Guest Author - Angela England

April 2nd- Yesterday was April Fool's Day. This holiday originated as a celebration of the New Year before the calender was changed. Let's use this day as a chance to reevaluate the way your year has gone so far. Are you on track in your work? Your personal life? Spiritually? Take a few moments to critique your original New Year's Resolutions - Are they feasible goals? Doable? Adjust them as necessary. Write out your revised goals for the remainder of the year. Remember to be specific!

April 3rd - In today's day and age, it is customary to pull pranks on people for April Fool's Day. When was the last time someone tricked you? Did they just try to fool you or purposefully deceive you? Was it "for fun" or to be sneaky and manipulative? How did it make you feel? Describe the situation.

April 4th - "April showers bring May flowers." is an old proverb that illustrates how often the seemingly negative things can have positive outcomes. When has this been true for you in the past? Were you aware of potential benefits when you were actually in the midst of the rainstorm?

April 5th - Make a list of 20 (or more) answers to the following statement - "I desire..."
Don't stop to think about your responses, just write down whatever comes immediately to mind. No self-editing here! The benefit of an exercise like this is to turn off the logical brain and allow your creative sub-conscious to come to the forefront. By completing this statement without trying to think about what the "right" answer is, you will find the truer answers coming out.

What does the list you've created tell you about yourself? How many of these desires are achievable?

April 6th - Look at the rules for yesterday's prompts. Today you are going to jot down a list with 20 endings to this sentence starter - "I deserve.....". Feel free to continue on past 20 answers, but do push through until you get at least 20 answers out there.

April 7th - Looking back over the lists you free-wrote yesterday and the day before, do any answers stand out to you? Do any catch you off guard or take you by surprise?

Sometimes as you write without self-editing, you will find yourself writing unexpected responses. Now assess what you've written. Choose one response to elaborate on. Why do you desire/deserve that?

April 8th - "When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability....To be alive is to be vulnerable." ~Madeleine L'Engle

Were there areas of vulnerability you had a child that you expected to go away when you got older?

Stop by the forums and share the answers to your journaling prompts if you want.