Art Journaling

I am thinking more and more about Art Journaling.

I'm thinking about a lot of things, but for now I'll talk about Art Journaling. It might take some of the pressure off of my brain. The brain that is going so fast with so many ideas lately. Little by little, I'm learning that  best thing for all these ideas right now is waiting.

Say what?

I'm so not a patient person. I am very task and performance oriented. Ask my Life Coach.

Waiting, and journaling. Getting ideas out onto paper instead of the ideas skittering around my brain like a squirrel on ice is a very good thing. The ideas have a place to go. I have a place to go with the ideas. 

With a day like yesterday, journaling is a very good thing to have.

Yesterday started with a bad blood draw, stopped in the middle with the information that I need a root canal, and ended with me stepping in dog vomit in my bare feet.

Suffice it to say I was in my pajamas by 5:30 and in bed, lights out by 8:30.

So done with the day.

so.so.bad.

Thankful that today is a new day and Mercies are NEW, I took time while at the dog park to read Jesus Calling:

"Demonstrate your trust in Me by sitting quietly in My Presence. Put aside all that is waiting to be done and refuse to worry about anything. This sacred time together strengthens you and prepares you to face whatever the day will bring."

I don't do waiting well. I do anxiety well.

So, I make it a game. Can I sit quietly for two minutes? Three? Five?

Where will I sit quietly? In my art room? At the dog park? In my back yard?

**Note to self: coffee does not help this process.**

Now the journaling comes in. An extension of waiting. As I am tossing ideas around and frustrations out, the waiting makes more sense. It's like cooking. If you turn the heat on super high, thinking you can get the piece of meat done faster, all your going to do is burn the outside and the inside will be raw. Cooking slowly brings fabulous results. Simmering is a good thing. Journaling and waiting is like simmering.

(i told you my brain is like a squirrel on ice right now...)

Journaling brings out emotion. It tends to transfer to canvases. The words can bring healing when written on paper. Those same words can be covered up, buried, never to be seen. Kinda like being in bed by 8:30 with lights out. DONE. Whatever is written on top or on the next page is a totally new beginning.

These days, my journaling is going on everything. Especially on my to-do lists. It makes the lists more tolerable. It makes the lists prettier and while I'm waiting for (bad) blood draws to be done, or awaiting news of a root canal, it takes the edge off of tension.

It doesn't have to be every day, or a certain time spent on paper. Maybe it's a square on your calendar, maybe it's on your to do list, or it could be in a special journal. Shoot. Journal in your cookbook. 

Which ever you choose, journal away.

 It's a new day, with new mercies.