Sunday 20 January 2013

Art and Healing Journal



Since reading Art Journal and Creative Healing I’ve been doing my own healing journal.  Many have seen the benefits of using art as a means of healing and you can allow the journal to carry all your private thoughts that can be worked though.  In Creative Interventions I share taking part in Art therapy sessions and dealing with my role as a carer.  

I always find that working in a journal allows your work to be transportable and flexible.  I used a fabric cover made from recycled clothing.  The interior pages were made with lining paper which comes in a roll for decorating and is really cost effective.. 
I have decorated the front page further with modelling paste both inside and out, and sewing a trim along the edges.  It is a work in progress and each change is part of the healing process.  I decided it would be a place where I would write down raw emotions, beliefs, and thoughts using the art as a way of addressing experiences that I might not have dealt with in any of my other journals.  Anyway, it’s another tool that we can allow ourselves the space to be expressive. 
Beliefs
Secrets page addresses secrets of the past and how they always find their way of coming to the surface.  We can often try and hid things from ourselves only to wonder why we respond in a particular way to something that might have been said.
Secrets have a way of coming out......
On this page I allowed myself to be totally honest about an event from the past and wrote it all down, how I felt, what I said and then once it was out, faced it and decided to move on.  I then painted over the words allowing some to show through, forgiving myself in the process and acknowledging that I am a different person now.  Sometimes we can let go of past things, yet still carry them around as baggage.  The worlds say ‘you did the best you could’ which is true for a lot of us as we try to move on and then beat ourselves up over our shortcomings that we perceive to being bigger than they are and let them rule our lives.

Value and self esteem
Self esteem/value page is about listening to the negative things that other people say which in turn lowers your self esteem, and what is most important is that you value yourself and show others that you do.
Using your time wisely...
I enjoyed creating and using this journal which has loads of pages to play in.  It is also a reminder to treat myself with compassion knowing that there aren’t any perfect people in this world,  we are all just trying to get on, live and be a blessing.  If inspired why not give it a go and check out Art journals and creative healing while you’re at it!



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3 comments :

  1. I love your journal ... it's so personal and beautiful. As I began reading through your post, I thought about how much I'd love to do it but, quite frankly, I sometimes stop myself because the idea that perhaps someone will read my words bothers me. Sometimes, emotions have to be released but writing my feelings down could, perhaps, hurt someone else. As I continued reading your post and came to the part where you painted over your words ... well, it was like an "ah ha" moment. What a terrific idea! Thank you for sharing ... I'm excited to start my journal now! :-)

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  2. How awesome is this???? Wow, your drawings and expressions are amazing. I know you will be growing after this. I have done a journal with drawings too. It is amazing how the pictures speak sometimes what your words can't say. Cheers to you!

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  3. Footprints, thank you, working in an art journal and allowing space for the writing opens up a great way of looking at things.

    Kelly, many thanks

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