disclaimers for realizing and wanting to share simple journal entries and simple writing prompts? And why am I having this limiting belief?
That said, what I realized was:
“Someone’s belief is actually true for them.”
Their truth is their REALITY and they don’t know otherwise at that moment.
Maybe I see things differently, but it’s true for them at this moment and I can make peace with that. Because that is just how it is at the moment.
If you don’t have a magic, teleporting time machine, you can’t change something that already happened right?
Of course things can be changed in the future, but this is just how it is right now. And resisting how it is right now is useless and will only make me suffer.
That inner realization about the truth was very helpful for me, because one of my GOALS at the moment is to become better at being compassionate.
Why is something that abstract and impractical my goal?
Because, like I mentioned in How To Journal, I like to overthink things. People don’t always like it when I discuss everything and I want to be more mindful of that.
(Someone once told me about the quote “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” from George Bernard Shaw. But in this pig’s defense, there must be a reason why people put mud on their skin nowadays right? Yeah you’re right, that’s the pig in me trying to discuss this too.)
I also try to play the devil’s advocate too much sometimes. I do this to help the people close to me have more perspective. Especially when they are upset about something that happened to them or what someone did to them.
I guess, I think I might help comfort them by explaining it, but sometimes it sometimes gives the opposite effect. It sometimes even makes the people close to me tear up a bit.
And I definitely don’t mean to do that, even if I mean well.
The above mentioned realization I had this week helps me a lot with having compassion for others.
Whenever I discuss a certain subject with someone, it’s easier now to not overdo it by remembering that realization. I just think that this is actually true for them.
There are other tools that help me with compassionate listening, but this one definitely helped me a lot.
It gives me PERSPECTIVE and makes me more aware of not going too hard against whatever someone says, even if it’s a bit extreme and not totally true.
Not only do I think more about what is actually true for others, this realization also makes me more aware of what is true for me. I think we all have things that are true for us that others might doubt.
And if I think back about the times others doubted something I thought was true, I remember how that felt.
In a situation like that I felt hurt and offended. It made me unable to listen as closely anymore and think that they were wrong.
Maybe that also is how others feel when I go too hard against what they are saying, even if it’s just an attempt to explain the possible other side of the story.
You might wonder, what if they still believe it after you stop trying to convince them too intensely?
If I really wanted to, I can always try to discuss it another day again whenever the topic comes up. Going hard against something doesn’t guarantee that they will be convinced anyway. Sometimes they have to find out the truth for themselves.
(This reminds me of similar but more intense advice I wrote down in my journal years ago that I thought was funny. It was an example of the best life advice investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet received “ You can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow.“)
One of my simple writing prompts for you this week
Having said that, I definitely have not mastered how to be compassionate yet and slip up a lot, but I have improved a lot these years.
Journaling helps me a lot with that, by helping me reflect on things and having insights. It helps me think about things before I do them so I won’t regret it later. Simple writing prompts and answers help me recognize my truth even faster, because simplicity makes my patterns clearer for me.
Maybe it can also help you with having compassion in a relationship that you actually do care about, even when you don’t agree about everything. Perhaps it can help you with your parents, siblings, children, friends or partner.
You know, although I sometimes make the people around me tear up a bit, it only happens on rare occasions. Most of my relationships are fun with a lot of laughter and HARMONIOUS, especially with my partner.
Another example of truth for me, is that harmonious relationships without fighting do exist and that it feels great to have them.
Why wouldn’t you want to feel great in your relationship or work towards having a harmonious relationship?
There are people who don’t think that is healthy or even believe they exist. That is the actual truth for them at the moment, a great opportunity for me to be compassionate and just listen to understand.
So, here is one of my simple writing prompts for your journal this week:
“Looking back at my previous journal entries, what is the underlying truth in the patterns I find?”
“Which of my truths might not be true for others? What feelings come up when someone tells me otherwise? How would I like them to communicate their disagreement? What can they do to understand my truth better? How can I understand their point of view better?”
If you have dreams you want to achieve…
CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK!
P.S. It’s okay to use simple writing prompts to help you journal and it’s also okay to have simple realizations while journaling that seem to come late. There is nothing wrong with it, especially if it is helpful on your personal journey.
If you want to know what I realized after journaling about the previously mentioned limiting belief and how I deal with it, then be sure to read my next post.