It’s February 2019 and I am not yet properly settled into my new house, even though I have been living here for 2 months now :(. I am still without windows and doors in my new kitchen, which by now should be flooded with natural daylight, but sadly I’m still looking at large expanses of chipboard! But I’m keeping my chin up the best I can and looking forward to how amazing the space will be when it’s done.

In the meantime I have been slowly unpacking my things which has given me some quiet headspace to reflect on the past twelve months. I’ve also had a couple of opportunities to teach and interact with my kindred spirits which has also provided some positive soul nourishment. The result of this stimulation was a growing pile of paper scraps with various random thoughts and quotes scribbled down, and so I decided I needed to get them into the art journal while they still made sense and the inner wisdom they contained was not lost.

In the process of unearthing my journals and getting creative, I also found myself looking back at pages from the past few months and engaging in some self reflection. It’s great getting messy on the page and enjoying the rush of making personally inspired and meaningful art, but just as important to go back later and harvest all the wisdom contained on the page. I often see much more in a journal spread than I realised was there when I first created it. And it’s great to reflect on how you’ve moved forward since that moment.

I’m sharing a few recently created pages here, but I feel sure they will continue to give me food for thought and wisdom to fall back on in the months and years to come…

The above quote was in a magazine, and it reminded me of how often I catch myself holding my breath and suddenly needing to take a big gulp of air? It’s pretty common that if your childhood was disrupted and there was a lot of uncertainty, then we carry that fear of the unknown into adulthood, and along with it an inability to relax completely, regardless of the apparent lack of danger in our lives. This spread reminds me to breathe mindfully and check in with myself that I’m not feeling constrained by something that doesn’t really exist?

This was another magazine quote that struck a chord and yet it’s quite hard to get your head around? To me it’s about being willing to be vulnerable in order to truly experience everything life has to offer. If you want to really experience joy, happiness, love and bliss, then you also have to open yourself up to some pain and suffering too. That’s the whole human experience…otherwise your cutting yourself off from half of life and never fully knowing the good stuff.

This is a photograph my Dad took of me at a friend’s barbecue party, kissing passionately with my first real boyfriend when I was 16! I think it’s really funny that my Dad took this photo but I’m also very glad to have it as a reminder of the unbridled passion that comes with falling in love. Having been lucky enough to be experiencing this giddy feeling again these past few months, I was discussing with a friend how to try and keep the passion alive once the initial excitement calms down. She mentioned a recent article in The Times newspaper about the lost art of ‘Simmering’ (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/simmering-how-to-improve-your-sex-life-in-a-long-term-relationship-ggkxvjvvc) and I wanted to create a page that reflected that feeling…

I can always rely on Alanis Morissette to provide inspiration and this lyric reminded me not to give myself a hard time when I don’t behave quite as well as I should, or fall short of my own self imposed high standards! Luckily I am with someone at the moment who is very accepting of me when I am not my best self, and that feels really good.

This last page came from a discussion I had during my recent mission board workshop. We talked about what a waste of valuable time it is to hold on to old baggage in the hope that someone will apologise or make amends for past hurts and disappointments. They have probably moved on, and the only one losing out by staying stuck is the person carrying the load? Let it go and be free…