TO WRITE: What's to Become of Us?
I've got to give credit to an unknown student for this one too, a fascinating question to write on: Where do you think we're going in our evolution?

If you're a biologist, like me, your thoughts may go immediately to Darwin and genetics and survival of the fittest. If you're a sci-fi buff, you might be thinking in more high-tech terms. If you're a mystic, perhaps your ideas about death and beyond come in to play on this one. And if you're a global warming expert...?

Play with this...
Without thinking too much beforehand, write continuously for 20 minutes on where you think the human race is going evolutionarily. You can create a serious and thoughtful freewrite, or let your imagination go and write a fictional account of the future.

Afterward, consider what mood you were in when you wrote this piece. We're probably all likely to sound more pessimistic when depressed. But does consciously trying to write more optimistically help to improve your mood? There is evidence that the different ways we tell stories can affect our thinking and even behavior, so it doesn't seem outrageous as a hypothesis. If your writing sounded "down," try a rewrite and see what you think.