Using Art to Explore your Inner Life

I attended a workshop today that was quite fun.  We used art making  to respond to a text instead of talking about it!  I’ll post below here a short text that you might read and then experiment with playing with art materials.  The idea is to get below your thinking and to see if a bit of deeper truth might be revealed by your hands!  There is a roughly 5 step process.  (though you can probably do it in whatever way appeals to you.

1)     Select a text that calls to you in some way.  Read it aloud.  Explore your thoughts around the text – what words jump out at you?  What can you learn from this text?  How is it speaking to you about your life?  What do you not “know” about this text?

2)     Set some sort of intention about exploring this text.  Name what you want from your exploration.  Your intention might be as simple as I am curious about what is hidden in this text for me.  Or I am open to exploring what I don’t know.

3)    Art making.  Set a timer for 20 minutes.  Give yourself a blank piece of paper and whatever art materials you have on hand.  The idea is to “follow your energy”.  Don’t think about what you are making. (It is not about a product!). Notice what is going on for you while you are making this piece of art.  KEEP GOING.  Do not stop to think about what you should do next! 

4)    Witness what you have created.  Look at your drawing/painting/collage.  What does it say to you?  How do you respond to it?  Try to avoid internal criticism.  It was not meant to “be something” .  It was meant to reveal something! Journal about it if you feel so inclined.

5)    (optional). Share with someone else!  Or, do the process together with someone. Or, bring it to your next spiritual direction session!

I enjoyed doing it and was able to get curious about my own need to “produce”, to “get something”. etc.  I enjoyed the experimenting without the pressure to be perfect!  ENJOY!

A possible text to use for this exercise;

“Maybe the journey isn’t about doing anything.  Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so that you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”  ~Paulo Coelho