Journaling with words

I've seen quite a few blogs and workshops lately focused on words when journaling. I have an entire journal dedicated to words, in fact the name of the journal is the Balance journal.  As usually happens,  it took me through a situation in my life where I was trying to do just that - balance my day job time with my artwork time.  My current journal also reflects what is going on in my life right now and is much influenced by a class I am taking.  The Universe is sending me all kinds of signals that I am acutely aware of.  All these signs are helping with my "homework".

One of my signs is a daily song that I receive every morning.  For many days the same song was coming to me so I decided to journal about it. It took me several days to really "get it" and put the lyrics to use. All the lyrics are written on the right page below. I also talked to three friends who got the "ah-ha" moment when I mentioned the words to this song as an example of what they were going thru.

I reminds me to face my fears and SHINE, rather than hiding behind the fears that keep me from moving forward.  Another sign was finding the Kelly Rae Roberts eBook, Flying Lessons, which asks similar questions as in my class. I am finding synchronicity everywhere these days, as mentioned in an earlier "beautiful" post.

This quote was in Kelly's book and again, I decided to create journal pages to highlight the message for me.

I am also experimenting with white pens, to find the ones I like best. So, hopefully, you can read this and ask yourself what makes you come alive! Let me know your fav white pen and what brings you alive! Happy journaling!

Red Rock Canyon

I had an amazing experience of biking thru the Red Rock Canyon.  At first, I was surprised to learn the first 5 miles went uphill. I gave it a try and then decided to ride in the van because my legs were shaking! I rode about a mile in the van and then got out to bike again.  Went further this time but rested again when the climb was really steep.  When the van reached the peak, I got out and rode the rest of the 10 miles.  Most of it was downhill but there was a "wall" and then another crazy hill.  I rode for about 6 miles without seeing another biker or the van. I was totally alone out among the rocks!  Finally I spotted a traffic jam of cars and rode closer to see 6 burros by the road --  Just standing there having a good time.  I rode on and finally spotted some bikers and a van way down the hill.  There was the group of bikers! We waited about 15 minutes for the final rider and the backup van to appear. I may not have rode the whole 15 miles (since I sat in the van for two-three miles), but I made it to the end! Yay!

A doodle a day...

This week was a very busy work week that prevented me from blogging.  Here's the "Doodle a Day" page from the doodle book.  Since I doodle directly in the Art, Doodle, Love book, my book, pens and pencil are all I need to get in a little meditative-doodling time.  You'll see influences from Zentangle here as I love the repetitious patterns. It has a calming effect.

I also worked on this during Holy Week, tried a new weekly page approach.  It was fun to do and fun to fill in each day. I prepared the page by painting the border then filling in with an alternating grid of orange and purple.  I stamped the numbers and the eggs as fun borders. I completed it by doodling in the border area more with a white gel marker. (started here)

Hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday!