From the biological life cycle to seemingly unbreakable habits, we are surrounded by cycles.

We are told that everything has a beginning and an end, but what about everything in between? From growth cycles to menstrual cycles to thought cycles, our lives are impacted by endless hoops. Is it possible to escape a cycle? Describe the cycles that should have been broken by now. Search for loopholes and travel through them. Which cycles are you trying to break and why?

Cycles go beyond the individual and into greater society as cycles of oppression, and into the natural world as the migration cycles of animals and the phases of the moon. What cycles do we see perpetuate for generations? How do events cycle through history as it “repeats itself”? Where do we see cycles within cycles?

Everything starts somewhere. Cycles are found in the start button of washing machines and tales of origin. Speak on the origins of things that have not been questioned. Where have the beliefs that you hold as an individual originated? What about the beliefs held as a society? Explore the cycles your identity was born of.

Predict what the ending will be or choose your own finale. Does death mean the end of a cycle? What beginnings can the end provide for us? Discover what propels these cycles to continue. Explore unfathomable cycles and perpetual cycles, like the Ouroboros and its tail.

Admire the visual cycles and illusions we see in daily life. From the Fibonacci sequence to Penrose Stairs to a nautilus shell, there’s beauty in numerical cycles. With the Krebs cycle, acceleration of wheels, and the law of Conservation of Mass, explore the greater impact of an individual cycle. Understand what the cycles in your life mean to you.

Don’t miss your opportunity to submit your original poetry, short stories, essays, comics, or artwork for elementia by February 1.

Johnson County Library – Nurturing the Community’s Collective Wisdom