Mindful Marathon
Journey Journal Assignments
Get a new / blank notebook for your writing assignments.
Join us on Telegram to share your journey.
Map out your route.
After you complete a loop, click on the assignment below and fill a page in your journal. Do not read ahead. Take each task one at a time.
Journal Assignments
Peaks and Valleys
On a page, map out the peaks and valley landmarks of your life with the six highest highs, along with the six lowest lows. Add in the dates for reference, and next to each peak and each valley, write the top three emotions you felt during those times.
Future Peaks. Surpassing your highest past peak might not be possible this year, or ever again. But what if you achieved half that peak? Is that possible? What might happen to arrive there? Write down your thoughts.
Future Valleys. Your lowest valley will hopefully not occur again this year, or ever, but it’s likely you’ll fall at least halfway that far again at some point. Accepting that valleys occur, describe two things you can do to protect yourself from future falls.
Art in Life
Creativity and beauty can show up in so many ways in our lives, but in the chaos of work and responsibilities, art is often sidelined. There are the obvious experiences in your past at museums and concerts, but often the daily exposure to more pedestrian art–or a lack thereof–is far more significant.
Art in your life might show up as streaming music, creative cuisine, fashion, film, comedy, crafts, interior design, lighting, or architecture. Artistic expression can capture both our collective and individual consciousness, but we often file it away as nice but unnecessary.
What if art in your life was not just a beautiful rarity, but a daily essential to fuel your spirit? List three forms of creative expression that you enjoy consuming, creating, or both.
Seasons of Experience
If you look at the story of your life as a collection of experiences, there are age-specific moments that are easy to overlook. Meeting your first love can only happen once. Your first job, the birth of your first child, and the first day of your retirement all happen just once. There was the first time you skied, and there will also be the last. Most things have a season, a cycle.
What are three experiences that are no longer available to you or will no longer be available to you soon because that season has passed?
With age comes wisdom and access to resources. What are five experiences you might be able to unlock in the next five years?
Emotional North Star
Our emotions largely dictate how we experience life. Positive emotion, while often fleeting, inspires growth and optimism. Negative emotion is usually right at our heels and can be difficult to outrun.
Reflect on this past year and draw a circle, then write down the emotions you’ve regularly experienced on lines surrounding your circle (see image). Avoid using the words “happy” or “sad”, they are too general to provide insight. After you’ve written as many emotions as possible, attempt to sum them up into one overriding emotion in the center of the circle. For better or worse, this is your emotional North Star.
Then, on another page, write down any thoughts, observations, and insights that you might have while looking at this emotional graph.
Missing People
Friends, family, and colleagues influence so much of our lives. In an ideal world, we’d carefully choose our inner circles. In the real world, we need to play the hand we’re dealt and hope for a wildcard to enrich our lives. At any given time, we’re all hoping for a friend, an estranged family member, or an intimate partner to join (or rejoin) our lives.
If your inner circle were to expand by just one person in the next six months, who is that person? This could be a future spouse or a friendly neighbor. It could be a chess partner or a workout buddy. Who is your missing person? Describe them and what you hope they might bring to your life.
My Self-Soothing Toolkit
Inner peace is largely predicated on our ability to manage negative emotions: anger, anxiety, frustration, disappointment, guilt, shame, envy, loneliness, and loss. Most of us have both constructive and destructive tools we lean on during hard times. Dinner with a close friend might be a healthy escape from negative emotions, while binge drinking would be a destructive option. Constructive tools can lead you on a path toward improved mental health, while destructive tools often lead to negative spirals.
Destructive Tools. When your emotional stress is ten out of ten in intensity, what destructive tools do you use that might have negative consequences long-term. When did these tools enter your life? How deep is this pattern? How easy (or difficult) would it be to change?
Constructive Tools. When you are your best self and emotional stress arises, what constructive tools do you use that promote mental health and balance? Aside from the tools you currently use, also include tools you’d like to lean on in the future. When did these tools enter your life? For new tools you’re not yet using, what is stopping you from using them in the future?
Excess Baggage
You arrive at the airport late and your bag is about 7lbs overweight. The excess baggage costs more than the items inside. There are three types of excess baggage you carry that are not worth the cost: physical, financial, and relationship baggage. Make a list of things you can leave behind.
Physical Body/Health. There are things you consume and lifestyle choices you make that are just not worth it. It might be something you’re eating, it might be a crazy schedule you no longer value, it might be an activity that creates more health problems with each passing year. List up to three excess baggage items in the health category you need to throw out and explain why.
Financial Clutter. We hold onto financial obligations and liabilities that slowly bleed us out. It might be a property you own that is a constant burden or a vehicle that costs more to repair each year than to replace. You might have someone depending on you financially who is more than capable of supporting themselves. List up to three excess baggage items in the financial category you need to throw out and explain why.
Relationships. We hold onto past relationships that long ago failed and only result in pain and loss. We cling to current relationships that drain our energy out of a sense of familiarity, obligation, or shared history. Choose one person you must leave behind, not with malice or contempt, but simply because it doesn’t make sense to continue your relationship with them. Why is it time to let go?
Tombstone Values
We all have implicit core values that help us navigate the world and provide guard rails. Choose three to five values you strive to embody and describe why they are important. To find clarity, imagine how your family would summarize you if asked to write an inscription on your tombstone.
When do you act most congruent with your own core values? And when do you falter? Which people, places, or circumstances help you stay in alignment? Which environments challenge you to stay true to what matters?
Unfinished Business
Think about someone in your past or present with whom you have unfinished business. There is an open loop in your head, and it eats at you. The way things ended was incomplete and incongruent with who you are. Write a letter to that person here, even if they’ve passed away. Say what you want or need to say. Close that loop for yourself.
Debt of Gratitude
Regardless of how charmed or challenged your life has been, someone, at somepoint, gave you a lucky break. This could be personal or professional, a huge gesture, or even a passing compliment that landed at just the right time. Who was that person? What did they give you and why are you grateful to them?
Call to Adventure
You are the protagonist of your own life and it’s time to choose your next adventure. By definition, this adventure will challenge you and present obstacles, but it will also enrich your life and feed your soul. Your adventure might include physically traveling, or it might be an intellectual or emotional adventure within. Choose a new adventure that both excites and scares you. Will you go alone or with someone special? How soon can you start?
Celebrate the Win
Most of us have a deep longing for growth, pleasure, loving connection, community, and purpose. Sadly, during those moments of success, when we experience exactly what we were seeking, we rarely take time to log the win and celebrate. Instead, we plot on toward yet another goal. Write down your most significant wins from the past three years. These might include a well-earned promotion, a lucky turn of events, or the realization of any dream, big or small.