Writing Prompt: For Your Journal
Do you keep a journal – or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help. Several times a month, we’ll post a writing prompt. Open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation – just write.
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“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” ~Henry David Thoreau
I like to take a walk every day. After hours of sitting and writing in front of a computer, my back aches, my legs are stiff, and my brain gets foggy. Getting outside wakes me up and gives me a much needed physical and mental break. But I admit I don’t always get a walk in. Children, work, responsibility swiftly fill the hours and before I know it the day has passed.
But I recently read a study that has increased my dedication to my daily walk. It turns out that the act of walking can benefit more than your body. It is not an uncommon notion that walking influences the creative mind, so researchers at Stanford University did a study that assessed the impact of walking on creativity.
You can read the full study here, but the essence of what the team discovered was, yes, indeed, when people walk, their creative ideas multiply. Compared to participants who performed the designated creative activities while sitting, the participants who were walking, or had just been walking, increased their creative output by %60. That’s a lot of creativity for simply taking a walk!
So for today’s writing prompt, I want you to move away from your computer, your phone, your tablet. Grab your coat and hat, slip on your shoes and step outside. Now walk. Around the neighborhood, through the forest path, into the city, wherever; just walk and let your body and mind unwind.
When you get back, in your journal, write about what you saw, felt, or experienced on your walk. Consider making a walk a part of your daily routine, it just might improve your writing.
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Do YOU have a writing prompt to share with Literary Mama readers? Send your 150- to 300-word narrative and associated writing prompt to lmblogeditor (at) literarymama (dot) com. We’d love to read your ideas!