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Posts Tagged ‘memories’

Journaling Prompt – Write Down Your Inside Jokes

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
In-Joke
[Photo by: Helga Weber]

Wikipedia defines an “In-joke” as a joke whose humor is clear only to those people who are “inside” a social group or occupation; an esoteric joke.

Everyone has a bunch of inside jokes. Ones shared with family. Ones shared with friends. Ones shared with the significant other. Ones shared with colleagues, and so on and so forth. Usually a long list of internal jokes.

There are several “bonuses” in inside jokes, which are usually overlooked:

  1. Inside jokes are usually making you genuinely happy, whenever you hear them.
  2. Inside jokes make you feel connected to a certain group or a single person you share the joke with.
  3. Last, but not least, inside jokes has the ability to bring you back in time and evoke memories of when and how the joke was “born”.

Therefore I suggest in this week’s journaling prompt to start putting those in-jokes in writing.

Write down a list of inside jokes and the group of people or the person you share the jokes with.

I guarantee that every time you will look at the list, you are going to – at the very least – smile, if not laugh uncontrollably, and also bring up scenes of pleasure in your mind.

You will bring up the time the joke was created, perhaps late at night, after a couple drinks and a good movie. You will bring up scenes of you snorting juice when a friend mentioned this joke. It will bring up faces of people you care about. It will bring up times when you were happy and laughing and in a good mood.

The list has a pretty good chance to elevate your mood, each and every time you go over it.

Obviously there is no point in sharing an internal joke of mine… but I do urge you to list yours for keepsake.

Share –

Have you listed some of your inside jokes?
Who do you share most in-jokes with?

I’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment on this post 🙂

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Journaling Prompt – Take A Trip Down Memory Lane

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Lately we’ve been dealing with memories here on creativity Prompt. Wikipedia defines a Memory as “an organism’s mental ability to store, retain and recall information”.

Last week we captured a memory that has never been. What we basically did was to store information in our minds, regardless of it’s authenticity… It certainly isn’t what people traditionally refer to as a memory, but it falls into the scope of the definition.

This week we are going to deal with another component of the definition, which is the “recalling” part. More specifically, we are about to write down our “first memories of…”

So if you feel like participating in this week’s journaling prompt, answer the following questions with the first memory that comes to your mind –

  1. What is your first memory? Crawling in the house and grabbing my uncle’s white shirt with my dirty fingers… My uncle is a very good person that cannot harm a fly, but his loud voice can sure frighten a crawling child 🙂
  2. What was the first TV program you remember watching? The Littl’ Bits
  3. What is the first song you remember hearing? A lullaby.
  4. What is the first meal you remember having? (I don’t think it’s possible to actually remember having milk or formula…) I remember eating my grandmother’s boiled chicken with sweet cabbage and mash potatoes. I also remember my father’s sour cream with bananas and strawberries.
  5. What is the first book you remember reading? Dana is sleeping. Dana is waking up… (In Hebrew: “Dana Nama. Dana Kama”.)
  6. What is the first painting you remember drawing? A house with a flower and a girl that rise above the house and a huge sun with a happy face.
  7. What is the earliest family vacation you remember? Visiting the alligators’ farm at Hamat Gader.
  8. What is the first toy you remember having? My doll Nikki (it was a male doll and I wouldn’t leave it alone for a second).
  9. Who was the first teacher you remember? (including kindergarten) Clara, the kindergarten teacher’s assistant.
  10. What was the first pet you remember having? A cat. We never had pets long enough to name them… Both my parents love animals, but not at their house.

Share –

share your first memories by leaving a comment on this post. You can answer directly in the comment section or include a link to the specific post on your personal blog.

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Journaling Prompt – Write A Memory That Has Never Been

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Memories
[Photo by: Angela Marie]

One semester I took a course on the human mind. The professor was a clinical psychologist and the purpose of this class was to give us a glimpse into the mind of potential witnesses. I’ll let you know it was not my strongest subject… I excelled at taxation and business law. Please do not hold that against me… However, it was one of the more interesting courses I took (Along with modern physics and forensic medicine 101).

One of the more fascinating facts I have learned in that class is that the human memory is quite flimsy. A person can paint a picture of something that has never happened in his head, yet if the picture is detailed and vivid enough, this person will be able to embed it into his memory and won’t be able to tell the difference between this made up memory and an event he actually experienced. Scary, huh?

For this week’s journaling prompt I would like to play and write down a detailed memory which has never been… Play along with me – AT YOUR OWN RISK.

My fictional memory is:

It was 7pm. I had just come back home. All day long my belly had been tossing and turning ever since I had heard about their absence. I was sitting in the porch with my mother and her friend when I heard: “They’re back. They got dehydrated and lost their way – but they are back now”. I was filled with joy and the knot in my belly had finally untied. They were found. They are alive!

Related posts:

  1. The Key To The Kingdom Of My Dreams
  2. Write a Fairy tale

share –

What is your fictional memory? Leave a comment on this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Capture An Unforgettable Moment With Words

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
A picture I did not take
[Photo by: Kevin N. Murphy]

A while back I have stumbled upon an interesting blog by the photographer Michael David Murphy, called: Unphotographable. In this website Murphy writes about a bunch of unforgettable moments he has not had the chance to snap with his camera. He beautifully explains the idea here.

This idea of capturing snap-shots of life and experiences with words is tremendously appealing to me. As I see it there are two main reasons for capturing moments with words:

  1. Commemoration. The camera is not always there when we need it. There are so many treasured moments we will never-ever want to forget, which are passing by us when we are unprepared or just cameraless. Using words is the best way to insure that all those moments are perpetuated.

  2. Elaboration. A camera is a marvelous tool with which you can hold back time and reminisce. Many times a picture is really better then a thousand words, but sometimes the words can add so much more value. Words can convey feelings, background, secrets or a different outlook, details that cannot always get communicated by the photo itself.

For this week’s journaling prompt try to capture with words an unforgettable moment in time you have not had the chance to snap with your camera.

I recommend to make a habit out of “snap-shooting” moments of your life in writing. Make an “unphotographable” journal and keep it in your pocket or your handbag. Start each entry with the words: “This is a picture I did not take of…”

My take:

This a picture I did not take of my nephew approaching my husband (then fiance) and caressing his chin softly with his whitish little hands, his sheepish eyes are looking down and with a slightly shaken voice he’s asking ‘how are you?’.

Share –

Leave a comment and share a picture you did not take…
You are also very welcome to share your general thoughts about the idea of the “unphotographable”.

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