September '23 Journal Prompts
Beginning well or beginning poorly, what is important is simply to begin…
It’s always hard to believe that the courageous step is so close to us… simpler than we thought, which is why we so often prefer the story to be more elaborate, our identities clouded by fear… the answer safely in the realm of impossibility.
- David Whyte -
Is there something you are waiting to begin? If so, what is it? A creative project? An athletic endeavor? A conversation? A relationship?
What fears are holding you back from the beginning? List them here.
What would you do if fear was eradicated?
David Whyte says that, “taking a new step always leads to a kind of radical simplification, where, suddenly, very large parts of us, parts we have kept gainfully employed for years… are suddenly out of a job.” What parts of you would be out of a job if you took a courageous step towards your beginning?
What does it feel like to consider the death-like trauma that accompanies “letting go” of the parts of you that no longer serve you?
If you could write an obituary for your parts that no longer serve here what would it say? Here lies _______ and ________ they served ________ from (year) to (year.) They were noble and now no longer needed.
What “new, less complicated self” is ready for the new possibilities that lie ahead?
David says that “we so often prefer the story to be more elaborate, our identities clouded by fear,” but the step into our beginning is usually quite simple. Does it make you uncomfortable to think that your next step is simpler than you’ve made it out to be?
Do you know what the first step is? If so, what is it?
“Beginning well involves a clearing away of the crass, the irrelevant and the complicated to find the beautiful, the hidden, the essential, and the necessary.” If you were to truly believe that you had all these things within you already, what would that say about your capabilities?
Excerpts from David Whyte’s Poem: BEGINNING from his book, CONSOLATIONS
