by Kathleen Horne and Tamara Teeter Knapp

(with Terry Edgerton and Julia Alexander)

• Are you going on a special trip or journey?
• Planning for a retreat or immersion?

How do you savour the experience, hold on to the magic, and embody the changes you make?

How do you take this experience back into your daily life, and both protect and share the benefits?

Terry and Julia share their answer – creative journals!

 When we invest our resources – time, money, creative energy – into a very special experience that takes us from the rhythm of  our daily life and immerses us in a carefully held and crafted space, we remember ourselves at a deep level. We come away feeling “changed”. We want to savor that change and hold on to our re-vitalized self. We want to both protect and share the good energy and the deep learning, and allow it to flow into our own lives and the lives of others – family, loved ones, clients, students.

When we travel, to new landscapes or cultures, or sacred experiences, we re-c0nnect with what is most important to us.  When we gather in circles with others to create, explore, get quiet, listen deeply, we are changed. Setting aside sacred time and space to creatively encounter the most important questions re-awakens our purpose and unique gifts. In order to live lives of integrity and meaning, It is essential to draw on our deepest source of wisdom and share that in the world. This is how change happens, and how it grows.

We recently had the opportunity to meet with Terry and Julia, who participated in our Hollyhock workshop last summer. We are so inspired by their creative journals, that we asked them to share, so that others may benefit as well.

Terry and Julia have each been creating their “Hollyhock journals” over the past 7 months, since returning from last year’s expressive arts immersion.  Using photographs, art, and creative writing, they have re-created that sacred space in tangible form, allowing them to revisit,  to share, and to harvest the benefits. Watch, and listen….

When you witness Terry’s and Julia’s journals, do you sense their love, care, and dedication? ? Their investment in their own growth and change is clear. They are each continuing to work in these journals over time, as they harvest the deep learning into their lives. Their journals are creative artifacts that allow them to keep alive the threads of deep inquiry that happened at the Hollyhock workshop last year.

Are you coming to Hollyhock or going on a special journey or creative immersion?

 Here are some suggestions for savoring your experience :

Before you go….

• Set an intention to listen deeply to your experience – both outer and inner – and to reflect on and record it.
• Buy (or make) a journal to take along. Choose something that attracts you – consider size, type of paper, binding, cover, color.
• Pack a small pouch of your very favorite supplies – writing pens, tiny set of paints or colored pencils, small scissors, glue stick.

While you are away….

• Be a witness to your own experience.
• Notice what is happening within you, and track that in whatever way(s) work for you.
• Take photos. Gather materials from your journey.
• Dedicate some time to reflect, write, sketch, collage

When you return….

• Return to , and continue to work in your journal.
• Review and reflect your experiences.
• You might print your photos and integrate them in to your journal, as Terry and Julia did.
• Paint your journal pages.
• Use reflective journal prompts, such as:

  

How am I carrying this experience forward in my life?

What is one lesson I learned that I will always remember?

How does this experience change the way I show up in the world?

This year, we will be facilitating The Landscape of Expressive Arts at Hollyhock, May 31 to June 5.

This will be an opportunity to connect with yourself through connection with the natural world. The arts – visual, writing, movement, sound, rhythm, guided meditation – will be your pathway to learning and change.  We welcome you to join us, and we invite any questions you may have. create@expressiveartsflorida.com 

See all the Hollyhock programs at www.hollyhock.ca

“My participation in the 2018 Dive into Expressive Arts workshop continues to inform my journey. I truly believe in the healing, transformative and connective powers of this work.  Making the video was a welcome opportunity to continue to reflect, process and distill the Hollyhock adventure and connections. It keeps on giving!- Julia A.