free creative journaling workshop is an ongoing creativity workshop that i will be posting here on my blog. you are welcome to join in at any time and follow along at your own pace. for complete workshop info and catch up on everything that has happened, visit the creative journaling page. i do creativity workshops because i have found creativity to be an incredible force for my own healing, transformation and empowerment and i would like to share that with others. our creativity is our uniqueness, radiance and beauty, it is connected to our intuition and is a way to access the deepest and wisest parts of ourselves.
yes! now we are ready for our first creative journaling exercise. i wanted to start with something fun, something with a lot of energy that gets us excited about our creative journaling. i am imagining all of us generating creative journaling jet fuel.
creative energy is like jet fuel, it sparks new ideas and brings us to new places. what i want to start with is nurturing that creative energy and inviting more of it in. like building up a storehouse of creative energy that can carry us through the dry spells. so here is what we are going to do:
creative journaling exercise: noticing, creating and expanding creative journaling fuel
we are going to journal about what fuels our creativity, creating a page that inspires us and reminds us of how to re-fuel.
step one: meditation. i always start my creative journaling sessions with meditation. a little quiet time to get focused and centered, open and allowing creative energy to flow through. if you want to do this, simply get comfortable, close your eyes and take some deep relaxing breaths. really feel your whole body relax. feel your mind relax. bring your awareness into your heart as you continue to relax deeper and deeper, and invite your creative energy out to play. think about your journaling focus – what fuels your creativity – and open your mind, allowing throughts and idea to flow through. don’t try to hold on to any of them, just stay open to new ideas flowing in and keep breathing deeply and slowly. notice any colours, textures and images that may come to mind. take whatever time you need to do this. when this feels complete, take one last deep breath as you open your eyes, feeling refreshed and ready to journal.
step 2: listmaking. listmaking can be a powerful creative journaling tool. in this case, we are going to start with a list of everything that nurtures our creative energy and inspires our creative spirits. creating this list sets our intention to nurture our creativity more deeply in our lives. it helps us notice and remember all the little things we can do to nurture our creativity and gives us new ideas of things to try.
spend some time making your list, trying to make it as big as possible. if you’re not sure where to start, start with things that inspire you and things that make you feel good. as you work on your list, really get into your creative energy and let it flow. come up with your own title for your list and put it on your page. create your list in your journal however you feel inspired to, with paints, glitter pens, markers, crayons, stickers, stamps, collage… anything! you may want to illustrate or decorate your list.
if you are following the creative journaling guidelines, you will find your creative voice speaking to you and guiding you throughout the exercise. i find when i am really in tune with my creative voice, i can feel which art supplies to use, which colour, which texture, how much to use, where to put it, etc. it all becomes intuitive and expressive, instead of me trying to create something specific. you may find your creative voice guiding you in a different direction, away from the list and into something else. go with it.
i decided to go with hot pink paint first. hot pink is one of my favourite colours, my whole art room is painted hot pink. so i made my page pink (with glitter, my creative spirit loves glitter!) and then wrote out my list on tiny scraps of paper from various art projects (i always keep my scraps to use on other projects) and collaged it onto my page.
i am really enjoying this process, my pages feel really good so far. i am not finished. i know there is more for me to add to my list, and i feel like i want to do something different on the other page but am not sure what it is yet. but i am going to post this here as my work in progress, and i will share again as i continue to work on it.
creative energy generator list (in progress)
creative energy generator close-up (in progress)
i am so excited to see what *you* do with this. share your pics and thoughts in the comments section!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
what wonderful ways to get started! I like the list-making idea a lot and the images of your work is always a treat to see!