color meditations

Posted on by stargardener

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.” -Georgia O’Keeffe

Braveheart, pen-to-paper (or water-brush-to-paper) is my therapy; it is a way for me to s-l-o-w down; it is what I can do while listening to music, audio books and meditations.

This past week I referenced 🌈The Color Meditation Deck by Lisa Solomon for additional visual inspiration (and listened to her course on CreativeBug).

“Orphaned voices. They seemed to speak for all the unlived parts of me, and they came with a force and dazzle that I couldn’t contain. I know now that they were the clamor of a new self struggling to be born.” -Sue Monk Kidd

I experienced this clamor several years ago after my son entered the Air Force. I had severely underestimated the sense of loss I would experience without his presence.

Having lived through familial abuse/estrangement, cancer, chronic pain and multiple losses I know recovery requires being with whatever we are feeling. ❤️‍🩹

  • Being present without rushing ourselves, and certainly, to resist judgment.
  • Art is one of the ways I enable myself to be present, to hold space with what I am feeling or processing or pondering.
    • Art, along with nature walks, naps in the sun, meditation and time with kindred people are all ways for me to hold that space.
  • Creative writing, collage and timelines-as-time-travel 🔮 are also ways I hold that space.
    • As a birthday present to myself, I am compiling a timeline of 5-year increments about my living + major influences in each time block.

This timeline project seems to be infiltrating my dreams. Dreams that often lead to waking up with memories about the realities that would be easier to forget.

But I have come to know that remembering is part of recovery; allowing these memories to pass through as a release, as a part of my healing, is essential.

My watercolor meditations have included abstract compilations with the shapes and colors that feel necessary (like filling circles with color and the shading patterns of lunar 🌙 phases).

Recovery cannot be rushed.

Everything is a phase.

We can decide to “make our own rainbows” as we embrace the practice of creative expression.

Our journals are sacred containers where we can express ourselves in color, jots and blurts; mapping our feelings and ideas; chronicling our thoughts, dreams and emotions as prayers and meditations.

  • The time we devote to “planning” (dreaming + mapping + preparing) connects us with our desires and fosters our wholeness.
  • Guiding (and reminding) us on the path of our desires and unlived parts of ourselves.

Any day can be Day One. And any page in a notebook, planner or journal can be were we begin.

“The meaning of a word–to me–is not as exact as the meaning of a color. Colors and shapes make a more definite statement than words.” -Georgia O’Keeffe

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. 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!) ❤️