20WaysIn20Days

Make Picture Stories

Claire dreams, empowerment, Fallen, the Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, manifestation, transformation , , , , , , 0 Comment
Make Picture Stories

20 Ways to Change Your Story

7. Make Picture Stories

A picture, it’s said, is worth a thousand words, so you can imagine the immense story power a picture holds.

Why do you think Vision Boards have become so popular?

Images capture our emotions and imagination in ways that mere words cannot. Even with the most skillful writing, a story captures our imagination most powerfully when the words cause our minds to make mental images.

road-trip-1044982_1920Anyone at all familiar with the Law of Attraction is probably familiar with the idea of Vision Boards or Dream Books. You decide you want a new car, for instance, so you find pictures of the exact car you want – make, model, color, every detail – and you glue them down in a journal or on a piece of poster board. Maybe you even cut out a picture of your own smiling face and place it behind the steering wheel. You might add a picture of the open road unfolding before you and your brand new shiny car.

This is great. And it works. Especially if you take time every day to look at your Picture Story, to dream your way into it, and to imagine yourself living it and feeling the joy of it.

What can be even more powerful is to let your heart and soul do the dreaming for you.

This is the Visioning® method I learned in my Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) training with Lucia Capacchione. Her trademarked ten-step Visioning® process is a profoundly life-changing (and story changing!) practice. You can read more about this method in her book, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

Instead of deciding in your head what you want, get quiet and invite your heart and soul to speak to you through images. Pose a specific question, if you like, such as, “what is my perfect work?” or “who is my soul mate?” or “where is my perfect home and what does it look like?” Or, you can be a bit more general and begin with a broader focus phrase like, “the year ahead” or “my soul-centered life”.

Now give yourself 20 minutes or so to browse through magazines, not looking for any specific images, simply allowing images to show up and grab you. Which images speak to you? Cut those out. You don’t need to understand what they mean. Glue them down. Spend some time with them and listen to what they have to say. Listen to their stories for they will soon become your stories.

It may happen quickly or it may take some time. It will require action on your part in addition to dreaming.

I just realized an amazing story manifestation in my own life today.

paintingFBOnce upon a time, many years ago, I painted this picture as a gift for my husband. I gave it to him – for a birthday or anniversary – and I told him, “I’d like to live here with you someday.”

The painting was not based on any “real” place that I had seen. It came out of my heart’s imagination.

That painting has stood on the mantle of my fireplace for the past 30 years. I see it every day, without really “seeing” it anymore as it has become such an ever-present thread in the fabric of my life and surroundings. An ingrained, subconscious part of my reality.

Recently, we decided to buy a piece of land on which to build our retirement home, the home in which we intend to spend the rest of our lives. We looked at a lot of properties. A LOT. The moment I walked onto the land we eventually purchased, I was drawn to the beautiful pine that stood, alone, in the center of a cleared area. I stood under the tree and heard the wind sigh through her and I experienced an instantaneous and heart-centered feeling of homecoming.

DSC_0350_Crop_Adjust-SmallerAs I sit on that property today, admiring the view, a powerful flash of deja vu reminds me of the painting I created so many years ago.

It occurs to me that the dream of my heart has become real. That picture I painted, of no “real” place, bears a striking resemblance to the view I’m now enjoying as we plan together, my husband and I, just where our new house will sit.

More than 30 years ago, my heart showed me its dream, and through a long and winding road, it has led me to it.

I still want to live here with my love. And someday has become today. I can just picture it.

 

~~~~~

This is the 8th post in a 21-post series sparked by Chapter 9 of Fallen, The Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, in which Lizard suggests that Alora change her story.

#20WaysIn20Days, #ChangeYourStory, #Fallen

Build a Ladder of Small Changes

Claire empowerment, Fallen, the Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, transformation , , , 0 Comment
Build a Ladder of Small Changes

20 Ways to Change Your Story

6. Build a Ladder of Small Changes

Stuck In A RutDo you ever feel so deeply stuck in a rut that you can barely see out over the top of it? Everything is so same-ole-same-ole that you can’t even imagine a new story. Does the thought of trying to climb out of that rut feel so overwhelming you don’t even know where to start?

If your rut story is in desperate need of a rewrite and you can’t seem to even muster up a “once upon a time,” much less a “happily ever after” then maybe what you need is not some big, scary, humongous let’s change everything approach. Maybe what you need is a ladder of small changes you can climb up one at a time.

You don’t need to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t have to know exactly what you want.

You can start by doing just one thing different. It doesn’t matter what. It doesn’t have to be big.

  • Brush your teeth with the other hand tonight.
  • Take a different route to work in the morning.
  • If you usually wear a long tie, wear a bow tie or a bola tie or no tie at all.
  • If you usually wear a dress wear slacks.
  • Change the radio station in your car.
  • Walk or run your usual route in the reverse direction for a change.
  • Try a different exercise, class or piece of equipment at the gym.
  • Sit in a different chair in your classroom, church or staff meeting.
  • Eat breakfast food for dinner or dinner food for breakfast.
  • Smile at the people you pass.
  • Watch a show you’ve never seen before.
  • Turn off Facebook or your favorite app for just one day.
  • Flip through a travel brochure instead of going online.
  • Wander through an art museum.
  • Go to the library and choose a book at random to read.
  • Pitch a tent in the backyard and dream under the stars.

You get the idea. None of these cost any money or take any more time out of your already busy schedule. They don’t require a ton of effort or imagination. They just work to shake things up in little, non-threatening ways. They wake you up a tiny bit and get your brain moving differently.

Choose one little change and do it for a week. Or choose a different one each day for a week.

Then do it again for another week.

What do you notice that’s different when you make any of these small, random changes? Pay attention to any changes in energy or emotion, or any ideas that bubble up. Jot them in your Story Diary.

Ladder Out of RutI’m not saying your story will change overnight or miraculously. Things may start to feel just a little bit different. You may feel a tiny bit more energized. You may discover or rediscover something that makes your heart beat just a little faster or brings a smile to your face. You may decide to make a bigger change or two, to do that thing you’ve been putting off or to explore something new.

Over time those little changes will start to pile up. Rung by rung, you can build a ladder from them. Rung by rung, you can climb up out of the deep dark rut and back into the sunlight.

You can find your “once upon a time” AND your “happily ever after” by building a ladder of small changes.

~~~~~
This is the 7th post in a 21-post series sparked by Chapter 9 of Fallen, The Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, in which Lizard suggests that Alora change her story.
#20WaysIn20Days, #ChangeYourStory, #Fallen