Journal Prompts About Getting Focused – Fill Your Cup
What’s the most difficult thing about connecting with your kids? I ask this in every welcome letter when people sign up for the Creative With Kids newsletter, and a response like this is very common:
“When my mind is elsewhere (usually at work) and I have trouble focusing and being in the present moment with her.”
Boy, do I understand that difficulty! That to-do list just won’t stop! Not only is it hard to let go of to-dos and become present, kids are highly unpredictable, the important moment do not tend to happen when you’re ready to pay attention to them.
That’s why these Fill Your Cup journal prompts are about focus. We don’t choose to be born, and we can’t choose when we’ll die, but we have a choice of what we’ll focus on in the moments in between. The tricky part is choosing where to set that focus.
- If you could choose five things your children would say when they are grown, about you in their childhood, what would they be? If you could only make four of those statement happen, which one would you discard? If you could only ensure three of the statements…? Do this until you have one statement – if you could choose one statement that you hope your children will make about their childhood, what would it be? What is one thing you can do this week to support that statement?
- We have a hard time focusing when we feel pulled by our many responsibilities. Assuming that urgent needs like laundry and making meals will happen out of necessity, make a list of other commitments or distractions in your life. Mark you A, B and C priorities, then look and journal about the A priorities – are they leading you in the direction you want to go? Look at the C priorities – even if you can’t let go of them altogether, can you stop giving them as much mental energy as the A’s?
- Write about what your body language is, your voice, your feelings, when you are focused on your child. Now, what does your body language, voice, etc. look like when you are only half focused?
Find more journal prompts on mindfulness being present here.
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Having been in the role of at home care giver in our family for all of the 12 years since we had kids, I know how challenging it is to keep it all going forward let alone together:) I’m always impressed with the parents/families that seem to have it down. I know for me, the best things I can do are activities that leave me feeling whole, energized & at peace with it all (or at least the moment). Religion & spirituality aside, these activities tend to be yogic and organic. Without the ability to take in and sustain any essential life lesson, including the ones that prompted me to reply here, we will have little chance of creating a nurturing environment in which to live and raise children. For many of us the need to develop the ability or capacity to be mindful, present, etc. is the essential task.