Things you create (4)

Think about the people around you and how you affect them.  Who might think of you mainly as someone who creates problems and difficulties for them?

Things you create (3)

What do you help create in the social world?  What events do you help plan and stage?  What clubs, organizations, and social activities are richer because of your imagination and your active support?

Things you create (2)

What are your dormant creative skills? Do you have musical, theatrical, or culinary skills, or skills in any other creative area, that rarely get put to use? What are some of the things that you could help create, if a situation came up that demanded it?

Things you create (1)

What are your creative outlets? Think not only of the things that are traditionally considered creative, but also all of the other areas of your daily life. Where do you get the chance to create something, decide on the style and form of it, and make sure that the results come out to your satisfaction? 

Unfinished business

What remains unfinished in your life?  What are the big projects that you have promised to do but haven't yet started?  What lifelong ambitions are still unfulfilled?

Do you keep a "bucket list," a list of things you intend to do before you die?  If so, how many things are on the list?

This week's theme is unfinished business.

Character strengths and virtues

Think of character strengths, such as loyalty, integrity, perseverance, discipline, resilience, boldness, creativity, teamwork, courage, and responsibility.

If you had to pick one, which of these is your strongest trait? And which is your weakest area, the one you would most like to improve?

This week's theme is character strengths and virtues.

Empty chairs

Thinking of the overall cast of characters who play a role in your life, what qualities and attributes are weak or missing across that set of people? What are some roles in your life that have gone unfilled?

This week's theme is cast of characters.

In your corner

Thinking of four areas of your life — home, work, relationships, and recreation — which of them is most in line with your good health and well-being? And which area is most at odds with your health and well-being?

This week's theme is health.

Built-in advantages

Is your name early in the alphabet? Are you taller than average? Do you happen to live close to where important things happen? What are some of the competitive advantages that life handed you without any effort on your part?

This week's theme is built-in advantages.

Problem solved

What long-running issue did you finally resolve this year? Who helped you find a solution?

What old questions did you finally answer? What helped guide you to the answers?

This week's theme is year-end inventory.

Plot twists and transformations

In 2011, who or what went through fundamental changes? What changed its name, changed its form, changed direction? Who changed their role in your life? Who is starting 2012 from a completely different place than their starting point in 2011?

This week's theme is year-end inventory.

Beginnings

What was new in 2011? What appeared or emerged during the year? What already-existing things crept into your awareness or became part of your life this year?

This week's theme is year-end inventory.

Endings

What faded away or came to an end in 2011? What was part of your world at the beginning of the year and gone by the end of the year?

This week's theme is year-end inventory.

Year-end inventory

Think of the resolutions or goals that you set for 2011. Which of them did you carry to a successful conclusion? And which of them did you fail to complete?

This week's theme is year-end inventory.

Your global web

Think of your connections to faraway places: your ancestors' homelands, the birthplaces of friends and colleagues, and your friends who have moved to distant lands. How far and wide do your connections reach? Can you find links to all six inhabited continents?

This week's theme is connections.

Connections

Everything is connected to everything else, even if the ties are invisible or indirect. And you are connected to every other person on earth by no more than six degrees of separation. Today, let's look at your first-degree connections, your family members, roommates, friends, acquaintances, all the people you know by name in your neighborhood or at work, and all the people who are listed as your friends on online networks. Don't forget people from years past whom you would count as friends if you happened to end up at the same party or on the same bus. Approximately how many people can you count as first-degree connections?

This week's theme is connections.

Creativity

What is the most significant or large creative work — for example a book, a symphony, a song, a film — you've ever finished? What's the most significant or large creative work that you didn't finish?

This week's theme is creativity.

@

How many different e-mail addresses do you use to receive e-mail?

Do you have separate e-mail addresses for work, home, online shopping, and that book club you belong to? Or do you use the same inbox for everything?

Clothing

How much clothing do you have? Too much? Not enough? Just the right amount? When and why do you buy new clothing?

This week's theme is clothing.

Extremes

Do you live near the furthest-east point in your state? Do you work for the biggest company in the world? Does your last name start with "Z" and put you at the end of every list?

What is something about your life, your job, your home, your family, or your accomplishments that is an example of something extreme? In what way are you out at the edges, not in the middle of things?

This week's theme is extremes.