Write first. Ask better.
An experiment in handwriting, reflection and AI. Before asking a machine for advice, we spend some time giving it a more thoughtful account of the person asking.
Format: Facilitated reflection · Materials: Paper, questions and an AI conversation · Status: Experiment
The question
What happens when you write about yourself before asking a machine to help?
A title, a short biography and a list of goals can leave out a lot: how someone thinks, what drains them, what helps them move, or what they wish people understood about their work.
The Soul Prompt begins there. Not with a demonstration of what AI can do, but with a person taking time to put something into their own words.
The format
The session moves from a handwritten metaphor into a set of reflective questions. Participants choose what they want to share with an AI tool, examine the response and identify a question worth keeping.
There is space for private writing and an invitation—not a requirement—to share a question with the room.
The workbook and the conversation matter in their own right. The technology is one part of the format, not its authority.
A few decisions behind the experience
Start on paper.
Writing first changes the sequence. Instead of immediately accepting a machine's framing, a person begins with their own language. It does not need to be polished to be useful.
Use the response as a draft, not a verdict.
AI can produce a useful connection. It can also be generic, flattering or wrong. Participants are invited to question what comes back, correct it or set it aside. Feeling recognised is not proof that a model has understood someone accurately.
Make passing an ordinary option.
Passing is part of the format. You can keep your writing private, decline to share a question or leave the AI step out. No explanation required.
What exists
A facilitated session design, a workbook-led reflection process and a prompt-based way to continue the conversation with an AI tool.
This is an ongoing experiment in reflection, not a diagnostic or therapeutic service. The AI response is something to consider, question or discard—not an assessment of who you are.
What this taught me
The way we introduce a tool shapes the way people use it.
A tool presented as an oracle invites one kind of relationship. A tool presented as an imperfect mirror invites another. I am interested in the second: something people can work with, question and remain in charge of.
Made with
Concept and facilitation design: Jay Ahya. The format combines a workbook, reflective questions and an optional conversation with a third-party AI tool.
This page describes the workshop. It does not collect your personal reflections or run an AI conversation.