Monday, August 11, 2014

Small Stones - Mindful Writing Challenge


I have committed to the Mindful Writing Challenge from Writing Our Way Home.com. The challenge is to write one small piece of prose or poetry (each day for the 31 days of January) that captures a moment where I have been fully engaged in the world around me ... in "things as they are."

Even though the word "committed" strikes fear into my heart whenever I say I have committed to something, this is an easy practice that will combine both mindfulness practice and writing practice. I need both.

From their website:

Writing small stones is a very simple way of engaging you with the world around you, in all its richness and complexity and beauty. They are a gateway into praise and clear-seeing. They will help you to acknowledge the ugly things (the slugs in the compost pile) as well as the pretty ones (blackbird song). You don't need to be a writer to write small stones - the important thing is starting to open up to what's around you.... A small stone is a short piece of writing (prose or poetry) that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment. The process of finding small stones is as important as the finished product – searching for them will encourage you to keep your eyes (and ears, nose, mouth, fingers, feelings and mind) open.

I will honor this commitment to myself by not only keeping a notebook, but by upoading each day's stone to my blog.

If this practice sounds interesting to you, as a way to start your 2013 in a mindful way, I encourage you to try it too. And, if you do, post your small stones as comments to mine.

Happy New Year!

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