Sometimes it’s good to just get all your feelings out onto the page! This is a recent art page I did (slightly blurred), about overcoming an obstacle. It’s a great way to shift your energy and get a different perspective on things.
I’ll share some ideas with you, and a sequence that shows you how to do your own version of this.
It’s so much fun to create in this way. On this page, I was addressing some kind of self-doubt, represented as a wall.
Then I put a symbol of myself overcoming the wall; represented by outstretched arms or wings, flying.
As you can see, there are layers of writing, color and collage, with simple symbols and shapes. It has lots of meaning to me, and that’s what matters! It’s okay to be messy!
This page was done as a Smashbook lesson. Generally with these pages you’ll write your feelings, draw your feelings, ask for guidance, & sometimes paint or collage on top of it all, as well!
You can just layer it all onto the page, and allow yourself to be messy and expressive.
In a lesson I gave about this recently, one woman drew a large cloud as her obstacle, and symbolized patience as one of the things she needed in order to overcome this circumstance. The other thing she drew was an umbrella! That’s such a great symbol for a boundary, isn’t it?
Another woman drew her issue as a weed patch, and then drew an arm holding a machete as the solution!
Another created several layers up the page, representing the different phases of her growth through challenging times.
I’m just in awe of the endless creativity I get to witness as a Self-Care Coach, offering these lessons and giving space and time for these things to emerge. It’s such a surprise to see what appears!
If there’s anything you’d like to explore on the page like this, and get some of your feelings out in this way,
Here’s an outline of what you can do:
You’ll be representing some kind of obstacle on your page. Maybe as a wall or boulder, and then imagining a way you’ll overcome it, or get to the other side, in a fun way.
First you’ll pick a challenge you have – something you’d like to shift. It doesn’t need to be the biggest challenge you have, but something you’d like to focus on right now.
It could be:
- A resistance to something
- A block to clarity – not having clarity about something
- Lack of a skill you’d like to acquire
- A shift in attitude toward more confidence.
- You don’t even have to know what it is – it could just be a sense that there’s something in your way.
You’ll use collage to represent this block by a wall or a boulder or weeds, etc, & then show yourself getting to the other side.
You want to overcome it and have a sense of accomplishment!
You could fly in some way, or jump over on a horse, or blow it up, use a bulldozer, ride a rhinoceros through it, have a ladder, chop it up, simply walk or dance around it, tunnel underneath…whatever is most fun and exciting!
Here are the steps again:
First write all over your page about the block or the thing you’d like to shift. This is usually how we begin our Smashbook pages.
We want to put it all out onto the page, & it’s okay if it’s messy! You can write big & cover the page! You’ll be covering it all up later.
Next, add color. Cover the page with color to shift the energy, and you can add some encouraging words or ask for guidance, as in: “I’ll get the help I need,” “I’ll know what to do,” “Please guide me,” etc.
Now, create your obstacle; perhaps a wall. If you make it from computer paper, you can decorate and write on it. Or you could cut it out of a magazine.
Next, create how you’ll get to the other side. Create a symbol of you getting to the other side. Whatever occurs to you that feels fun and powerful!
Again, you can cut this out of computer paper and color or decorate it, or cut something from a magazine. You can write encouraging words on or around it.
Feel it as you do it! How great it feels for you to accomplish this!
Finally, embody it: first shake off the obstacle, and then stretch to embody and welcome the new possibilities coming in.
I hope you enjoy this creative activity, where you can really just let your feelings flow and express themselves. It can feel like a great relief.
Reply to this email to let me know how you did, and what you created!
Wishing you very well in your creative self-care process,
