Guided imagery: Engage all senses to replay/relive experiences from the day. Guide the group to those moments, asking them to remember their feelings as vividly as they can. Ask: What was the most profound memory for you?

Journaling: Journaling is a tool to be intentional about the dialogue within your mind, heart, and spirit. Take time to listen and reflect upon all you are seeing, feeling, and thinking each day.

• Free writing: Reflect on whatever feels most pressing.
• Write a letter to yourself or to another person. Writing an unsent letter can be helpful when you want to process or confront something.
• Flow writing or stream of consciousness: Don’t censor, just write!
• Write a dialogue with yourself.
• Write affirmations in each other’s journals at the end of a shared experience (like an immersion)

What? – So What? – Now What?: (Adapted from the work of John Bortaon)

• First, we ask ― WHAT? (describe) What happened today, what did you notice, what did you see, hear, and feel?
• Next, we ask SO WHAT? (interpret) Why does this happen, who has power, who is affected, what do my faith tradition or value systems say about what is happening here? How can I look at what happened in a deeper way?
• Lastly, we ask, NOW WHAT? (apply) What am I going to do differently, how has my view of the world been changed, how can we effect change in our communities?

Mutual Invitation: Eric Laws: One person begins and then mutually invites someone else from the group to share. “When you are ready, I invite you to share and then invite someone else to share using their name.”

Talking Stick/Object: Place an object in the center of the room. When someone is ready to share, they take the object and speak. When they are finished, they return it to the center. When someone has the talking stick/object, all others are asked to focus on listening.

Think, Pair, Share: First ask participants to think/reflect individually, then to pair up with one other person and share, and then bring it back to the large group to share insights.

Consistent Question: Choose the same question to ask at several points throughout the day, or every day. For example: How do you feel? What is challenging you? What does being a Vincentian in Action mean to you right now?

Mapping: Draw a map of the high points and low points, joys and sorrows, significant relationships and events from your experience.

Free Association: Free association is a simple technique that captures the true expertise of the group. Ask participants to freely associate answers to certain questions. Answers can be sthared out loud, written on a flip chart, or posted on Post-It notes.

Art: Use art or other creative mediums (clay, watercolors, chalk, crayons…) to express your experience.

This I Believe: Modeled after NPR’s “Speaking of Faith” series, invited students write their own statement of “This I believe: _____”

Parking Lot: Create a space to write ideas that may be “off-topic” so that the group can come back to them later. Invite the group to write these ideas down as they go.

Images: Display various images and have participants select an image to represent how they feel. This can be used multiple times.

Object Sharing: Ask participants to bring a meaningful personal object they feel comfortable sharing with a group. After they share the object and tell its story, pass the object around the room to model that this is a significant object. Ask the group to receive the object and treat it with respect.