darren r hill

It’s been a while but the weekly creative prompt is back. After a period of personal reflection, the creative minimalist is once again pulling together some thoughts and ideas to inspire your own creative journey. And as such…

This week’s creative prompt is Reflect. Each week we begin with a single word and expand it to inspire writing fiction, journaling and other creative activities. These creative prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some inspiration for creative work, personal development and even a little self-care.

Recently the concept of reflecting has been bouncing around my mind. The moon reflects the sun’s light. Water is a reflective surface. At Lent Christians reflect on how they live, re-evaluating their relationship with the divine, giving up something to be closer to God. Reflecting is done in a lot of ways and at a lot of places.

I reflect on what I have done; I think about what I can do.

Definitions

reflect — throw back (heat, light, or sound) without absorbing it, show an image of, embody or represent (something) in a faithful or appropriate way, think deeply or carefully about

Reflect is a verb. It can be used with an object or without. It is also a word that has quite a few synonyms, so let’s use those to expand our creative thinking.

Related

send back, cast back, give back, bounce back, shine back, return, mirror

indicate, show, display, demonstrate, be evidence of, register, reveal, betray, evince, disclose, exhibit, manifest; express, bespeak, communicate, bear out, attest, prove, evidence.

think about, give thought to, consider, give consideration to, review, mull over, contemplate, study, cogitate about/on, meditate on, muse on, deliberate about/on, ruminate about/on/over, dwell on, brood on/over, agonise over, worry about, chew over, puzzle over, speculate about, weigh up, turn over in one’s mind

Reflect denotes representation. It conjures up images of mirrors, water and other reflective surfaces, duplicates and tessellations.

Let the prompt ‘reflect’ inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:

• writing fiction
• journaling
• art journaling
• songwriting
• photography
• painting
• composing
• blog posts
• art therapy
• anything that could use a little nudge to begin
  

Writing prompt

A Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the word reflect to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. This prompt may trigger some deep feelings if you have recently lost someone close, so only explore it if you feel able.

Life flashed before her/his eyes. As time subjectively stretched, she/he reflected on a life…

Writing Prompt Expanded

Some believe that just before the moment of death our lives flash before our eyes. This prompt is all about exploring that moment in a fictional aspect. This may be due to culture’s history with the belief in an afterlife in many religions. See all life and decide whether the positive outweighs the negative.

Of course, this doesn’t have to be about death, it could be a near-death experience, just a scare or anything that triggers the reflection. The focus though is reflecting on what has gone before and viewing those events and feelings in perhaps a more objective way than when the event first took place.

• What are the life moments being reflected upon?
• How are events different reliving and reflecting on them?
• Overall was the life positive or negative, good or bad, or both?
  

The context for this prompt is entirely up to you. The challenge is to describe the events in a more objective way. This means looking at them without the initial emotions clouding your view. We can feel angry or upset when something first occurs, but then later, we realise that those emotions may have been misplaced.

Enjoy and may your words flow quickly and only slow when you reflect on and edit them.

Quick fiction writing

Set a time limit, use the following random prompts and write a short piece of fiction.

• Character: two year old child
• Place: on the floor (with Mum’s handbag)
• Item: mirror
  

Journal prompt

If one word could describe the time in my journals it would be reflect. I have to admit it could be too much time. I spend far too long reflecting and not finding any solutions or acting on the conclusions when occasionally they do come along. However, as a word to start with reflecting on your day, or recent events is great way to clear your mind, organise your thoughts and understand ourself a little better.

Three ideas for your journal

• reflect on your day, what was good, bad and what could you have done differently
• find a picture, stick it down and draw a reflection of it
• paint, draw and/or collage using shiny, reflective materials
  

Theory of General Creativity

I now have ‘reflect’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week and I will do, not simply reflect, on what I write in my journal.

• capture reflective surfaces or reflections with your camera
• take a step back and reflect on what the next step is when planning a project
• reflections are different from the original, they are mirrored. Mirror a theme or melody, make it similar but not the same
  

Let ‘reflect’ inspire your music, photography, and painting this week.

Finally…

As always, these creative prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story, a moment in your journal, something a little more grandiose or any creative project or idea.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

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