Do you talk to your car? I have a LARGE van (holds Marky’s wheelchair –who am I kidding? It would hold 6 wheelchairs). It doesn’t do anything fast. I can often be heard encouraging it to speed up quickly so we don’t get rear-ended: “Come on…You can do it…a little faster…almost there. Yea! You made it.”
What about your plants? “Looking lovely today. I see you have 4 new buds coming. Can’t wait to see them.”
Your fridge? “Where are you hiding the mustard? I know it’s in here somewhere!”
Your vacuum? “Hey. Pick that up! It’s not THAT big. You are so LAZY!”
Sound familiar?
What if your “things” could talk to you?
Your purse: “Would you quit stuffing things in me? I am getting SO overweight? Besides, if you put less in here, then you could FIND your keys.”
Your paypal account: “Holy Moses! You are working me to the BONE this week. Look at all these fantastic things you’ve found.”
Your alarm clock: “Hey. Quit hitting me. It’s not my fault you went to bed at _____. Come on. Get up. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you. If you don’t hurry the kids will miss the school bus.”
So, if you nightstand could talk, what would it say? How about your cell phone?
Sometimes an interesting way to tell your story is through a message to or from an inanimate object.
For example, I wanted to tell my story of mother’s day afternoon. We spent some family time playing our favorite family PlayStation 2 video game: BUZZ. It’s a series of little arcade-style games where the four of us compete as monkeys. In most games I loose, but there are a few where I excel. (I would go on here describing the games.) See? Written that way, it’s boring.
So I tried this:
I’m sorry little monkey. You see, I’m not very good at video games, but we enjoy playing them together as a family so much, that THIS is what I wanted to do for mother’s day – to play a MARATHON game with our family. I’m sorry that the anvil keeps hitting you on the head. I’m really just trying to get enough points to win the round. I’m sorry that your brain keeps getting fried in the wrecked airplane. I’m not very fast at pushing the red button. I’m sorry that the lion keeps biting your head, and that the drumming monkey throws cocoanuts at you when I miss the beat. I’m sorry you fall out of the sky or into the water when I can’t aim, but you are the fastest at selecting the odd hippo. And no one is quicker on the draw than you. I’ll keep trying and maybe someday you’ll be at the top of the tree.

Does your snowman (or sandcastle) want to tell the story of your day at the beach? Maybe the candles want to tell about your son’s birthday? Or your favorite decoration wants to tell the story of your holiday festivities.
Try writing your journaling from a different perspective.