Wreck This Journal – Final Week from Jennifer Lee on Vimeo.
I couldn’t resist one more video to bring the Wreck This Journal Next Chapter Book Club adventure to a close.
Drawing with glitter glue at this week’s intuitive painting class. I didn’t wait for the glue to completely dry before I shut the book, so the pages got stuck together! Ah, the unintentional wrecking!
My left-handed doodle from my hammock on my self-care Friday.
Last weekend, I went to SARK’s Juicy Pens Thirsty Paper workshop and did a bit of journal wrecking there. SARK hand writes all of the nametags with words that she intuitively channels and we randomly get handed them as we walk in the door. My nametag said “Feisty” and I thought that would make a good sign. One of the pages I’d been avoiding was the hang the journal in a public place and invite people to draw on it page. Well, donning my “Feisty” tag, I raised my hand before break and invited my fellow workshop participants to join in the wrecking fun and draw on the page.
People had a lot of fun participating and several were inspired to get Wreck This Journal to kickstart their own creative juices.
Some people even went on to the next page. Of course I had grand visions for what the “trace your hand” page was going to be, but I had to let it go. Another lesson courtesy of WTJ, some times things don’t go as planned and that’s okay!
The SARK workshop was a blast. I took my notes in the form of the “document time passing” page. Every minute was filled with juicy learning!
My internal “dialogue” before going to bed one night this week. This reminds me of an exercise I did dialoging with my Inside Team.
A couple of weeks ago I did the “other ways to wreck this journal” page. One of them was to draw a face and put make-up on it, so that’s what I did here.
When I reflect on what I get angry about, it usually has to do with some of my core values not being met. Here I journaled about two things that have been bugging me. The process underscored for me that my values of creativity/uniqueness/self-expression and meaningful relationships/friendship and authenticity/integrity/wholeness were not being fully honored in these two situations.
I did my own take on the “write backward” page. I took Japanese in college and it was difficult to learn because everything is backwards compared to the English language. You have to write vertically from right to left. Even the grammar seems backward with the verb coming at the very end of the sentence. Here was my poor attempt at writing, “Hello my name is Jennifer. I studied Japanese (or the backwards order of ‘I Japanese studied’). How are you? I’m fine thank you.” The calligraphy on the lefthand page is from a gocco print I made out of my Grandpa Fukuda‘s shodo practice sheets.
I enjoyed connecting with fellow wreckers on the Wrecking Ball call with Jamie on Friday. Given that I had challenged someone on the call to do a page she’d been avoiding, I challenged myself to do one, too. My favorite page, the fruit sticker page, is going to Jennifer Moore of Pink Heels. The cool thing is we’re swapping fruit sticker pages because that was a page she’d been avoiding, too. So it all works out in the end 🙂
I discovered so many gems on the WTJ journal and relearned a few good lessons, too:
- Mistakes, failure and unintended wrecking often lead to wonderful creative surprises beyond what I could’ve planned or imagined.
- Inviting creative cohorts to play not only enlivens me and the creative process, but also gives the other people permission to giggle, wreck and have fun (and they might not have even realized that they were yearning for just that!).
- Having a supportive community makes stepping out of my comfort zone a whole lot easier.
- Responding to a structure or prompt actually spurs my creative process. I can take the suggestion and run with it or I can say no and make it my own. Either way, I’m moving forward.
- I like having variety and challenge in my creative process.
- Wreckage can be ugly and uncomfortable AND it can also be cute and beautiful – there’s room for a whole range of experience and expression.
And I listed some other lessons in an earlier post here.
What have you learned through the wreckage? I’d love to hear! See you at the next Next Chapter book club for The Joy Diet by Martha Beck. It sounds yummy!
This was such a fun video! I love the soundtrack, heehee…
🙂
Well-wishes,
Me
Your WTJ gems were enlightening. WOW. You had the chance to work with SARK? Amazing. What a blessing! SARK’s Juicy Pens book got me through a huge writing block last October while I was stuck in my poetic memoir writing process. SARK’s books have always helped me. I love her work. Glad you had a great time during WTJ. Looking foward to the next blogging book group in September.
fun video, peppy music! I still love your juicy colorful handprint page the most!!
that wrecking the journal thing looked like fun! looking forward to the next book club.
You did such a beautiful job. I love all the vibrant colors. I am going to so miss all this wrecking fun.
fabulous wrecking jenn! you are by far one of the best wreckers i know!! it was so great to share in the wrecking journey with you!!
juicy indeed.
wonderful lessons.
this has all been way more than i expected:
more fun
more challenging
more revealing
cant wait for the next chapter
loved you v-log! your journal looks well wrecked. I had a block with mine and other things got in way. I have been exploding with creative ideas and projects and I see that as a good thing. I think the wrecking inspired me to stop wrecking myself…
so kewl that you took a workshop from sark. I have admired her forever and hope to some day meet her in person. sounds like a wonderful time. take care! ciao!
Jenn,
I loved the videos you did, especially the one you did with yoga. I appreciated the backwards Japanese, my daughter is minoring in Japanese in college and she always tells me how hard it is. It was fun being on this journey with you. I too think the next book will be fun, We can all use more joy in our lives.
kate
Creative thinking on the backwards page and one that I would have never thought of, that’s for sure lol You’ve got me wondering what my name would be…but Feisty is great!!
It’s been such a pleasure coming here each week – Thanks for being a part of the wrecking crew.
Kristin – The Goat
Jenn, I just loved watching your video. You just beam! It’s kind of like getting to hang out with you. I imagined us having tea and talking about the journal experience.
Your slide show was wonderful too. It’s beautiful to see your creativity in each and every page. What a joy!
I’m glad we’ll be on the next adventure together too 🙂
I just received your fruit sticker page in the mail today! I tabsolutely reasure it! I laughed and laughed…and am still laughing.
In honor of your creativity and superb wrecking abilities, I have decided that your fruit sticker page deserves a vacation. I will be taking it with me on my upcoming adventure this week (city to be announced upon completion). I promise to take lots of pictures of your fruit stickers lounging around in various locations in this city!
Ohhh…do we really have to finish the WTJ journey? I really want it to continue FOREVER!!! : )
Huh? I just re-read my post and noticed that the “t” in the first line was transposed by the cyber monsters. It should read, “I absolutely treasure it!” LOL
Jenn,
Thanks for sharing your beautiful journal pages with us! I love them, and I love your courage and vitality as expressed in color on paper. Yea!
i just got my book and i read threw some of it just to get an idea of what was in store for me. i was so excited to start. i just have not decided what i wanted to start with. i think i will brake the book in by tieing it to a string and throwing it around. lol. than after make up for it by takeing a walk and dragging it. ha ha ha.