creative journaling

Dreaming while doing

Remember my entry about Vision Boards awhile back? And my posts about Creative Journaling? Well, I just learned about another fun idea, closely related, and of course I wanted to share.  For those of you who might like/prefer working in digital media, it’s an option to consider.

"Dream Board" is an online tool designed to help you "Get clear about your goals, your hopes and your vision for your life." Similar to Vision Boards and artistic journaling, it’s a creative outlet as well as a motivational tool. And as with its more tactile equivalents, it’s more about the process of discovery than the actual artistry.

(From the website) With the Dream Boards, you can:

  • Upload photos from your computer
  • Choose from our photo library featuring images by our partner Getty Images
  • Write inspirational quotes, words and actions
  • Change your Dream Board as you change
  • Keep track of your life’s journey with an archive of your past Dream Boards
  • Save image jpgs to your desktop
  • Share your Dream Board with your family and friends

I don’t know about you, but my mind drifted right away to all the fun and practical possibilities Dream Boards hold for us writers. They offer yet another fun way to gain insights about character arcs and plotlines, explore themes, or (aha!) create imaginary book covers…and that’s just for starters.

I set aside 15 minutes yesterday to play/experiment with the website. (Natch, I needed to try it out before endorsing it!) I began with this quotation by John Donahue, lifted from Jo Knowles’ blog entry about battle cries: "May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer, but do at last what I came here for and waste my heart on fear no more." (Love that!!)  Some of the collaged pictures are from my own collection; I gathered others from their image library. I had lots of fun and made good headway, mainly because the instructions are easy and the tools are fun to use.

Here are the as-yet-unfinished results. Likely, the images will mean nothing to you personally, but perhaps my Dream Board — the rough edges and blank spaces, especially — will help you visualize the possibilities for yourself.  

Not that this is a replacement for the actual writing, nosiree. But if it helps brings joy and clarity to the writing process, sign me up! 

Edited to add: You might also enjoy THE VISION BOARD: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life, by Joyce Schwarz. Flip through the lovely prose and illustrations (click here, then explore the "Search Inside" feature), or  read the first chapter here. See also: "What the Heck’s a Vision Board–and How Can It Change Your Life?" (from O, The Oprah Magazine, May 17, 2010).

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Offerings

I’ve been unsettled by a recent Nancy Drew discovery. Over Tuesday lunch, my writing buddies offered compassion and sage advice, which brightened my mood considerably. I wrote all afternoon, buoyed by their support and inspired by their wisdom. 

But when night fell, the darkness decended again. 

I gathered up my art supplies, in hopes that creative journaling would help calm my inner chaos. Pens, gesso, watercolors…I scattered them on the table. I flipped through an old issue of L.A. Yoga Journal, searching for soothing words and images. In doing so, I discovered a poem I’d previously overlooked.

You are stunned, powerless.
You thought you knew
What was going on.
Now you realize
You don’t have a clue.
You are stopped in your tracks.
Everything within your skin is shaking.

Enter this shaking.
Right here, in the midst of commotion –
Get curious, look around inside with wonder.
Unmind your mind.
All the walls have fallen down.
Go ahead and dissolve.

The One Who Has Always Been,
Who has seen much worse than this,
Is still here.
             ~Sutra 89 of The Radiance Sutras

The poem cradled my spirit, helped ease me into a peaceful sleep.

Fresh coffee in hand, I greeted the new day in my garden. Fog swirled around the rosebushes, swaddling the citrus trees like a gauzy blanket. "Soften your gaze," it seemed to say, "find your peace within." 

As the sun kissed the morning, my backyard was filled with the fresh scent of citrus blossoms.

And when the fog cleared, a tiny rose blossom appeared. The first of the season–the harbinger of many–she lifted her sweet Angel Face to the endless blue sky.

As promised, Joy cometh in the morning.

GRAPEMO

GRAPEMO: An opportunity to lift ourselves up collectively, and for each of us to move closer to our own dreams. For the as-yet-unitiated, this brainchild of Jeannine Garsee (aka onegrapeshy) is an annual event. It runs from February 1st through February 28th, which means we start today!

I’ve established an ambitious goal, at least by my own standards. And if past is prologue, you might think I’m setting myself up for disappointment. But I’m seeing this as yet another opportunity to teach myself new lessons–patience, acceptance, and persistence among them. Tomorrow will take care of itself. March 1st will come soon enough. I’m learning to focus my energies on the here and now.

With that in mind, I hereby give myself permission to observe without judgment, to honor my potential, and to stretch and breathe my way into a deeper writing practice. It’s not about win or lose or compromises. It’s about living each moment in JOY.  

P.S. I’m in awe of those who’ve taken a vow of Internet abstinence for the month of February. I can see how it might inspire you to be more productive, and I wish you all the best. But as for me…well, I’d be lonely without my online friends. I thrive on our connections, and I count on your writerly wisdom. Again, it’s all about seeking balance, and I love that we help each other stay upright. xo

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Quieting Monkey Mind with artful compassion

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For me, Creative Journaling is one way to tame Monkey Mind. First, the very act of creation is soothing, relaxing. It brings me back to the breath. As I choose background colors and border images, my subconscious musings often make themselves apparent. And in the process, I move past Monkey Mind to Neutral Witness.

Consider this journal page, as yet unfinished, which we used as an example of bordering in our recent workshop. Perhaps the images have no meaning for you. Maybe you’d choose different colors or arrange the objects differently. But I’m learning to look beyond the page itself–to find joy in the process, and to explore its possibilities without judgment. What will I write in that empty space?  What new discoveries will emerge? As I pick out my gel pens and Sharpies, I’m at once curious and excited.

P.S. Don’t miss Staci’s post about lettering!

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Joy in the Morning

We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
~Joseph Campbell

  

In 2009, ’twas Grace that led me up the highest peaks, that guided me through the narrows. And for this upcoming year, I’m choosing JOY as my traveling companion. I’ll try to approach each moment as "the observer," with an open mind and grateful heart. And even when I’m traversing life’s darkest passageways, I’ll look for a sliver of sunlight in which to dance. 

Maya Angelou said, "When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness…all good things."  This, then, is also my New Year’s wish for you: a life richly blessed by an abundance of JOY.

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All Through The Night

‘T’was four nights before Christmas, and all through Chez Shore, not a creature was stirring…sigh, except for me. (See also: insomnia, side effects, Prednisone.)

So in the wee hours of the morning, I decided to create a Christmas journal page. Too bleary-eyed for self-editing, fa la la, I let my pens and scissors fly.

Behold…my holiday Wish List! 

Christmas journaling: can you come out to play?

The ho ho holiday’s upon us: 5 days, can you believe it?

I’ve got a to-do list longer than Santa’s Naughty List. But you know what? The world won’t end if I can’t find the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts; the tree won’t topple over if I don’t place the ornaments just so; and if I don’t get around to baking my blueberry buckle this year, none of my guests will starve. So…because peace and joy are the essense of Christmas, I’m allowing myself time to play.

Psst. Wanna join me? I propose we set aside some time this week for a Creative Journaling play date!

Yes, this week. Any time of the day or evening, or even on the fly. Don’t think too hard, just do it. And invite your friends along.

You could collage your favorite Christmas memories. Or maybe illustrate your Christmas wishes. Looking for more inspiration? Check out these holiday journal pages and how-to’s. Ho ho ho–you’ll feel like you unwrapped some presents early! 

Creativity is all about the process, not the "product", so let’s not to get hung up on what our pages look like! But if you feel like sharing, hey, let’s can light up LJ with our hand-crafted journal "ornaments"!

christmas smileys for msn 17

Image credit: Journaling Your Christmas

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Creative Journaling: forgetting how to play

I apologize for being AWOL on LJ this week. I’d like to say that I’ve been writing, wrapping presents, and decorating the Christmas tree. But no, I’ve been sidelined by cooties. Oh, woe is me! I’ve missed two weeks’ worth of voice lessons, and my tambourine is temporarily silenced.

Still, I managed to drag myself to a creative journaling workshop, and oh, I was really glad I did. Stace introduced us a new technique: washing diluted Gesso over watercolor-penciled, collaged backgrounds. I love how it mutes the colors, how it gives images a dream-like quality. Look at the little girl on the right…can’t you almost imagine you’re glancing at her through a frosted windowpane? I wonder what book she’s reading, where that hummingbird is headed…

 

Now turn your attention to the page on the left. I’m not loving it–you either? It’s pretty clear that my vision got lost in translation. Instead of thinking about the overarching theme,* I got fixated on the tiniest of details. And, um, it shows. There’s no overall cohesiveness, and the images are blurred beyond recognition by the gloppy layers (upon layers) of products I used to cover my "mistakes."

Creative journaling is supposed to be playful, more bouncy Tigger than thinky Pooh. Unfortunately, I lost sight of that this week. We talked about this in the workshop–how we so often focus on product vs. process. When we take it (or ourselves) too seriously, we rob ourselves of recess.  

No worries, though: I’ll carry that (re)discovery over to the next set of pages. And hmm…if I squint my eyes and tilt my head just so, I’ll probably find a few writing lessons in this, as well!

*Themes/metaphors are totally unnecessary, by the way. But hey, that’s how I roll.

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Creative Journaling: playing it forward

In a couple of previous entries, I mentioned the ways in which Creative Journaling helps inform and inspire my writing efforts co-mingles work with play. (If you missed those entries, you can access them here and here.)

I’m not the only one, of course. Earlier this week, author R L. LaFevers wrote a related entry for the Shrinking Violets’ blog. Here’s an excerpt of "Envisioning the Coming Year" (reposted with permission):

No lesser authority than Carl Jung has claimed that our best work originates in play.

The dynamic principle of fantasy is play, which belongs also to the child, and as such it appears to be inconsistent with the principle of serious work. But without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. – Carl Jung

Now before you roll your eyes and think you left all that back in grade school, let me gently point out that collages and vision boards are a highly effective tool in helping focus your creative energies—either in a personal direction or in a project-related one.

There are a couple of different ways to approach a vision board. You can create one that focuses on:

Personal growth aspirations for the coming year
Professional goals
Creative goals
Spiritual areas you’d like to work on.
Qualities you’d like to more fully embrace or invite into your life
Whatever whispers to you, that’s what you should use for the focus of the board.

But perhaps you’re more comfortable working on something to do with your work-in-progress, and that’s fine, too. Some story collages capture the overall mood and feel of the book.

They can also be representative of certain scenes or parts of the book, maybe even parts you’re having a hard time nailing down. When you work on a collage, you let your subconscious take over and then, watch out!

We’d LOVE to see some of the vision boards and collages you create! If you get motivated over the next few weeks (even after the holidays) please do send us a jpeg of your collage/vision board and we’ll feature them here on the blog. (We can absolutely share them anonymously!) And while sharing your project is definitely not required, we might even have a prize drawing for all of those who participate. If you’d like to share, send your jpeg to us here at Shrinking Violets, and we’ll do the rest.

So there you have it: an invitation (with incentives!) to try it on for size.

I think I might adapt the idea of a vision board, maybe glue the images into the pages of my sketchbook instead of creating something poster-sized. The possibilities are endless–form and function, entirely up to me. Smile



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