28.3.08 new game

At dinner tonight a friend told about an exercise she did with a life coach that reminds me of the Perfect Day exercise in headSpa's "One Day" Journey 4. The point of both exercises is to put out there in a narrative form the things you'd like to be and do in your life and give them some form so you can see what they tell you about what matters to you, and so that you can use it like a map to move into those dreams and visions.

In this exercise, you write a letter to a friend describing your life at a future date when the things you desire are part of your life. You also tell this friend about the milestones along the way of your journey into having, achieving or becoming what you desire. It's not a letter you send, but rather one that comes back to you as a guide towards living into that future.

It was wonderful to see our friend who'd done this exercise light up when she talked about how she was able to sit on a train one day and just write the letter; how the dreams just flowed onto the page. She wrote about a time ten years from now and her sense of excitement about the possibilities, about the journey ahead that may or may not result in actually living every bit of that story by that time, was palpable. It was as if by creating that image on paper she had inspired herself to live more fully and with a sense of wonder, to see where it might lead her. Great stuff.

And the Vietnamese food over which she told us about the exercise was great too - what more could you ask for on a Friday night out in London?