Permission granted
I promised myself I’d polish two chapters yesterday evening, and (yay for me), I came thisclose to meeting that goal. But also? I got waterlogged. Heavy rainstorms moved into SoCal. Our garage flooded, and our backyard turned into a lake that lapped against the French doors and found an entry point into the family room. Can you say "Swab the decks"? I knew that you could.
And then yesterday, I found myself underwater yet again. Metaphorically speaking. And as I flailed and gasped for air, I realized anew that I sometimes pull off my own oxygen mask. Too easily sometimes, I yield my power to external events and outside influences.
Enough of that nonsense! I pulled myself up by my swimflaps and gave myself a serious what-for.
What do I want for myself, and what’s holding me back? As the rainstorms pelted my windows, I poured myself some tea and reflected on those questions. And I wrote out a ton of permission slips, which I then tucked into an envelope. And thus, these creative journal pages were born.
On a related note, Stace wrote two gorgeous entries about our Creative Journaling Workshops for incarcerated teens (here and here). She expressed herself beautifully, in words and images, so I’m thinking I’ll just step aside and allow her to speak for both of us.
ETA: Double rainbows peeked through the palm trees at sunset, overlaying the rainclouds with splashy ribbons of color. I’ll take that as a promise of sunnier skies ahead….