100 Daily Creative Prompts for More Wonder

100 Days of Wonder 2026 | Dopamine Edition

This glass jar is filled with 365 daily prompts and questions to build our creativity, wonder, and resilience.

I know it’s a 100-day project, but I got on a roll and thought, what if we really like it and want to keep going? I come prepared.

But predictably, I also wanted to do something I hadn’t done before because, have you met me? Plus, after January lasted a year on its own, we could all use some extra daily dopamine support.

May I introduce Penelope, the Prompt Jar?

Penelope means weaver. And I couldn’t resist naming her.

You’ve likely heard of dopamine, our brain’s happy hormone. You might also know it is associated with pleasure, motivation, and reward.

But what you might not know is that the highest levels of dopamine are often released in anticipation of a reward rather than the experience of the reward itself. And the highest levels of these occur when the outcome is uncertain or random.

Yes, this is the exact brain circuitry that social media exploits to keep us scrolling.

Enter this year’s iteration of our group 100-Day Project, 100 Days of Wonder. And Penelope.

I printed out our prompts and cut them up, folded them, and put them all in our glass jar. For each morning, I will pull a prompt, create my response to it, and put that in a Substack article like this one that will post at 8 am.

Then you can chime in with your response in the comments! It will really be like doing this in real time together, and I could not be more excited. We start with the glocal 100-day project on February 22.

If you have another 100-Day project you are doing, this is simple enough to be an encouraging companion to your journey.

Shall we have a practice session?

PROMPT: What is the smallest spark that could ignite a new idea?

The way light hits and puddles on my desk in the afternoon. It looks like amber gold with rainbows folded in. Question marks and ellipses. What if? Maybe… I wonder…

The flicker of a candle. Tilting your head just enough to find a new angle of seeing the room.

All the ways I might use a water bottle. Showerhead. Squirt bottle. Pen holder. Seed sprouter. Portable eyewash station.

Limitations. There’s a reason painters often use limited palettes. New materials. Old materials. The history of a word. Where it originated. Butterflies.

Shadows dancing in the evening breeze. Seeing a gap where there is a need.

EVERYTHING can be an art prompt, doorway into new creative experiences… if we let it be.

Ok, friend, now it's your turn.

It doesn’t have to be long or perfect or formal. There are no creativity grades or homework police around here.

To keep things easy to navigate, I just ask that you respond to the prompt in this post.

Simply hit the comment button and share your thoughts. I can’t wait to hear them and get to know you more.

Please restack this on Substack and share with anyone you think would enjoy joining us! You are the reason I can create this space. Thank you so much for being here.

All my love,