What's the prompt? Just a word: juxtaposition. Think about juxtaposition when it comes to life and art and writing, especially writing in your journal.
Here's a definition. Juxtaposition: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also: the state of being so placed.
Since nature abhors a vacuum, everything we know is placed next to something else. So what happens when, instead of just looking at things, you look at how they are juxtaposed? What if, when journaling, you supplement your writing with a consideration of what surrounds your subject?
• Describe the view and then describe your mental or emotional state.
• Dump your worries and misery into your journal pages and then take a bird's eye view of the same situation.
• Make lists of things you want and then make lists of what makes you want them.
• Tell about your date last night and then write what you imagine your date's version of the event would be.
• Talk about your dread of an upcoming social occasion and then examine in detail what happens in your body when you think about your fear.
• Detail the sumptuous dinner you cooked and then have fun describing your satisfied spouse falling asleep in front of the tv.
Whatever you're exploring in your journal, ask yourself, what is around this, what lies beside or under or over it?
Sometimes this exercise will draw you in deeper and sometimes it will enlarge your perspective. Looking for what to juxtapose with the stomach ache you have today, you might go inside and write about what you've eaten, or something that's causing anxiety. On the other hand, you might look to the outer edges of your world and write about the news photo you saw of wounded people in Syria, dwarfing the minor irritation of your current problem.
Through juxtaposition, we can learn and understand with much greater ease. It's a trick that broadens perspective, reveals causes, and helps us get past self-imposed limitations.
So here's wishing you some happy juxtaposing, and please share your experiences in the comments!
And here are 147 and counting unique journaling prompts!