February: A Meditation
Jeni Smith offers some meditative writing prompts for the month of February
February seems to me to be a time for meditation; an in-between time. Take time for yourself. Ten minutes
February 1st
Sit. Be still.
Write where you are, at this moment. Write the details.
Keep coming back to this moment.
February 2nd
Friend.
Who has been your friend?
Who were your friends at school?
Who is the friend far away, who you don’t see for years and then, when you meet, the time and distance evaporate?
february 3rd
Oranges: a sack of blood oranges arrived in my veg box this week. They are sweet and delicious. And it is marmalade time, if you make marmalade. Write about oranges: how do peel them? Where do you eat them? (I eat them in the bath, have done since I ate them in the shower after exams at school.)
Don’t want to write about oranges?
They are not the only fruit. Write about some other fruit.
february 4th
Handwriting.
The surface of the paper. The way the lines form on the page. Your hand.
Its grip and flow.
Write about the act of writing.
Capture it.
February 5th
Cotton. Nylon. Silk. Wool. Tweed. Polyester. Linen. Think about clothes and the fabrics they are made from. What fabrics do you prefer? Think about fabrics that remind you of your family: your father’s tweed jacket, the taffeta dress your mother wore when they went out dancing, the soft stretch of your child’s Babygro. It’s the feel of them, the smell of them; the colours, the patterns: the itchy vest, the slippery PE shorts, the softness of cashmere.
february 6th
Puddles. Where have there been puddles? Splash in them. Skirt round them. See the sky caught in them. Write about puddles.
february 7th
Eat.
What do you like to eat? How do you eat? When do you eat? What are your guilty pleasures? Are these the cold dull days of comfort eating? Are you always trying not to eat? When has it been wonderful to eat?Eat.
February 8th
Skylines. What skylines have you known? Mountains or fens? Northern city or Italian town? Sunrise, sunset, clear blue sky or lowering clouds. Write about a skyline you remember from the past, one you see daily, or one you see now.
February 9th
Playlist. Write the playlist of your life. Not desert island discs but the songs you heard your grandmother sing, the sound of the school disco, the musak that was the background to your first job. Make a list. Let the list take you wherever you wish.
february 10th
Who writes to you? Who has written to you? Do you receive handwritten letters? Postcards? Texts? Set the bills and reminders aside. Write about those who have written to you. Perhaps you could take this time to write a letter yourself. Post it.
February 11th
What do you hear? Listen. If there are words, spoken or sung, write them down. For a moment, be still. What do you hear now? What is the soundtrack of your days?
february 12th
Cold. When have you been cold? Good cold and bad cold. Who has cold hands? When have you had cold feet? What about setting out into the cold, being left out in the cold, coming in from the cold. Do you remember the cold war? Tell us about it. What has been cold comfort?
february 13th
What has made you happy today?
Just one small thing.
Write the story.
february 14th
My neighbour knocked on my door, bringing a piece of love cake, baked by his partner, reminding me that it is Valentine’s day. So write about that, about the cards you have and have not received or sent, about the romantic dinners and the evenings home alone. The pleasure and the shame of it. The high hopes and dashed expectations, the sheer romance of it.
February 15th
Laughter: what makes you laugh? Who makes you laugh? Can you remember a time when you laughed so much you could hardly breathe? What books have made you laugh out loud? Go, laugh.
february 16th
Skin.
Are you comfortable in your own skin?
february 17th
Reading. What are you reading? Are you reading deprived, or do you have reading overload? What has intrigued, absorbed, made you cry? What do you recommend just at the moment? What is in that pile of unread books? What is your comfort?
february 18th
Friday’s fish! Tell us your fish stories. Have you caught a fish? Do you have a good fishmonger? Ae you adventurous: red snapper, John Dory, rick eel, or are you cod and haddock all the way? Where have you eaten the very, very best fish and chips? What about fish on holiday, freshly caught fish, fish fingers.
february 19th
Bicycle. How did you learn or have you never? First bike? Do you have one now? Where do you go? Bicycle stories. Go.
february 20th
Talk. Who do you talk to? Who listens? Write about one person, or the people, you like to talk to most. What do you talk about? What is special? This is for you. No need to share. But then you might find you want to.
february 21st
Mashed potato. (This is one from Natalie Goldberg.) Tell us all you know about mashed potato. Or roasties, a baked potato, chips. Who is the cook? What are the secrets?
february 22nd
Brave. When have you been brave? When you were five and fell and scraped you knee? When the world seemed to be collapsing around you? When you had to do something that you were afraid to do? Sometimes it feels brave just to step outside the front door. Write being brave.
february 23rd
It is getting warmer already. It is still light at 5pm. Spring is easing towards us. Write about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Write about warmer, longer days. .
february 24th
List three good things that have happened today. Or yesterday. Capture them, however small. Give the detail. Keep them and read them again, this time next year.
february 25th
You are the good fairy. What gifts would you bestow upon a child born today? What gifts would you bestow, to whom? What gifts would you like to be given? There is a story in here somewhere.
february 26th
Saturday. Leisurely breakfast day. Describe the best breakfast. Where? What? With whom? Real or fantasy: the best breakfast.
february 27th
Bath or shower? Which do you prefer? Describe the very best. Where in the world have you washed? In hot springs in a cave in Iceland, beneath a cold water shower rigged up from kitchen taps in a lakeland shepherd’s hut, in a Tuscan red tiled wet room, at school with thirty others.
february 28th
Pause. Look back over the month. Name three good things that have happened. Add more if they come to you. What have you learned? What have you given? What do you wish to throw away? What are you proud of? What do wish to capture about the month? Go ahead. February 2022.