In just a few days it will be June, which means it is time to celebrate how far the LGBTQ community has come, band together as a community for more progress on the way, and reflect on what it all means to us. These journaling prompts are meant to guide you to contemplate what pride means to you, no matter if you are LGBTQ+, a parent, and ally, or still figuring it out.
If you haven’t read our previous journaling prompts, here is a reminder about how they work:
Set aside some time to look closely at what you are feeling and experiencing. Below are a few writing prompts. Get comfortable in front of your computer or journal. Set a timer for 20-30 minutes – long enough to get some real ideas out but not so long that it feels daunting. If you can commit a bit more time, even better, since you get out of this experience what you put in. Read the prompts and respond to whichever ones speak to you. Write without the expectation that your words will be read, and don’t worry about things like spelling and grammar. When you are done, congratulate yourself for having spent time on reflection, then take with you with whatever lessons you learned.
- What role does gratitude play in your life? Consider what you’re grateful for on a small scale in your day to day life, as well as on a larger scale, like the communities, organizations, and systems that support you. Which LGBTQ activists and Jewish community leaders did work that has directly or indirectly impacted you? How do you express gratitude?
- What values do you associate with Pride? Consider values such as hard work, faith, fairness, openness, exploration, reliability, freedom, health, commitment, service, thankfulness, justice, or any others that you think are important. How will you show up for your community this June embodying your values, and how will you ask your community to show up for you?
- What has changed since last year? Every June is different from the last one. Where were you mentally last pride month? How does that compare to where you are going into pride month this year?
- What would you change about the world if you could snap your fingers and make anything happen? In a perfect world, what would LGBTQ inclusion look like? What would Orthodoxy look like? Think BIG, since in this hypothetical you can make the world perfect. Sit with these ideas for a moment and then take a step back to consider the small scale: What’s one thing you can do this June to bring us an inch closer to that perfect world?
Happy pride month! Remember, pride is not just about parties and fun, though I absolutely support having fun in June – it’s about social change. Thank you for reading this far and doing the work to reflect on your place in pride.
-Jamie