Creative Journaling

Most of you know that I love painting – you may have seen some of them in the Journal of Possibility I created.

This creative journaling is something different for me.  You see, when I painted, I would always paint a picture, sometimes watercolor, sometimes acrylic.  I always wondered what to do with all of of the small paintings I made.  There are only so many I can put on the wall and I didn’t want to put them away, I like looking at them.

I had never experimented with creative journaling until a few months ago.  I started as a way to prompt me to write my thoughts and emotions, gain clarity about an issue, and a place to capture beautiful quotes or passages from books that move me.  Writing on white paper is not inspiring to me, so I began using watercolor to paint the pages of a blank journal I bought.   This brought the pages to life and made them inviting to write on.

I then started adding some of my paintings to the journal, adding more creative touches and backgrounds.  Now I am finding images from magazines that move me and adding them as a collage.

Having a journal (or now several) that I am working on inspires me to paint or create almost every day.  Here is a picture of my workspace.  I leave everything out or within arms reach.

How do you journal?

Simplifying

It has been quite a while since I have written a blog post.  These last few months have been a sort of “time out” for me.  I stayed focused on my clients and some other business matters, but have taken some time off to focus on my own wellness.

At first it was uncomfortable to take so much time off.  I worried about my business and my clients, wondering how I could manage everything.  But you know what, it all worked out!

I took some days off, lightened my schedule other days, and had some full days as well.  This balance allowed me to reflect, to create, to breathe and to focus on what mattered most, my health.

Did everything fall apart because I said no to some things?  No it didn’t. Were there problems in my business because I moved some appointments further forward than I prefer?  No there weren’t.

What did this experience teach me?  That it is OK to pace myself differently. That it is more than OK to take time to breathe and reflect and renew.  That  it is OK to just simplify sometimes!

Favorite Moments

There are so many favorite moments I experience each day and each week.  I’ve been reflecting on them and realizing that moments like these are what brings a spring to my step and joy to my life.

Some of these moments are consistent, some fleeting, some very small and brief, others lingering.   How long or how large does not matter, it’s allowing myself to fully enjoy and experience the moment that does.

Some of my favorite moments?

  • The drive home from the gym in the morning.  I bask in the energy I feel having worked out and enjoy the quiet drive as the sun is coming up
  • Breakfast.  Every day of the week I give myself enough time to fully enjoy preparing and eating a healthy breakfast.
  • Snack time.  Is there a food pattern here?  Throughout my day I enjoy several (healthy) snacks.  They taste good and the experience of stepping away from my desk to stretch renews my energy.
  • Sunday mornings.  Something about a Sunday morning that feels extra special to me.

What are some of your favorite moments?