It’s Thanksgiving week here in America. On one side, it’s a time of travel, family get-togethers, festive meals. Another side spends hours cleaning and preparing food in order to host those visitors and festive meals (I’m squarely in this camp this year).
The Source
Sarah Josepha Hale is the single person most responsible for the continued tradition of Thanksgiving Day in America. Love of the traditions, the food, and the gatherings is great. But you can take the idea of thanksgiving further.
Not Everyone Enjoys Turkey Day
Some of us love doing those things in anticipation of the family and feasting, others of us are not so excited. Read Jenny Hansen’s take on fixing the turkey. Some of us are not so fortunate as others. Read Alone for the Holidays.
Many are not Americans, so they celebrate a different Thanksgiving day or they observe other holidays or holy days this month. No worries. No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what holidays you observe, you can use this week or this day to think about how to transform your blessings into artistic expression.
Gratitude Plus
Many Americans try to include a time of reflection and being thankful for the benefits we’ve received on this day. I invite everyone to join in.
In the past, I’ve listed thirteen things and twenty weird things for which I’m thankful. And I’ve shared my thanks for writerly things. But there is another thing creatives can do around special times and events in our lives. Keep a creator’s journal. (Bet you thought I’d say something else!)
Enjoy the festivities. Be present during the visits and feasting and such. Later, when you’re preparing for bed or perhaps the next day, journal about your day. (Remember, you journal your way, whether that’s by writing, drawing, photos, music, or whatever.) Record what you saw and heard, what you did, what you smelled and tasted, and most especially record how the things that happened made you feel. By feel, I mean emotionally and physically. This isn’t so you have incriminating evidence to use against anyone. It’s all about you and only for you.
The What and the Why
Creative Journaling is what you need it to be. You can have one in which you express your thoughts and feelings, one for recording creative lessons, and one for experimenting with creative ideas. I have multiple journals. One is my “anything goes” record of my thoughts, experiences, and feelings. Others are project specific.
Journaling can and should be a safe space. It’s a space to be imperfect, honest, and expressive. It’s a space to empty your brain of the clutter of worries and to-dos and all the minutia of having a life. Achieve that and it silences your inner critic, which allows your creative brain the space to play with the improbable, the impractical, and the impossible.
Creative journaling helps you express your emotions both in the journal and in your projects.
When you develop a regular habit of journaling, it helps you access your inner resources. You might see how you limit yourself, be able to expand your worldview, how to use and improve your abilities, increase your self-worth, and more.
“Talking it out” in your journal helps you deal with conflict (both inner and interpersonal). It may help you see both sides of a situation and maybe help you express your needs better while respecting the opposing view or person.
Creative journaling can help you see yourself and your work more objectively.
Journaling helps you manage the stresses in your life (creatively and personally).
And over time, the benefits, reasons, and purposes for journaling are fluid. They will change to suit what you need. You journal your way.
What to Do Next
Once you’ve expressed all you can about your Thanksgiving day, let it rest a day or two, then go back and read/view what you’ve recorded with your creator’s eye. How can you creatively express those feelings you recorded? Which of your projects spring to mind? What new projects blossom? If nothing comes to mind, don’t stress. Exhaustion, other plans, or daily must-do’s may be interfering. That’s okay. You can revisit the feelings you recorded whenever you need inspiration.
Meanwhile
No matter what holidays you celebrate, everyone of you is blessed with the gift of creativity. Me, I’m blessed by your comments, your support when you buy my books or subscribe to my blog and newsletter, and the precious gift of your time.
I hope you see and value your own creativity. I see you. I value you and your creativity. Thank you for sharing a bit of it and your time with me.
Do you have a creative journal? What benefits has journaling given you? If you don’t have a creative journal, will you start one now?
Images purchased from Depositphotos.com
Excellent advice! Everything we experience is fuel for new creative work, but noting particulars is especially important for writers. No matter how good your memory or imagination, your direct observations and notes on all the senses engaged can really help make a later evocation more effective!
Thank you, Jan. I appreciate your praise and your thoughts.