1. Throughout life, each person we come across can be a teacher. Not necessarily a school teacher, but a teacher brought to us to impart a meaningful lesson. List people you would consider your personal teachers and jot what lessons you’ve learned from them along the way.
Use this quote by Liz Gilbert as inspiration:
“In the end, I’ve come to believe in something I call “The Physics of the Quest.” A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity. The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.”
2. When a poignant memory emerges about a life teacher or a clue you received, write it as a story with sensory details.
3. Imagine an important decision you made in your life – choosing a college, a partner, a job. Now, write your life as if you had made the alternate choice. Describe the web-like effect, altering aspects of your life?
4. Now, imagine a seemingly unimportant choice you’ve made in the last 24 hours. A choice like stopping at the cafe to run in and grab a coffee, or take an alternate route to work. How would this small choice affect your life? Be as creative as possible.
The Train Ride Home 