Wreck This Journal – Week 6 – Creative Play & Gratitude

Happy Wednesday!

Today I decided to share what I have been doing in my Wreck This Journal book for Week 6.  Click here to see what my creative sistaloves from the Next Chapter Book Blogging Group have done during Week 6:  http://tnc-wreckthisjournal.blogspot.com/2009/07/wreck-this-journal-week-6.html.

On Sunday morning, I served as a volunteer yoga teacher for my free monthly yoga class (http://yoga.meetup/584) in Malcolm X-Meridian Hill Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_Hill_Park), a local slice of paradise in my U Street neighborhood in DC.  After the class, I walked up 16th  Street to All Souls Unitarian Church (www.all-souls.org) and picked some leaves from various trees. One leaf was shaped in a heart. It was yellow and green.  It reminded me of my intention to maintain an open heart.  This morning, I created a collage by pasting the heart-shaped leaf on a green piece of construction paper.  I also wrote a statement about gratitude on the collage: I am grateful for waking up and seeing Mother Nature in a new day.  While reading page 168 of Wreck This Journal,  I decided to paste my collage as a secret message in my journal.  I used the last two digits of the year I became a debutante for Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. as my secret page.  That was a lot of fun to remember.  I had big fun with the debutante training process and coming out celebration. What great memories!

I also enjoyed playing on the following pages:

• Page 142 asked me to create a sign of what I wanted to say.  I wrote a wisdom message that I have been using all week: be grateful for everything and everyone.
• Page 122 asked me to trace my hand.  I traced my left hand with a black ballpoint pen and thought about how I use my left brain (logical, analytical, objective, and rational) to manage the publication process of my new book, That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (Summer 2009 – iUniverse, Inc.).  My left brain has been spearheading the final stages of my book publication process (something I have tried to escape because all I wanna do this summer is play!).
• Page 112 invited me to infuse the page with a smell of my choice.  This was so much fun.  I used my lavender oil and rubbed it on the page.  Now my book smells fresh like lavender!  Lovely!!!!!
• Page 138 told me to write with my left hand.  This was silly.  I ended up writing “love is all we have.”  I can barely read the message!!!!
• Page 115 and 116 encouraged me to close my eyes and connect the dots from memory.  My lines were all over the place. A few connected the dots. The exercise made me laugh a lot.  It was all about CREATIVE PLAY!!!!!
• Page 150 felt good to do because it told me lose the page, throw it out, and accept the loss.  I needed to do this exercise.  Last week I started releasing a lot of clutter in my home and life.  After I dumped everything, I felt so much spaciousness in my home and heart. I also felt a sense of loss.  I got a little stuck in a sad place until I realized that I needed to accept the loss.   

So that’s all I have for Week 6. 

Thanks everybody for reading my weekly updates.

Peace and Creativity,

Ananda