souldare

For I am about to do something new.
    See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
    I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19 NLT)

Perspective happens over time. Perspective happens in a moment. Defined, perspective has to do with seeing clearly. Literally it means to look through.

Welcome to 29 Days of Seeing NEW: A Perspective Journey. Grab your journal or a blank notebook or some loose leaf paper or whatever you’d be most likely to write on; an old envelope or even a paper plate. Use a pen, a pencil, a crayon, a marker or mud or paint words with a paint brush. Whatever you do, please give yourself the permission and luxury to respond to the prompt at the end of this post. It will change your perspective, one day at a time. I promise! (This only works, if you actually DO it! And it doesn’t matter how long you write or how many words or if you use complete sentences or just one word or a list of words. Just give it a chance, and SEE what happens.) It’s just a suggestion, but I think you’ll like it, once you TRY it.

My desire over the next 29 days is to provide a variety of lenses to look at our lives, our practices and to encourage new ways of seeing that we might not have considered before.

I find one of the simplest ways to shift my perspective is to write. To write rapidly for 2, 3 or 5 minutes, using a timer as my motivator. I like to finish open ended phrases that create “rivers in the dry wasteland,” gently filling the blank page with words that I might not otherwise have considered. Not always, but often after writing like this, with no particular outcome or pressure, I have an “aha” moment, where something I needed to know or understand presents itself through the dialogue with pen and paper.

Another practice that helps me process/dream/brainstorm about life is collage making with magazine images, bits and pieces of everyday fodder found in my purse or the mail. Plus some color slapped on the page with craft acrylics or swished on with kids’ watercolor paints or smudged on with Caran D’Arche Neocolor II watersoluble crayons .

Sometimes after gluing stuff down, I see a theme or some words come to mind and I add them to the collage. And it’s just plain ol’ fun! To tear pages out of magazines, to cut out images, to glue them to the page with precision or random abandon, whatever way you like to interact with the mediums. (For gluing, I recommend the basic Elmer’s purple glue stick, then you can “see” that you’ve covered the back of the item you are gluing down with the purple, which dries clear.)

Over the next 29 days, I plan to share a quote, a prompt and some related links or techniques to add color or image to your journal/sketchbook/notebook.

Lisa Sonora is an artist, who inspires and encourages the freedom to use journals (containers for your thoughts, ideas, etc) and art to help process life. If you wonder what all the buzz is about art journals or visual journals, may I recommend her perspective as she explains her process and practice in a way that resonates with my vision, as I pursue art adventures and soul experiences through souldare. (Click here to read why Lisa maintains a creative practice.)

Prompt for TODAY: I want a new perspective of . . .