Accessing Our Inner Wisdom

Now that you have your completed your calendar collage, you are ready to dialogue with the images. You will use your non-dominant hand.

This is the hand you do not normally write with.

We use the non-dominant hand to access the right-brain,

which is the seat of our emotions and inner wisdom. 

Step 1.

Take a moment to find a quiet place to sit with your collage.

Give yourself 20 minutes minimum.

Step 2.

Close your eyes and take several breaths.

Release any tension, thoughts or anxiety.

Step 3.

Allow your gaze to take in all of the images on the collage.

Let yourself get curious about one of the images. 

Step 4.

Using your non-dominant hand let the image write about itself in the first person.

Allow it to tell its own story.

What part of you is it expressing? What are its qualities? Why is it on your collage?

Step 5.

If you notice any critical voice regarding the journal writing itself or this process,

simply take a breath and release it. 

This naturally occurs whenever we are trying something new.

Step 6.

With your dominant hand, write down any insights from this exercise.

You may want to write about how the process itself felt to you.

The more you view and write with these images, the more insights you will uncover.

Next post: Learn how to have a written dialogue with your collage. 

June Collage Calendar

July Collage Calendar

Happy New Vision Board

Last week I created a vision board for the year. The best thing about the workshop was having the facilitator hold the creative space so I could listen to my to heart. I was able to relax and let go of my everyday life.

Vision Board January 2015

The first step was to find a Creative Self symbol. The reason is that we want to listen to our intuitive guidance about our desire. Marianne Williamson says it best. "What do I want? Now what do I really want?" Creating a vision board is about wanting something so we can have a state of being, rather than a goal to strive after. After all, we set goals because we think it will make us happier.

I chose the image of a woman wearing glasses as my Creative Self. After placing this image in the center of the page, I meditated for a few moments and let my non-dominant hand (to access the right brain) write "I want to be a published author."

Creative Self image

This is not surprising.

I've been a blogging, songwriting, magazine-published journalist for years. But I want to publish the books that I am creating. Not self-publish, although that is a wonderful start. I want my books to be published by a publishing house: small press, big press, online, off-line, down the line. Those details don't matter. What matters is that when it comes to desiring, then pasting that desire to a board for ourselves to see, well, the devil really IS in the details.

I'm talking inviting the Critic to join me for the ride.

First off, the reason for calling this negative rant in our minds the Critic is to distance ourselves from this voice. The Critic is really a negative thought pattern running loose in our mind. After the process of selecting, sorting and arranging the images that depicted my focus phrase, I allowed the Critic to speak. The reason is that I wanted a chance to talk back. But I can't do that until I journal the rant. Using the dominant hand for the Critic voice externalizes the thought. Using the non-dominant hand to answer back allows the inner child to stand up to this scary voice.

DH.

Critic voice using dominant hand

You just read that the publishing industry is dead. So maybe you can be a self-published author with your cute little books, but that's it.

NDH:

You don't have the capacity to do anything but complain. You're not my guide. You're not even on my team. I'm following my Creative Self.

Inner Child voice using non-dominant hand

After this 10-minute exercise, I was ready to glue the images to the page.

Now, here's what the Creative Self had to say. (I use the dominant hand so I can be a left-brained interviewer. The Creative Self answers with the non-dominant hand.)

DH: Dear Creative Self, tell me about yourself.

NDH: I love wanting to be a published author. It launches a fun creative play list that flows seamlessly into my wonderful life. Delight and joy and trust and love in the journey to published author starts with me. 

Delight and joy? I say YES!

Next month...the first image manifests.

Learn more about this journaling process with my book My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents. Part memoir,I wrote this self-guided workshop so you can blast through the blocks that stand between you and your dream.It even includes a music CD.  For more information, visit WriteInside.com 

What Does that Dream Mean?

One of my favorite things in this world is my dream life. I subscribe to a belief that dreams are messages from ME! All of me. My me, myself and I, me. I'm talking all of the sub-personalities and selves that are part of my psyche.

Years ago, I followed a dream book by Betty Bethard. I decided that since my mind knew I was using definitions in the back of the book, then I'd dream in that language. For instance, the night before having to respond to a job offer, I dreamt I was in a store. A store meant that I was investing in me - so I said yes to a sales job that was a terrific experience.

Now I use the Creative Journal method to write to my dream characters. First, write out the dream and choose 1 character to dialogue with. Then use the instructions below:

1.Start as if you are writing a letter using your Dominant Hand.
Dear Dream Character, why are you in my dream?

2. Put the pen in your opposite hand - your Non-dominant hand and allow the answer to flow onto the page.

3. Keep up the q & a, asking with the dominant hand, answering with the non-dominant hand.

4. End the letter with a closing with your dominant hand.
Thank you, Dream Character, for talking with me.

5. Write down any insights you have that you can apply to your life.

For more information about Creative Journaling, visit my web page at www.writeinside.com.

Sweet Dreams!