Welcome to negative capability, a weekly journaling prompt intended to encourage deliberate thinking in order to cultivate joy, emailed every Sunday. These prompts are meant for my 절친 only,but I am making them available for all my subscribers during the month of January, a time when we are most often reflecting on our past selves and what we want for the coming year. If you find these prompts useful or inspiring, why not consider subscribing?
What is it you really want? If it’s money, why? If it’s happiness, why? If it’s to be published, why? What does what you want say about you as a person?
I never think of myself as someone who particularly wants for much; I’m privileged enough to not worry about material needs, but when it comes to intangible wants, I find that I have a lot of greed. 욕심 (yokshim). I want to be recognized. Significant. Important. Influential. For my thoughts, if not necessarily my art, Yet, despite this, I find I’m especially unambitious. My cardinal sin is sloth, as I’ve said, and to achieve any of these intangible wants just seems like so much work in a way that doesn’t bring me joy.
But perhaps this desire to be recognized relates to my artistic wound. I am always afraid of being misunderstood, of being lost in translation. I am always searching, yearning, hoping to find someone who speaks the language of me. And perhaps this is why I publish: that one day, some reader will pick up my book in the store and discover themselves in the pages. When they are seen, I am seen.
Want
Want
Want
🗣️ Listen to me read the prompt aloud.
Welcome to negative capability, a weekly journaling prompt intended to encourage deliberate thinking in order to cultivate joy, emailed every Sunday. These prompts are meant for my 절친 only, but I am making them available for all my subscribers during the month of January, a time when we are most often reflecting on our past selves and what we want for the coming year. If you find these prompts useful or inspiring, why not consider subscribing?
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What is it you really want? If it’s money, why? If it’s happiness, why? If it’s to be published, why? What does what you want say about you as a person?
I never think of myself as someone who particularly wants for much; I’m privileged enough to not worry about material needs, but when it comes to intangible wants, I find that I have a lot of greed. 욕심 (yokshim). I want to be recognized. Significant. Important. Influential. For my thoughts, if not necessarily my art, Yet, despite this, I find I’m especially unambitious. My cardinal sin is sloth, as I’ve said, and to achieve any of these intangible wants just seems like so much work in a way that doesn’t bring me joy.
But perhaps this desire to be recognized relates to my artistic wound. I am always afraid of being misunderstood, of being lost in translation. I am always searching, yearning, hoping to find someone who speaks the language of me. And perhaps this is why I publish: that one day, some reader will pick up my book in the store and discover themselves in the pages. When they are seen, I am seen.