This week’s F-R-E-E-Writing prompt explores how we think about ourselves and the legacy we’ll leave

TRY THIS: Write YOUR OBITUARY

a) Sit in stillness and quiet, with your notebook open before you, your pen beside it. For two full minutes, sit with silence, letting your breathing become progressively slower and deeper. Prepare to write fast, raw and exact-but-easy. Let your thoughts rest, waiting to begin.

b) Write a one-page obituary for yourself, beginning with the sentence:

“The death has occurred of _____________” (your name).

Write it in the third person, as objectively as you can, what a journalist might write if you died tomorrow. Write quickly, without thinking too much about the details.

c) When you’re finished, read back over what you have written. Is there anything you would like to read differently? What might you do about that? F-R-E-E-Write for three pages.

d) The next day, see if you can think of a suitable epitaph for the person described in the obituary? How does it make you feel?

e) F-R-E-E Write any feelings that are arising from this exercise.

You Can Buy A F-R-E-E-Writing Notebook With Full Instructions Here