NEWS

“We cannot live fully and avoid mistakes. So to avoid the paralysis of pain and shame, we narrow our lives to these things we already know, and deny the mistakes that happen” – The Invitation.

The task:
Grab your favorite novel and randomly open it to any page. Read the first paragraph on that page and illustrate it/collage/paint etc…

I grabbed “The Invitation” By Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Really, I just love her poem, I must confess that I have not even read the whole book. An interesting task, to see what paragraph randomly (or not so randomly?) Emerges. I am on the verge of making some decisions, some changes, and it is all very unknown and quite scary. I am scared of making the wrong decision, even though I know that there is no wrong decision, that everything I will learn from and will eventually lead me to exactly where I am meant to be. That being said, I am still scared!

So from getting this message today, I created a very “imperfect” journal page, random, full of what ideal art may call imperfections, but it is perfect as it is meant to be, because it is my creation and is for my own process and reflections, (and maybe yours too!). So here’s something I know. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The first step is to start it. It might be messy, it might not work out how you planned it, there might be some things out of your control. But there is also curiosity, light, texture, depth, layers. There is rawness and vulnerability, and there is a fullness. So here’s to living fully, feeling fully, and taking the risks needed to step outside the known, into that mystery area where things may very well be turned upside down… because hey, is that not what it is to be alive?

Day 3 of the Creative Journaling Challenge is:
Day 3 of Creative Journaling!
Pick an object in your house. While looking ONLY at the object, put your pen to paper and draw it without picking up your pen. Now add some color to your crazy drawing… and whatever else you feel like!

CREATIVE JOURNALING

I’ve been noticing that there have been a few 30 day challenges going around. A few friends have started their own health challenges, and I wanted to jump on board, and then I realized that I wanted to do my own challenge. I know what works for my wellbeing, what makes me come alive, what makes my heart sing. So here is my own version of the 30 day challenge. Creative Journaling. It is similar to writing journaling, except you also create something visually. I will be posting up my journal entries each day, and some ideas for places to start!

YOUR INVITATION

I invite you to join me, to tailor the creative challenge to your own sense of what fulfils you, what matters to you, what makes you come alive. Creativity is innate, there are not just some people who are creative. We all have such immense creative potential inside of us. I was speaking to a friend tonight, Felicity, and we sat down over a cup of tea, a fig and lime candle, some peppermint dark chocolate, with an array of pastels, and coloured pens, the new Frankie magazine, and our creativity ready to pop. We are brainstorming new joint creative projects to make art therapy our life and our work. It is so great to have someone to reflect with, to brainstorm with and to dream with. When all else fails, create something. When we got stuck, we created something. Creativity for me is to be “in the flow” with ideas, materials, concepts, movement, music, writing, and free expression. When I am in the flow, I am in the moment. Things seem to come to me, there is no right or wrong, there is just possibility and energy to be felt.

“BLESS THIS MESS”

In this piece, I started with “Bless this Mess”. Sometimes, I try to perfect, I used to do it a lot more, and am learning the blessings that are alive in the mess. The mess is where ideas are born, the mess is where change comes from, insight, and also where I find out who I am. The more I shut down the parts that I judge as messy, or make them wrong, the more separation I feel inside myself. My journey is wholeness, or oneness. This, to me, means loving acceptance of all parts of myself, even the parts that I once couldn’t even stand to look at, the parts that at first make me want to run. I am finding the more I step into those parts, the more they surprise me. That this vulnerability gives me connection, acceptance and love. That by not shying away from myself, I can see what’s really underneath it, and what’s underneath is just a little girl looking for connection and love.

Art for everyday is quite relevant to the challenge, as is “follow your passion”. I am following my passion and am on the path of being open to its unfolding. Here’s to the unfolding, and am looking forward to discovering what else is to come from my creative seed over the next month.

I would love to receive your creative journaling entries! If you would like to post them on my Art Therapy Page then just join here. If you would prefer to send them directly to me, you can email them to me here and I will respond to everyone that sends their images through!
If you would like to receive the ideas for each day, you can also join my Art Therapy group here, where I will be posting these.
Happy Creating!

Warmth and creativity,
Amanda Scott

This is a reflection of my soul, through the reflection of myself in eyes of the women attending the ReAwakening Retreat in New Zealand, at Mana Retreat with Sheree Carbery.

I stepped into this experience wanting something in my life to change. These endless things, achievements and tasks left me feeling empty and lost, striving and accomplishing great things meant nothing in the end.
I searched
I adventured
I resisted
I ran
I hid.
This weekend challenged me to face into what I was hiding from.
Stepping into this felt too hard.
Unknown froze me with fear.
With gentle encouragement – eyes that see who I am under it all
Patience
Kindness
I am sitting in my own stillness – something that once felt unreachable.
Something inside me is gently reminding me
I am here for a reason.
I am exactly where I need to be
My struggle is not unknown – others feel it too.
In my vulnerability and sharing I can see all parts of me.
I have nothing to be ashamed of!!
All parts of me are welcome.
I don’t have to change me.
I LOVE my vulnerability, my power, my courage to be real.
I am grateful for the reminder of who I am.

It’s that nagging feeling, that there is something forgotten, something to do, something to worry about.
That nagging feeling that creeps up in the quiet moments, and is numbed in the busy moments. That nagging feeling that pulls and pushes me to do, do, do.
To strive, to complete, to work on, to improve, to get there, where ever there is?

That nagging feeling that unsettles me,
that points,
prods
pokes
at me from the inside out, do this, what about that? What have you forgotten? What should you be doing right now?
SHOULD,
SHOULD
SHOULD.

That nagging feeling, that pushes me to find the answer,
find the fix,
find the solution,
find this elusive relaxed contentment that is promised in the end.

(Click to read more)

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Cycles, Shedding, Spring

I feel that my life goes in cycles.
Expanding and contracting.
Living and dying.
Shedding and renewing.

I ride through the emotions, thoughts and feelings, making decisions for myself, from small to big, depending on how I feel and think in each moment. My heart argues with my head. My inner critic argues with both. “Polly pleaser”, the part of me that wants to do the right thing for the people around me fights the hardest sometimes

I have grown the most when I have fallen the hardest. When I fall, things in my life die and fall away. What I think mattered no longer matters. It’s a big adjustment, the process of letting go of the things that once made my world turn, gave me purpose and grew my passion, strength and inspiration.

(Click below to read more)

The key of my week has been about self nurturance. If you do not make this a part of your life regularly, the core of your being – and – doing… then I have found that my body will find ways to slow me down, by manifesting sickness, stress or anxiety, until i STOP and listen to what I need, listen to the gentleness and reconnect with myself and my body.

On the weekend I went to Daylesford and stayed in a small cottage in the middle of a forrest with two very dear friends, Honor and Saffron. With the rain and the fog, the trees and the spiders, we lit a fire in the fireplace, decorated the cabin with candles and made art, while pondering life. I slept in and woke to the sounds of silence, content and still in a dreamy state. From there we made breakfast and dawdled through the Daylesford Sunday market, and picked up some organic veggies before heading back to Melbourne.

Since then, I have done art everyday, for the past 5 days. Even just a small doodle while on the phone, through to paintings and pastels and collages. I have set up a new space with my art materials at the ready, some cushions and the intention to create, every day. I even picked up the “Artists Way” and realised that I do my own artists way already…

Life is fast paced and can be stressful. There is always more on the to-do list. There is always things that need to be done, bills that need to be paid and errands that need to be taken care of. Then there are DREAMS that are waiting, goals to be set and small stepping stones tasks to take you on your way. Creativity is the energy of life. If you tune into your own creativity, and share it with the people around you, it spreads like wild fire. Each day I have invited someone to create with me, and the conversation that flows while writing, drawing, painting, cutting and pasting is so interesting.

Give it a go and see what will come through. Companion yourself into the realm of possibility, of the unknown, of the way of the creative life. Make a choice- Set a time, when and where? The rest will come from there.