CHALLENGE YOURSELF
CHOOSE ONE (OR COMBINATION) OF THESE ACTIVITIES AND DO DAILY FOR 30 DAYS
Life doesn't get better by chance, it gets better by change.
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COUNSELING
SPONTANEOUS DRAWING
Invites up information from your unconscious mind that needs to be loved and integrated. It can also provide a cathartic release of emotions (through scribbling, mark-making, etc.)
Find your own way of expression with markers, pencil crayons, pastels or even a ballpoint pen. If words arise as you draw, write them down even if they do not make sense in the immediate moment. Give your hand permission to play in its own way.
BENEFITS
1. Bridges the gap between the conscious and unconscious mind and can illuminate areas in your being that are blocked inhibited and stuck.
2. Provides a way to nonverbally express and release negative emotions.
3. Develops intuition
4. Authentic self-expression
EXPRESSIVE JOURNAL WRITING
Starting a daily journal writing practice not only invites fluidity into your writing expression, you may also find yourself speaking more honestly as well. Regular writing practice is a way to explore thoughts and feelings trough words, uncovering problematic thinking patterns and deeper beliefs.
To begin, relax your body and close your eyes. Empty your mind and place your attention within. Breath. As thoughts arise, write them down spontaneously without worrying about whether they make sense. Do you not sensor your self-expression.
Some tips: lose control, be specific, don't think, forget the rules, impress no one, embrace what is scary
BENEFITS
1. Having a safe place to express your voice allows you to practice honest self-expression
2. Clarifying thoughts and feelings deepen your connection to your deeper preferences, needs and goals
3. Knowing yourself better through daily writing will help you to better discern what situations and people feel healthy/toxic to you
4. Writing intensely charged thoughts helps to release stress and painful emotions
SPONTANEOUS COLLAGE
An easy way to begin expressing yourself with no need for drawing/painting skills. Choosing images that "call to you" and placing them together in a spontaneous way can yield profound insights from your subconscious mind
The mind sometimes cannot get out of its daily loop enough to be able to see the hidden parts of self that are longing to express and integrate into our conscious awareness. Spontaneous collage can bypass our censoring mind to reveal deeper thoughts and emotions.
BENEFITS
1. Minimal art materials needed
2. No art or drawing skills necessary
3. Refines intuitive choice-making
4. Expresses and reveals subconscious emotional and thinking patterns
INTUITIVE PAINTING
Painting for process, without pre-planning, delves below your social presentation to uncover what you authentically want to express. When you paint for and end product, it reflects how you want to be seen by others.
Do not aim for a pretty end product, quiet your rational mind as you paint, and allow for the possibility of something new and unknown emerging.
BENEFITS
1. As you cultivate creative flow, it becomes easier to let go of perfectionism and the inner critic.
2. When you exercise your spontaneous right brain you invite insight.
3. When you paint authentically, you generate self-compassion.
AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT
We travel through life holding our emotions in, putting barriers around our hearts, and repressing our feelings in our muscles. Our bodies forget how to move authentically. To use your body as an art form, play a piece of music and move spontaneously to your own truth. Dancing to one song a day can free up your body's innate expression.
You may feel self-conscious when you first start dancing. Go to where your body feels the most stiff and move that body part into fluidity. Move through all your body parts, allowing each part to express something honest about itself.
BENEFITS
1. Softens the body's defensive armoring so that emotions can come forward to release and healing
2. Nonverbal expression for when words are hard to find.
3. Breaks up the stagnation of stored emotional patterning, and opens up fresh ways of thinking.
(re)STORYTELLING
Storytelling can create a powerful emotional connection to your life and your interpretation if it. Stories provide a chance to express, explore and change your narrative.
Choose a challenging area in your life, and write a short story, recreating the details in a way that brings you hope and happiness.
BENEFITS
1. Can help develop self-compassion for your life.
2. Strengthens ability to rewrite your narrative in positive ways.
3. Inspires new ideas for change.
4. Creates awareness of themes present in your life.
PHOTO THERAPY
Combines photography with inner self-reflection.
Go for a walk outside, taking time to find something in your visual world that feels emotionally charged for you. Take a picture and contemplate how your photograph reflects you current emotional state.
To expand, look for themes (gratitude, beauty) and create a printed collage of your pictures.
BENEFITS
1. Can deepen insight into what you love about daily life.
2. Encourages emotional connection to your surroundings.
3. Increases self-awareness of how your outside world symbolically reflects your inner life.
4. Intensifies appreciation for your surroundings.
MEDITATIVE CREATIVITY
Every time you sit down to create, you can concentrate your efforts to deepen the experience. Healing messages in the form of symbols, metaphors and poetry often arrive when we are open, silent, honest and authentic in our expression. Imagery and words can move us closer to an inner sense of inspiration.
Find a comfortable place to view your expressive collage, drawing or painting. Sit up straight and breathe deeply, centering within your body. Gaze softly at your artwork and listen within to the feelings that arise. Meditate on your artwork for 5-15 minutes. Write down any deep insights that arise during your meditation. Even if no insights come, appreciate being silent and centered. Sometimes insight comes much later.
BENEFITS
1. Deepens insight into what you have expressed and helps you to access a deeper understanding of your art.
2. Improves concentration and deepens your emotional experience with your art.
3. Increases self-acceptance of what you have created.
4. Expands consciousness beyond everyday levels of thinking.
Deepen the experience
CREATIVE RELEASE CHEAT SHEET
Stressed / Anxious
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Take a bath, add essential oils
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Create an image of your "stressor"
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Create a collage of images that bring you peace.
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Practice deep breathing
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Paint to music
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Make a mandala
Sad
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Finger paint
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Journal- with words, art or images
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Use an old sock to make a sock puppet and dialogue with it.
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Buy yourself flowers.
Angry
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Play with clay
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Splatter paint
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Bang some nails into wood
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Make a scribble drawing
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Put something cold on your forehead
Scared
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Draw something HUGE
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Draw a safe place
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Build a pillow fort
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Using playdough, create an image of your fear, then mold it into something else
Lonely/ Unloveable
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Write and mail someone an old-fashioned letter.
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Create a self portrait. Talk with it.
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Put on music and just dance.
Stuck
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Just doodle, add music
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Draw with your eyes closed
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Write without thinking
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Move your body in some way