Have you ever compared your version of events with a good friend? A false narrative is a mental framework you use in order to interpret events that upon deeper investigation turn out to be untrue or skewed. The father of cognitive psychology, Ulric Neisser, wrote in the compendium Self-narratives: True and False, "Human beings exist through time, just as everything else does: One thing happens after another. But unlike anything else, people remember what happened to them – some of it, anyway. This is a remarkable achievement. The remarkable thing is not just that past events influence the … [Read more...]
Writing Anxiety: The Collective Unconscious Writing Prompt
The quote that inspired this writing prompt is from the journal Open Culture looking at Carl Jung and his analysis of Hitler. Carl Jung was a disciple of Freud who was focused on the understanding of the,"collective" unconscious (the myths, archetypes, repressed images and fantasies) encompassing the soul of humanity at large. We are in a weird place in terms of "humanity at large." The use of the word "unprecedented" is, well, unprecedented. And unprecedented things give us anxiety - the unknown territory and strangeness of the incomprehensible actions of others. How do we work with … [Read more...]
Writing Anxiety: Feeling Feral Writing Prompt
If I said to you, "he is a dog" you would know what I mean, right? Or that she eats like a horse. That kid has the strength of a lion. We use animals at metaphors for qualities that exist in both the animal and human world. We say, he crushed his workout like a beast, or she runs like a gazelle. It is a useful repertoire of metaphors, but there is a dark side to it also. A lot of our anxieties have to do with what I would call our "animal selves." We share our biology with animals - chimpanzees and humans share 99% of our DNA. We share biological functions - the need to sleep, eat, excrete, … [Read more...]
Hold On To Your Story: Writing Anxiety
Hold on to Your Story. Everyone has a story of anxiety. Whether it is the insidious all-encompassing generalized anxiety or based on a specific instance (a report due, public speaking, crossing a shaky bridge) we struggle with anxiety as part of human nature. National surveys estimate nearly one in five Americans over 18, and one in three teens ages 13 to 18, had an anxiety disorder during the past year. When I was a sophomore in college I had my first panic attack and since that point I have spent a large portion of my life navigating anxiety. With the rest of the world opening up … [Read more...]
Writing Prompt: Revisit
In this writing prompt you are invited to update a piece of writing. In the example below, I took a prose poem I wrote about 10 years ago in 2010 and updated it with current references while keeping the general flow and rhythm of the piece. Adopt a style of irony becomes, "protect public safety." Stop with the one-liners and lewd t-shirts becomes, " Stop with the easy capitulations that amount to nothing." Trickster God needs a makeover becomes, "Trickster God needs a takeover." Writing Prompt: Take a short piece of prose of your own (preferably less than 3 paragraphs that describe … [Read more...]
Writing Prompt: Before & After
This writing prompt was inspired by the writer Masha Gessen. In her article To Be or Not to Be in the New York Review of Books she quotes Suketu Mehta, in his book Maximum City: "Each person’s life is dominated by a central event, which shapes and distorts everything that comes after it and, in retrospect, everything that came before. For me, it was going to live in America at the age of fourteen. It’s a difficult age at which to change countries. You haven’t quite finished growing up where you were and you’re never well in your skin in the one you’re moving to." I can think of a few … [Read more...]
Write the Change Challenge: Prompt #4 INSIDE & OUTSIDE
In times of massive change it is always interesting to look back at the ways things have been in the past. One aspect of life that has changed dramatically is what is considered "Public" vs what is considered "Private." With the advent of larger homes, kids have their own rooms. With the internet, suddenly the inside of those rooms can be broadcast to everyone online. Traditionally the home was private, but with new technologies and the advent of Covid everything is scrambled. Previously, kids wouldn't know what all their classmate's homes looked like if they weren't in a Zoom classroom. … [Read more...]
Write the Change Challenge: Prompt #2 RELATIONSHIPS
How have you decided who to socialize with this summer? Whether you are deciding who is in your bubble, or figuring out how to see aging or immunocompromised relatives, has Covid changed who you trust? Some examples I have heard from friends is the couple who decided not to attend a family reunion because they could not come up with a set of health guidelines that everyone would agree to enact. There have been numerous times where my relationship with my 75 year old mother has reversed and I have been the "gatekeeper" and had to voice my concern about some of her decisions to see her … [Read more...]
Write the Change Challenge: Prompt #1 AMBITION
It is truly amazing to me that the changes we have been experiencing this summer have been slow to sink in. The gentle creep of time where suddenly I notice it is time to trim back the hedges again. To reshape what is overgrown. To take a look at the roots and decide what needs a touch-up, what is still relevant, and what can be discarded. In this series I am going to be focused on writing prompts that are rooted in the here and now, but that also allow us to consider the past and dream into the future. The first writing prompt is AMBITION. Our desire and determination to … [Read more...]
Writing Prompt: Wearing Masks
The first masks were probably painted directly onto the face, and over time became reusable pieces of art to entertain with different personas and characters. Now that we all must wear masks in public it is interesting to think about the multiple layers we have on. Perhaps before it was lipstick or a clean shave and now wearing personal protective masks give us more anonymity, or less? Some masks reveal, some conceal. “Masks portray the human “life drama” in all its manifold aspects, especially the compelling, ambiguous, sometimes revelatory, and often treacherous search for the … [Read more...]