#me-nifesto

[lonita]

Ask me, ask me, ask me

Starting New Year's Day - we humans love to start things on easily defined days - start a list of questions, one per day. On that date a year from then, respond to that question.

It doesn't have to be just questions. It can be thoughts, directions to do something, ideas to start up. Whatever you like.

You can add this to your regular journal, or start a new journal just for this. Don't forget to keep the cycle going, and add a new thing to respond to the year after you're done responding to last year's prompt.

You can start this any time, of course - your birthday, any random day at all. Anything you like.

Your first question, perhaps: What's something I wish I'd started a year ago but haven't yet started?

[emmajuned]

It’s a me-nifesto for a better world!

[lonita]

Constrained biography

You will need:

a journal

pens

Do:

Write a biographical piece that uses only words that start with the letters of your name - either one letter, or only words starting with any letter.

If you're going to go with using all the letters in your name, consider keeping the words in the same order of how the letters appear in your name.

You can make it a poem.

You can write only things about yourself, or write something that has nothing to do with you at all.

[lonita]

100 Things About Me (or, rather, you)

A list of 100 things about you.

Could be favourite things, random facts, places visited, hobbies, etc.

Good get-to-know-you.

Shorten the length to make it more workable for other lists or situations.

Here's one I did.

[lonita]

Bernard Pivot’s and James Lipton’s Questionnaire

Below are the questions James Lipton used to ask of his guests on Inside the Actors Studio, and below that, the list of questions he adapted from the TV host Bernard Pivot. James Lipton

What is your favourite word?

What is your least favourite word?

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

What turns you off?

What is your favourite curse word?

What sound or noise do you love?

What sound or noise do you hate?

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

What profession would you not like to do?

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Bernard Pivot

What is your favourite word?

What is your least favourite word?

What is your favourite drug?

What sound or noise do you love?

What sound or noise do you hate?

What is your favourite curse word?

Who would you like to see on a new banknote?

What profession other than your own would you not like to attempt?

If you were reincarnated as some other plant or animal, what would it be?

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

[lonita]

Five things

Five things you can do

Five things you can't do

Five things that attract you to another soul

Five things that you say most frequently

Five things to do before you die

[lonita]

I believe

Well over 20 years ago now, I wrote a list of things I believed in. It got quite lengthy, and included things like:

that you should avoid the necessity for deathbed regrets

in perfect moments

in throwing your windows wide, and leaving them that way, the first day the weather's pleasant enough to allow it

in the power of the written word

in hand-written letters

in collage

in postcards

in pudding

in being shy

in being bold

in putting the funk in functional

in twinkle-lights all year 'round

in not playing weak simply to gain an advantage

in flights of fancy

that dates should be written year/month/day or day/month/year

What do you believe in?

[lonita]

Setback-in-the-saddle-again

Create a failure resume - about work, or another area of your life.

Detail the setbacks you've experienced, maybe lessons learned, and what you did - or could do - to contend with them, even if it's letting it go.

You can do this digitally if you want, but writing in a journal is good also. You won't need much beyond a notebook and a favourite pen.

[lonita]

Dopamine menu

A new thing has been popping up of late - a dopamine menu - an intentional list of things you keep and update as necessary that you indulge in when you need a mood boost for any reason, when you need a stress break, when you're feeling burnt out or tired, and to help you rediscover the enjoyment of small things, in the everyday. It generally includes:

Starters/Appetisers - quick things that take little time, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, sometimes tasky rather than enjoyable, but you still get the same charge from it or completing it - like having a snack, a short walk, a quick tidy up.

Mains/Entrees - things that take more time and effort, maybe an hour or more - like hobbies, exercise, and so on.

Sides - things that you can do with other things, like more boring tasks, to make them more enjoyable - like listen to music or a podcast while you clean.

Desserts - things you enjoy but which will lose their effectiveness to impact you positively if you do them too much or too often.

Specials - big ticket items that you do less frequently - like going out for a spa day, eating out, or even travel.

You can certainly create this list in whatever format suits you, but many are setting it up like an actual menu, or at the very least decorating the page to make it more colourful - making even looking at the page itself a bit of a dopamine hit. Remember to go over it once in a while to keep things fresh as needed.

[lonita]

Bucket list manifesto

Create a manifesto outlining your life goals, dreams, wishes, and how you'll attempt them.

You could also create bucket lists about:

Experiences: experiences rather than specific activities.

Learning: acquiring or improving skills, or learning something new.

Community: contribute to your community.

Life List: experiences and achievements you want to have throughout your life, not just before you die, including experiences you want to have with your family or loved ones, and small, everyday experiences you want to have.

Make a journal or scrapbook out of it, and document how it's going.

[lonita]

Try a sensory experience

Listen to the sounds of a forest, ocean, or city street.

Create your own ambiance by combining different music genres and sound effects.

Create your own aromatherapy blends.

Listen to creative sounds, such as experimental music, sound installations, or the sounds of someone creating art.

Put on a blindfold and try different beverages or foods.

Photograph objects in black and white, emphasize shape and form.

Blindfold yourself and draw.

Play with bubbles and foam, and feel their different textures.

Blindfold yourself, and with the necessary assistance from a friend, mix different colours of paint to see what you end up with.

Enjoy the textures of different kinds of fabric.

Try to solve some escape room-style visual puzzles.

Listen to film scores.

Guess what you're eating based only on the smells.

Listen for hidden sounds in everyday environments.

Listen to the sounds of different languages being spoken.

Listen to unidentified sounds that you've never heard before and try to guess what they are, or just enjoy them.

Listen to/attend poetry recitations.

Feel the different textures of various natural elements.

Walk in a quiet environment and try to identify all the different sounds you can hear or make.

Test your ability to match sounds to their corresponding images.

Listen to different soundscapes, such as something relaxing or energetic.

Explore various virtual reality nature environments and sounds, sites where you can drive around city streets and listen to their radio stations, etc.

Try virtual reality racing games and other sports.

Experience some backrooms or liminal spaces online.

And there's always the classic sensory deprivation tank if you have one nearby.

[lonita]

Things To Be Happy About

I think I've shared about this before. It's a notebook I call Things To Be Happy About. I keep a running list of … things to be happy about. It might be a quotation, a song lyric, a cup of tea, a warm blanket - anything at all. The only caveat is that anything that goes into it can't be framed in terms of a negative - like being happy that the loud talker finally shut up. It's a nice place in that book. Get you a nice book and think about the things that make you happy.

You can also keep a little notebook on you, one that can fit in a purse or pocket, and write down good things as you notice them throughout your day - your feel good fuel. Bad things get enough attention as it is. Give more time to the good ones.

Here's some of mine.

[lonita]

Journal - Apocalist

Some folks use the term apocalist instead of bucket list now, and I have to admit that I much prefer it. Current bucket list:

sing Queen of Hearts with Dave Edmunds.

actually finishing Douglas Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid one of these years.

I found a really old bucket list on my hard drive. I have no idea when I wrote this, but it must be bumping up on 20 years at least if snooker's on it. They're certainly all things I want(ed) to do, but I'd now call this more of a to-do list. bucket lists feel a bit more do or die, for wont of a better expression. These days my bucket list is pretty small, as you can see above.

summit Kilimanjaro

score a century in snooker

sing the "Ode to Joy" in the whispering gallery of St. Paul's Cathedral in London

visit Portmeirion

visit Uluru

visit Petra

visit Angkor Wat

visit Death Valley

stand with my feet in the Atlantic Ocean again

master univocalic poetry

learn to speak more Assyrian, and write it also

get a titanium ring

get a drafting table so I can get back to paper-cutting

a proper studio to do work in (living room serves)

start leaving God's Eyes around the city in the middle of the night again

go back home so I can help my Aunt Marie bury my grandmother's ashes

sit on a porch during a foggy dawn, where I can smell the sea

actually finish "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" one of these years

start writing letters again

move somewhere better

acquire a bound copy of the multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary

get more fit

visit Fraser Castle, Lovatt, Scotland

maybe get a masters (MAIS @ AU)

create a Zen garden

learn to play a musical instrument