Floss your heart

She went through the door“The best way out is always through.”

~ Robert Frost

[and my friend Rozy]

Recently, my husband, who keeps the website looking beautiful, asked me to update some copy by answering the question, “Why do you journal?” The first thing that came to mind was: “It saved my life.”

In his TED talk, Why We All Need To Practice Emotional First Aid, Guy Winch discusses the need to take care of our mental and emotional house with the same level of care that we extend to our physical bodies.  What a liberating reminder to pay attention – to give loving, respectful care to our hearts and minds.

As I listened to the talk, I relalized, “I do this!”  Mainly because after many years of poor emotional patterns that included denial, shame and negative self-talk, I ended up in an emotional health crisis.  Something had to give.  I found myself in a state of depression and anxiety that required not only deep healing, but a huge emotional lifestyle change.

A gentle, truth-speaking guide was key at the beginning, but I owned the true shift for myself in my daily journaling practice.

Altered book journal Jan - Mar 2015

Altered book “Classic Art” journal Jan – Mar 2015

Journal pages were the main catalyst for telling myself the truth and keeping my emotional accounts clear.  In the pages I was able to recognize emotions and sift through them to figure out what was true and what wasn’t.

I began to see what to keep and what to let go of.  It was there I learned that some emotions were simply messengers and others required action or conversation and oftentimes pointed to need for change.  Not only do I tend to my soul with my journal, I engage in what Guy Winch calls, “emotional hygiene”.

20 Jan the word TRANSITION keeps coming up, so I'm sitting with it. In this season, it is connected to EXPANSION and dreams and birthing new things. So that's where I'm putting my eyes and heart. I like to know exactly what's coming my way. I don't. All I know to do is paint & write daily in order to listen carefully. #atpeace #seekingjoy #chasingdesire #50dragons

20 Jan the word TRANSITION keeps coming up, so I’m sitting with it. In this season, it is connected to EXPANSION and dreams and birthing new things. So that’s where I’m putting my eyes and heart. I like to know exactly what’s coming my way. I don’t. All I know to do is paint & write daily in order to listen carefully. #atpeace #seekingjoy #chasingdesire #50dragons

In the pages of a journal, we can give our souls preventative care by extending recognition, grace and mindfulness to our hearts and minds.

14 March 2015 Home after a day filled with BE in your life workshop. Spending some time in my own practice. Gathering text and collage elements as I listen and chart new territory. New journal. New season. #openheart #50dragons #wildthymejournals

14 March 2015 Home after a day filled with BE in your life workshop. Spending some time in my own practice. Gathering text and collage elements as I listen and chart new territory. New journal. New season. #openheart #50dragons #wildthymejournals

No doubt there are some who are more comfortable tending to their bodies than tending to their souls.  A skinned knee or sore shoulder is often easier to identify than loneliness or grief.  In my workshops, the focus is on creating a container for soul work.  It can look to the outside viewer like it’s simply about an artistic experience, but it is so much more.  In the pages of a journal, we can create vessels to hold our stories and experiences – from tea tags and tickets to the true contents of our hearts and minds.  I’m going to take a few posts to marry some journal pages with this fantastic article by Guy Winch and show some practical ways to weave soul care into a journal.  I hope you”ll join me and floss your heart and mind.

BE in your life!

Betsy

By |2016-10-19T14:20:30-04:00March 28th, 2015|Journals|2 Comments

I am not a brick wall and other confessions from a chameleon

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