First, I'm learning not to beat myself up for having bad days- days when I barely make it out of bed much less get into the studio or write. I'm also learning to pace myself on good days. While this is extremely hard to do, it is a must to having more good days than bad. So, what have I been doing on those good days? I've been getting back into the 21 Secrets Art Journaling Playground. This year, instead of 8 weeks of fun, the workshops have been extended to the end of 2011. (You can still get in on the fun. Head over to Dirty Footprints Studio to sign up!). I'm using the wonderful techniques I'm learning there in my Promises Journal.
There is one thing that I've observed not only in the 21 Secrets classes but in most of the art classes and communities that I've joined. They all believe that art, in all of it's forms, is a spiritual gift and experience. However most think the source of this is either within themselves or from the Universe (celebrated as a deity). I for one, have a problem with relying on a created being for my spiritual growth and artistic expression. Here is a snippet from a blog post that I wrote on the 21 Secrets Ning site:
I have loved this round of 21 Secrets. I also went through 21 Secrets last fall. At the time, I was emerging from a pretty deep depression over my recent disability due to a sudden and mysterious illness. I was at the height of my corporate finance career, holding a CFO position at only 29. I was a great analyst, manager, visionary, accountant, and information technology specialist. I could prepare corporate financial statements with the software that I wrote to do it. I was on top...... And then, I wasn't. I couldn't bathe myself, dress myself, swallow food, see, think, or breathe well.
21 Secrets helped me get past the sense of uselessness that I felt, but I learned that I could not look to the universe for answers. It was created for a purpose just like I was, but still, it was created. Instead, I found that I had a direct source to the Creator. God not only made a way for me to have a relationship with Him, He wanted to have that relationship intimately. That meant that my illness was not the end of me, but the beginning. He's allowed me time to give my left brain a rest and let my right brain get a work out.
So, my big project for this round of 21 Secrets is to use all the things I learn here to create a Promises journal, an art journal filled with all the promises of God found in His Word. Hopefully, it will be a project that I can do over and over to share with those who need something to cling to, stand on, hope in, and claim before they slip into the darkness that I was in, or perhaps bring them back from a place that I became way too aquainted with.
I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones here.
God bless you all!
Luke 24:5 "...Why do you seek the living among the dead?"
