Picturing My Way Home

“All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” ~ Rumi

I suppose you could say that all of life is a journey back home.  And at the end of each year part of our looking back is reflecting on the bit of the journey we’ve taken in the last 12 months.

One of the things I realised on the back of last month’s Rapid Fire Learning was how important visual imagery had become to me in 2009, and how much it was helping to shape and make sense of that ‘journey home’.

I wrote that:

I’ve been using visual imagery a lot more – photographs, dream boards, vision boards and love the extra / different insights this offers, compared to the comfort zone (for me) of the written word. In fact maybe a lot of my 2009 learning has come from this route… maybe that’s something I’ll reflect on as part of my end of the year looking back and RFLing

I thought it might be interesting as part of December’s ‘home’ theme to reflect on some of the ways this had been working for me in the last year.  It’s certainly something I’m going to be carrying into 2010 – and learning how to develop and expand.

1. The Vision Board

I have done vision boards before, but this was the first one I did with full concentration, commitment and heart.  Creating a picture of what I really wanted.

What can I say? It changed everything.

You can read a bit more about what happened here:

She sat one night with pictures and colours and words.  She sat and listened quietly to the whispers of her heart.  She listened and let the whispers breathe, and speak, then sing.  She let them paint the picture of what was missing.  Of what she really wanted.  Daring to dream of what seemed impossible.  The apple that was out of reach.

She dreamed of love, and painted its picture.

If you’d like to create a vision board for yourself I’d thoroughly recommend this resource from Christine Kane, how to make a vision board.

2. The Painting

I got drawn into a postcard art project, which meant creating some original art work for the first time since I’d sat through excruciatingly painful art classes at school.

The result might not have been ‘art’ but I loved the process, and the sense of possibility it opened up for me

But something about doing this project woke me up.  To my inner artist, maybe To what happens when we play at the edges, at the boundaries between one medium and the other.  To the energy that flows when we look to our source.

To what creativity is all about, and how the act of creation leads to such a powerful sense of possibility.

From Painting My Way Into Possibility

3. A Full Moon Dream Board

Oh the places my friend Amy Palko will lead me… I was inspired by her sharing of full moon dreamboards to take part and create one in early December.

I’m still learning how it works and how to relax into it.  I loved the gathering of the images though, and allowing my unconscious mind to give me unexpected symbols (pegasus; a key; an eagle, an owl and a hawk; a Scottish wild cat)

You can see my first dreamboard here.  More about Full Moon Dream Boards from Jamie Ridler Studios here.

4. The Sun

I created an image of the sun, from many images of the sun.  It was based on and inspired by Mary Oliver’s poem, The Sun.  Done as a creativity exercise, it generated a gorgeous picture in its own right that now has pride of place in my study, glowing down at me. (Follow the photo link to get the poem and background to the exercise)

(Oh and yes, that was Amy Palko inspiring me again)

5. The Year in Photographs

I did a quick look back at the 12 months of my Flickr photostream in preparation for this post.  It was such a simple, easy and intuitive way to ride back through the journey of the last year, not just the places, people dates and times but what happened at a deeper level:

• Turning points, milestones and stepping stones
• Captured moments at the heart of the story
• The roll and turn of the seasons
• Signs and symbols that remind you of lessons learned

Here are some of mine… each picture tells me its own story, and looking back at the year in pictures helps to give me a sense of the pattern and shape of the year in a different, more intuitive way than I can manage in words.

I know that taking photos changes things for me.  Helps me to pay attention, to express gratitude, to walk more mindfully, to find the images that prompt a poem, to heighten my sense of place… perhaps to heighten the sense that I’m finding my way home.

I know I want to keep learning through photography – not how to take better photographs as such, but how to learn more from the act of taking them.  (One of my learning projects for 2010 is taking part in a class on photography as contemplative practice.)

~~~

Looking back, I guess that I’ve been learning how to express myself in a variety of creative ways.  My writing has grown too – more poetry, more prose poems, more playfulness and experimentation – but it’s the changes I’ve felt through the visual expression that I recognise as having the most significance, that I feel have made the biggest difference.

Helping me to make sense of the journey through 2009, and helping me to walk on forwards into the journey to 2010 and beyond, ever homeward bound.

~~~

What role does the visual have in your own journey through life?  Your learning journey, or that journey ‘home’?

I’d love to hear, see, learn, share – this is something I am most definitely still learning about, and would love to learn from your experiences too.

~~~

This post is a contribution to the Middle Zone Musings group writing project: What I Learned from 2009. You still have time to take part yourself if you’re interested – find out more from the linked MZM post.

~~~

Post Author Joanna Young is the author of the popular Confident Writing blog, and the new book of the blog, 199 Ways to Write with Confidence. Her aim is to create more space for people to write, including time out and writing retreats.

She loves to take photographs and you can see more of her pictures at Flickr: Joanna Young Last but not least, you can catch her most days on Twitter, @joannayoung

Tagged as: contemplative photography, dreamboards, photography, vision boards, visual learning