Yom YaYa
Journal Ideas
Readings and Poems:
Life Just Isn’t
Life isn’t about keeping score. It’s not about how many people call you and it’s not
about who you’ve dated, are dating, or haven’t dated at all. It isn’t about who you’ve
kissed, what sport you play, or which guy or girl likes you. It’s not about your shoes or
your hair or the color of your ski or where you live or go to school. In fact, it’s not
about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn’t about if you
have lots of friends or if you are alone, and it’s not about how accepted or unaccepted
you are. Life just isn’t about that. But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s
about how you feel about yourself. It’s about trust, happiness, and compassion. It’s
about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about
avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building confidence. It’s about what you
say and what you mean. It’s about seeing people for who they are and not what they
have. Most of all, it is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else’s in a way
that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life’s about.
Remember Me?
By Ann Landers
My name is Gossip.
I have no respect for justice.
I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives.
I am cunning, malicious, and gather strength with age.
The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.
I flourish at every level of society.
My victims are helpless. They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no
name and no face.
To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become.
I am nobody’s friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.
I topple governments and wreck marriages. I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights,
heartaches, and indigestion. I spawn suspicion and generate grief. I make innocent
people cry in their pillows. Even my name hisses.
I am called GOSSIP. Office gossip – shop gossip – party gossip – telephone gossip. I
make headlines and headaches. REMEMBER, before you repeat a story, ask yourself: is
it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary?? If not, do not repeat it.
KEEP QUIET.
GREAT minds discuss ideas…average minds discuss events…shallow minds discuss
people…Which are you?
Nike Ad
A woman is often measured by the things she cannot control. She is measured by the
way her body curves or doesn’t curve, by where it is flat or straight or round. She is
measured by 36-24-36 and inches and ages and numbers, by all the outside things that
don’t ever add up to who she is on the inside. And so, a woman should be measured by
all the things she can control, by who she is and who she is trying to become. Because
as every woman knows, measurements are only statistics. And statistics lie.
Phenomenal Woman
By Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing of my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Quotations:
Experience – that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.
-C.S Lewis
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and
suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
-Hellen Keller
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really
stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horro.
I can take the next thing that comes along.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for
life without friends is like life on a desert island…to find one real friend in a lifetime is a
good fortune; to keep them is a blessing.
-Balthasar Gracian
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
-Mother Teresa
You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.
-Barbara DeAngelis
Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about
your own.
-Morrie Schwartz
You have to be yourself. Be very honest about who and what you are. And if people still
like you, that’s fine. If they don’t, that’s their problem.
-Sting
May your heart always be joyful, may your songs always be sung, may you stay forever
young.
-Bob Dylan
Faith is not a cushion for me to fall back upon, it is my working energy.
-Hellen Keller
The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core strength
within you that survives all hurt.
-Max Lerner
Questions and Prompts:
I am beautiful because…
What is the most important quality in a friend?
What is the color of love?
What do you think of when you hear the word love?
What is your favorite non-physical aspect about yourself?
What makes you a phenomenal woman?
What about yourself do you take pride in?
What are your goals?
How can you cheer yourself up when your are feeling sad?
What single thing in life makes you happiest?
Who is your role model?
The bravest thing I ever did was…
Something that nobody knows about me is…
One judgement I regret making was…