Seeds of Intentions Journal Writing Blog

Most of my life I’ve been journal writing.  I’m not into daily journal writing, but journal writing when the mood hits me.  About five years ago, through the wisdom of one of my favorite feisty women, Sheri Gaynor,  I was introduced to a new tool for manifestation and finding your authentic self.   It  was called Visual Journals.

In the first class Sheri asked us to go through magazines and pick only images that spoke to us personally.  We didn’t need to understand what they were saying, we just needed to select pictures that made us hesitate and ponder.  Then we were asked to tear or rip those images out (no scissors allowed) and glue them onto a piece of paper creating a picture collage.

I noticed right away that I was one of the first women done with my visual journal which actually didn’t surprise me all that much.  I am not one for detail and neatness.  With my extra time, I decided to watch the other women create their picture collage.  I was surprised at how differently we all approached our task.

Some women were methodically and very thoughtfully looking at each page deciding if a picture was worthy to be displayed on their visual journals.  Others were gently tearing each picture so that it appeared that scissors had been used.  Still others were creating these artistic masterpieces that could be taken from our class and displayed in the nearest art gallery.

To say I was a bit apprehensive about my haphazard picture collage is an understatement.  I heard the familiar words whispering through my head, “You can not share your piece, others will laugh.  Why did you think a visual journal class would be for you?  You are someone to observe and enjoy art from afar, not someone to get into the center of it and actually create it.”

Fortunately, I was not the first low self-esteem artist that Sheri had encountered.   She knew my kind well.  So she rang her chimes and gathered us in a circle.  I made no eye contact with her, a trick I learned from elementary school.  Because I was looking at the interesting piece of lint on the floor, I didn’t notice that Sheri had taken out a picture collage book of her own creations.  She proceeded to share with us pieces that looked a lot like mine:  overlapping, corners hanging over, no-awareness-for-negative -space pieces.  I relaxed a little and sat back.  I was a little less apprehensive to share.

Each woman had an opportunity to speak to the class about their picture collage and their authentic self.  I was blown away by their insight. When it was my turn to share, no one laughed, although several cried.  No one made me feel like I didn’t belong there, they actually hugged me when I was done.  Needless to say, I went back eleven more times until the class was over.  I never missed a day.

My visual journal has transformed as I have transformed.  It went from segmented pictures joined together by glue like a caterpillar, to layered images with secrets lying just below the surface like a pupa, to simple, beautiful pieces like an emerging butterfly.  My visual  journals page have filled my life with new awareness and have been a catalyst to many manifested intentions.

My journal writing has taken on a new dimension because I use my picture collages to spur my writing.  This has led to a much deeper dialog with my authentic self.

Each of us has our own way of experiencing this world:  messy and hurried, methodical and thoughtful, straight-edged and meticulous.    Each of us has our own way of manifesting our intentions.  Know that each and every way has its merits.  Sometimes we have to get messy in life, so that we can look forward to cleansing.  Sometimes we have to be thoughtful, so that we can process our needs and desires.  And sometimes we have to have straight edges, so that we can have a direct line to our authentic self.

For more information about the process of creating your own visual journals and picture collage, please visit Sheri’s website.

For products to inspire journal writing, visual journals, and picture collage, please click here.

Written by Amy Spradlin
Co-Founder

Seeds of Intentions
“Plant Yours Today”

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