How to use art-making as a tool for self-discovery

One thing that you may or may not know about me is that I’m a solo parent, 100% of the time. My kiddos are 6 and 9 now, but when my husband died and my world turned upside-down in August 2018, my son was not quite 3 and my daughter was not quite born. You can read a bit more about all that here if you’d like, and the 2 books that I’ve written in the last few years – Radiant Rainbows and Art For Self-Care – were born out of the darkness of this experience as well, and I’m deeply proud of both of these creations.

Anyway. One evening in early 2019, about 6 months after Ryan died and a couple months after my baby girl was born (on Ryan’s birthday…. I’m telling you, you cannot make these things up), I intuitively turned to art-making as a way to begin processing my feelings and my experiences.

Life was really really hard in those days. I was a swirling sea of confusing feelings, exhaustion, and overwhelm. I needed a way to tune in to what was actually going on inside of me – to comfort and soothe myself, to identify and acknowledge my feelings, and ultimately to learn to feel better in this new version of my life.

I decided to start a 100 day project that I called ‘100 Messages To Myself’. It was a way for me to commit to practicing listening to my inner voice and to show up for myself in a small, creative way each day for 100 days. It turned out this project would be a major creative and healing catalyst for me.

Every evening after my babies were asleep, I sat on the couch with my iPad or a sketchbook. I got quiet, I tuned my ears inward, and I waited for a message from my innermost self – the voice that wants nothing but the best for me.

Through listening, hearing a message meant just for me, and then drawing I was able to calm myself. To acknowledge where I was. To comfort myself. To figure out how I was actually feeling. To heal. I never had a plan. Each day was its own experience. I just had to show up and my inner self took over from there.

I didn't know how radically transformative making art this way would be for me. Making art centered around my own words to myself was a lifeline. It still is.

Sitting down to make art became a way to have a conversation with myself and to process the beautiful mess of my life. Because that’s what it was –– a big messy swirl of all sorts of emotions that were hard to sort out.

This was my way to untangle myself each day.
Many days now, it still is.

I made this free 17-page guide because I know the power and impact that using art-making as a tool to tune into my inner voice has had in my own life, and I want other people to be able to use art in this way, too. Making art is good for your well-being in every sense of the word, no matter how creative you are (or think you aren’t!). I'll teach you how I did it, so you can start doing it for yourself.

Inside the guide you'll find 7 ways to begin tuning in to your inner voice and 7 prompts to use to ease your way into this transformational art-making process.

The best part? You don't even have to be an artist to benefit from this practice. I promise!

You can download the guide for free right here.

If you try it out, I'd love to hear how it goes and what kind of an impact it has in your own life!

Enjoy!
xo
jess