the me that remains

Posted on by stargardener

“But I recognize a light in my eyes that never did fade / And I’m gonna find, yeah, find and revive the me that remains” -Amy Grant

I included lyrics from Amy Grant’s new album on my first ICAD card because her words 🪞 reflect so much of what I am experiencing right now:

Amy Grant’s “The Me That Remains” album cover

🔁➡️ I have just recently come through some extremely challenging years, and now I am facing numerous decision regarding cancer protocols + two other ongoing health challenges.

➡️ Definitely a time of personal reflection; definitely a time of holding fast to the me that remains.💗

  • There are several changes in-progress for me right now. But I have amazing support, my creative practice and a lifetime of experience to guide me through … 🫂🎨💗

“The consistency of the process is where the magic is.” -Emily McDowell

In May I completed a 100-Day Project exploring this prompt: What if it all works out? 💖

Little did I know that at the end those my 100-days I would be in need of beginning a new 100-day-countdown project, a creative project with its 🪄 magic of consistency, as I continue onward.

  • 🌈 May 23 was the first quarter 🌓 moon and my Day 1/100. 🥳
  • My journal prompt is to focus on Benevolence, Wonder and Meaning.

Creativity + community may not change whatever challenges or suffering we may be experiencing—BUT the combination of creativity + community definitely makes life more doable 😉 (and “funner”). 🤭🤹‍♀️🤸🧙‍♀️🛝🎢

  • I decided to do the ICAD Creative Challenge for June and July as a way of giving myself a daily focal point, something that is doable + tangible—and helps me to get started on the “swirly” 🌀 days.
    • 🤹‍♀️🎉 I started by adding song 🎶 lyrics atop collaged index cards as a way of having a tangible record of my “summer sojourn playlist.”
    • There has been some “shape-shifting” 😊 but I am trusting my pace and energies as I remind myself slow is fast enough (and that I had three different surgical procedures in a month’s time).
      • Always reminding myself that my main intention with my ICAD cards is having a starting point. 😊 No rules, just making. ✂️✏️🖍️🖌️
This has been like a mantra for me during the past few months.

What does this have to do with right brain planning?

Every day is a gift. 🎁 Simple chronicles of the details (thoughts, events and emotions) of our days is a way to cope + know ourselves + map 🗺️ our desires. ❤️

Tracking (and reviewing) our 💭 thoughts and routine activities [along with whatever has our ⚠️ attention] reveals our beliefs and values—and helps us to discover meaning and the details of our ♻️ rhythms.

Showing up for ourselves on the 📄 page—along with setting aside ⏰ time and space on a regular basis for both tangible and intangible processing is how we come to identify our desires + get 🔎 clarity.

  • Everything is an opportunity. ❤️ Everything we have experienced, lived and loved, questioned and lost is a part of our wholeness.
  • Right brain planning is a practice that invites us to devote ⏰ time and 🔎 attention to expression and a dated chronicle of our personal data (highs, lows and in-betweens) to assist us in our ongoingness.

And, Braveheart, there is enough time and space and energy for our dreams and desires, wishes and want-to’s, and our ❤️‍🩹 healing (even when we doubt all of that).

Our dreams take time. Without some type of visual chronicle to serve as a “map”—as well as a reminder and directive—the timelines of our desires and experiences become jumbled. What matters most becomes ignored and forgotten.

“I’ve learned to trust the altered states, agitations, energies, symptoms and moods that come from seemingly nowhere. They’re portals to the soul. Enter and heal, create, flow in ways the mind can’t yet see or know.” -McCall Erickson

My 100-day projects are a simple way to redirect my thoughts and my focus on a daily basis. I journaled (with hand-written entries, found words, collage, color, lyrics and quotations) ✅ first thing each day.

🔎 Benevolence, Wonder and Meaning. ➡️➡️➡️ These three elements will be the focus of my 100-day project as well as the resources (art + prompts and guiding content) I will be sharing with my Ko-fi patrons.

If a 100-day project sounds interesting and something you would like to try, please know this can be something very simple like daily doodles or tiny-collage in a monthly calendar grid, a 5-minute walk* … or filling in a circle with doodles to literally mark your days. ⬇️

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*”Walking is how your body processes what your mind cannot hold.” -Dr. Nicole LePera

Thank you kindly for your presence here, Braveheart. 💗

I appreciate your interest and support.

~love & good wishes~

⭐️ I am an artist and curator; I am one who communicates with color, found words and collage, inky marks and doodles as I cycle like the moon (as my calendar), chronicling oracles and abiding with the sky as a meditation.

⭐️ I host creative communities, safe spaces for gathering and sharing. I choose love and creativity for coping with the ongoing challenges of this world and I go to work—not because everything is fine but because I believe art heals.

❤️ Braveheart, as the Creator/Artist of Right Brain Planner I am ever-grateful to have the opportunity to share my creative work online + support other creators! 🎉 For almost 20 years I have had the privilege of sharing my art and writing about right brain planning while also hosting kindred 👭🏽💞👭 communities. ✨ I consider it an absolute 🤸 delight to continue this portion of my creative 📝🖌️✂️🫧 work (even as I retire from full-time work).

  • This is possible, in part, by {you} and your presence here. (Thank you!) 💗 But also because of the support of my Ko-fi patrons and the other member/subscriber communities I host (via their presence, input and paid subscriptions). 🫶
  • 💁🏻‍♀️ Other ways to support my work: ❤️ continue to read this blog + follow me on Instagram. 📲

If you already have your own system of creative journal-planning, but are interested in financially supporting my creative work, you may do so by making a donation:

  • Make a one-time contribution in any amount via [this link]. (Thank you!) ❤️