Creative Journaling (Lucia Capacchione)

[Carol Clark]

I thought I would start a discussion area for exercises from Lucia's website and book. We'll try some creative journaling exercises to help nurture and soothe our Inner Child.

It would probably be a good idea to start with a clean notebook or journal, for the doodling, coloring, and writing.

LET'S BRING THAT INNER CHILD OUT INTO THE LIGHT AND BACK TO LIFE!

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Yes, I've had it for a while, waiting patiently for me to get a round tuit :)

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

and a loose schedule will be good as we're not quite finished yet with VOG ...

[Maureen]

Hooray, Little Barbie! So glad to have you join us! How perfect that you have the book. Thanks so much Carol for offering to put a schedule together. That will be a huge help!

[Carol Clark]

Here's what came of Ex 1, the "looking inward". I drew the pix, then came up with the words and writing. By the way, that's how my inner child would probably draw a star - it just came out that way!! The words are random, but I guess that's how they're supposed to come out. Tell me what you think, I'm open-minded to hear opinions... :-) I'll tell you what I thought of it all afterwards. Thanks!

WORDS

books
arrows
direction
whole
inside

meadow
complete

steel
emotion
hardness
tight
frightened
alarmed

reflection
brand-new!
whole

dark-blue
yellows
fringe

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

The blue shapes remind me of "unfolding"
and the red arrows of "flowing" in a Good Orderly Direction :)

[Susan Hosken]

Looking forward to doing the exercises Carol, Maureen and Barb.
lots of love from susan in australia

[Maureen]

So glad you'll be doing them with us, Little Susie!
Love, Little Mo

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Welcome to Inner Child Land, Little Susie :)

[Maureen]

Carol, this is really amazing to me. When you did the exercise, did you start with pen in hand? Or did you start with your eyes closed, just imagining, and then begin to draw?

When I did mine, I started with my eyes closed and focused on how I felt for about 5 minutes or so. Then I tried to recreate what I saw and felt by doodling what had gone through my mind. But I wonder if I just start with the pen and doodle what I feel (without doing the eyes closed part), if it would be more immediate that way; no gap between the feeling and the recording of it.

Here is what I see in your words and pictures (but if I am way off, feel free to tell me so!) ...

I think it's interesting how the top of your picture has some closed shapes, with question marks and X's. That seems to represent the words you wrote: frightened, alarmed, tight. And then along comes that amazing drawing of the star! Yes, that's exactly how a child would draw one! It's almost as if the star is the centerpiece, the turning point, showing you as "whole" , "reflection" (of you), "complete".

Then at the bottom come the arrows and exclamation points -- that all feels very positive, like you are moving in a good direction, and you are excited about where your life is now, and about the future. Your words like "brand new" , "direction" , and "arrows" come into play here.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it!

[Heidi]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for starting this group. I´ve joined today, after lurking and feeling tempted for a while! Yesterday I walked past a second-hand shop and saw John Bradshaw´s book "Home coming" (about healing the inner child) staring at me from the top of a bargain bin. I thought maybe it was meant for me, so I got it and decided to join this group as well.
I haven´t got Lucia Capacchione´s book yet but found this website that has the journaling exercises that you are discussing here. I may order the book later but so far I´ll be following the discussions here and post where I can.
Heidi