If dirty hands are a sign of a good art workshop, then my table mate, Kat, from Victoria,B.C., is having an incredibly creative time. I can't begin to recommend Teesha and Tracy Moore's Summer Play Art Journaling Workshop, with lots more workshops and artfests scheduled at Port Townsend, WA's Ft. Worden.
More than "journal writing", the National Intensive Journal method is based upon principles of psychology, providing you with unique approaches to develop your life. At the company's website which is linked in my first paragraph, you'll find lots of information and a schedule of workshops and retreats through the summer. If you are serious about exploring your life, check this out. I have now set up my own National Intensive Journal as I was taught in the late 1970s and I feel like I've started to till some very hard soil I had seriously neglected.
Don't hesitate to e-mail me privately if you want further information I can help with, or call Jon Progoff, Ira Progoff's son, who directs the program at 800-221-5844. It's rare I give a pitch so directly, but I feel very passionate about sharing this information with you. You can also get the information you need from Dr. Progoff's book At a Journal Workshop, but a group workshop is the best way to learn it. He always referred to the work as "the solitary work we cannot do alone."
I hope I am not preaching to the choir. I usually write about whatever it is that I need to learn.
A friend of mine recently asked me to describe an exercise in The National Intensive Journal, Dr. Ira Progoff's method of journal keeping in the section called "Intersections: Roads Taken and Not Taken." It follows in a nutshell.
From Ira Progoff, Ph.D., “At A Journal Workshop” (pages
102-122)
When writing in a journal, Frances Heussenstamm taught me long ago to, “No judgments, no comparisons, and give up your need to understand.” This is the key to depth journal work.
For those of you who may not know, Ira Progoff’s National Intensive Journal is an integrated system of writing exercises broken into more than 20 sections in a notebook journal. He developed the method in the late 1960s and it continues to be used and taught to this day. It's much more than a diary. Most serious journal keepers take at least one Progoff workshop in their lifetimes because it lays the groundwork for most other journal and diary methods that have followed it. Though I am certified to teach the Progoff method, periodically I will take a workshop because his carefully thought out method helps me to refocus my life. In the journal I keep daily and the journal workshops I currently offer, I incorporate many of Dr. Progoff's techniques, and those of other journal teachers. But, I always "think" Progoff when I'm writing.
Intersections is a section in the journal that Dr. Progoff called time stretching. The Life History Log is also part of this section. It is part of a series of exercises designed to help us reconstruct our autobiography over time.
It helps us to place ourselves back in those experiences that brought us to a point of transition, to an intersection in our lives, where a change of some kind became inevitable.
Basic to the exercises of this section is the image of the road. Our life is like a road that passes through many environments. As conditions change, it varies its style of movement. But it remains the one road of our life. It takes detours.
Three kinds of life situations lend themselves to writing in Intersections.
1.
Roads or paths that were intersections in our lives that we
did follow, either by personal choice or because of life situations.
2.
Roads we could have taken but for some reason did not. Dr. Progoff
called these unlived possibilities, but are often important to explore.
3.
Roads we are considering taking at this very point in our
lives.
Progoff uses a term called Steppingstones and in the book he recommends that we make lists of major turning points in our lives to date. It’s a form of list. These usually do not exceed 12 and would comprise the choices that were actually made on the road of our life.
Another list of choices that we could have made but didn’t is compiled. Each item can comprise a few sentences to jog your memory.
The third set of steppingstones are those of some choices or possibilities we are currently exploring and will want to either let go or make a choice to follow.
Creating the steppingstones lays the groundwork for Intersections, but there is no reason you can’t move back and forth in your life without the requisite lists. Dr. Progoff recommended that we always begin these kinds of writing exercises with what he called twilight imagery. Personally, I take quiet time and ask Spirit to give me the right intention for the work ahead.
The exercises are always written in the first person. You are actually placing yourself back at the time when the choice was made by you or for you and living it. “I am now---.” I usually set a timer for approximately 15 minutes and just let my life unfold because of that choice--or explore choices not made, or yet to be made.
An Example: A Road Taken
Say I choose an intersection from my life (or steppingstones) I did take. My wedding day and subsequent 27-year marriage for example. “I was married to Ray P. on Sept. 6, 1958—and then—and then—and then.” No rights, no wrongs. Just write.
An Example: A Road Not Taken
“I stayed in my journalism program at San Jose State
University and graduated with a B.A. in 1959. And then—and then—and then.”
An Example: A Road I’m Exporing Taking
Here I am, 71-years-old and still the same old human doing,
still working, still volunteering, still trying to keep the pace of a 50 year
old. I think I might want to stop all my activity and move nearer my son
and his family in Port Angeles, WA. "I sold Villa Redondo, packed my earthly belongings and Cookie and I are renting a room in a house near Lake Dawn while I decide what to do next. And then--and then."
In my teaching over the years, I have seen remarkable breakthroughs for some people, particularly in the Road Not Taken option. Many people continue to carry regret about people, situations and circumstances they chose not to follow. Just writing about it, reading it aloud to yourself, tape recording it, or reading it to another person can make all the difference in the richness of life.
If you have questions, e-mail me and I'll try to explain things more clearly.
As most of you know who read here regularly, I am a garage sale/estate sale/thrift shop aficionado. On most weekends I spend a few hours going to the sales—predominately looking for ephemera for my art projects these days. That wasn’t the case in earlier years. I did not go to these places during my 25 years of marriage and child rearing, or at least rarely. After my divorce, however, my lifestyle changed greatly; I was moving into my new digs and couldn’t afford new stuff. Finding used stuff became both a necessity if I wanted to change my living environment and something I found that helped me get my post-divorce sanity back. All of us are consumers on some level; it’s just that I get my jollies from used stuff versus Nordstroms, Macys, Pottery Barn et al. I am also fortunate to have a few antique furniture pieces and accessories passed down in the family. I do have my original Danish modern bedroom dressers and they are very dated. For some reason, I have never been able to replace them, however.
One of the games I play with pieces that have real significance to me is that I make up stories about who owned them before. New stuff has stories, too, but old stuff has many layers of the previous owners. Sometimes the seller will tell me a story about the piece but most often they don’t.
This is my bedroom. The cedar chest at the end of the bed
was my maternal grandmothers and it is very precious to me. It is filled with
family treasures. On top of it are two versions of the Christian bible and A
Course in Miracles. Two sachets my daughter-in-law Gretchen are on top of a
very old, and truly exquisite wooden box given to me by a friend when her own
grandmother died. The small box on the cedar chest is a gift from a friend who brought it back to me from the Holy Land.
The two bedside tables have “found” treasures, too, including a replica of the Kewpie doll I had as a child, and one has a homemade lace cover made by an aunt. My five-year diary (I’m just entering the 11th year of keeping one) sits on my bedside table with the pens I use for my written journal. The book I am currently reading is at my left and the books coming up are on the right. When married, I would never have had a lace and netting canopy; it wasn’t appropriate. As a woman alone who revels in frou-frou feminine in the bedroom (not in the rest of the house or in my clothing), I love my canopy. Tucked inside the flowers over my head is a dream catcher given to me by my late friend Donna many years ago. The angel vase is a garage sale find. Cookie sleeps on the carpet between the wall and the bed.
Now, the bed. The bed itself came from an ad in the Penny Saver a few years back and that my former son-in-law Lorenzo and grandson Anthony hauled home for me. The down comforter you can’t see as well as the navy blue down bedspread are from estate sales. The maroon velvet angel pillow was purchased from a local antique mall. A new addition is the crocheted bedspread on the top I bought at a moving sale this past weekend and whose story I am about to write for another post. The seller and his wife are moving into assisted living in Seattle to be near their daughter and they bought two of these bedspreads at a garage sale themselves many years ago. Gregarious by nature, I always enjoy talking to the sellers if they are so inclined because most of them love to tell their stories about the stuff they are usually reluctantly getting rid of.
For some reason I cannot explain, this crocheted piece has
mystical energy in it for me. I would like to think it is hand-made, but perhaps it's machine-made. It doesn't matter to me. I haven't even removed a few spots it bears so far; they will be in my story. My spiritual director Betsy Caprio is a quilt
maker and collector who has used her own collection of quilts she used for quilt retreats.
There is one point in a retreat where we choose a quilt and take it to a quiet
corner to “experience.” I like to wrap myself in the quilt. What enevitably happens is that the quilt’s maker and
owners reveal themselves and then Betsy suggests the quilt’s story from
our point of view be written in a journal.I will wrap myself in this crocheted coverlet one day soon and let it speak. One of the owners will be Grace; I do know that already.
Have you ever tried an exercise like this? What possessions do you have that
are story-laden? Tell me about one item you own that calls to you personally.
When I was visiting in Portland, Vicki shared several photos of her art work and photos she has taken when she was out and about. This is actually a real girl, the daughter of someone she knows.
Several months ago I made some Artists Trading Cards, posted a few here, and then put that project aside. That is so Frannish. This weekend I returned to this project. Loretta has convinced me that I have my style and I don't have to constantly compare myself to others.
Shown here are 3 of the cards I made tonight. If you are unfamiliar with the guidelines, the cards are 2.5 x 3.5” and technically they are supposed to be traded at ATC swaps. They are never to be sold. The sky is the limit, I guess. I like the format because I can scan them and put a copy in my journal. They make great writing prompts.
The ATC concept was founded in Switzerland and you can see the ATC history at the Artist Trading Cards site. I just keep making them and have never traded.
Today, while visiting my spiritual director in Culver City, I stopped at Stampin’ From the Heart and Kelley Kilmer, a wonderful mixed media artist, was teaching. And this weekend is the spring Rubber Stamp Convention in Carson sponsored by a Stamp in the Hand. Don’t let the rubber stamp handle get in your way; there are classes, an ATC trade, many dealers of stamps, inks and mixed media supplies, and even classes. It is really fun!
Who among us does not keep on ongoing list of “things to do” so we keep our life on track? I’ve been listmaking on a variety of topics since I was very young. It is one of my gut-level journal practices for psychological, spiritual and practical reasons.
Then Kathleen Adams wrote Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth where “Lists of 100” are one of her tools she recommends for all of us. Between my instinct and Kathleen’s suggestion, I often find myself making lists way beyond "things to do."
At the monthly used book sales at the library where I volunteer, I picked up a delightful small book a few months back called List Your Self: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery by Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick. Inside are multiple blank, lined pages with topics at the top such as “List what consistently worries you each day," or “List all the idiotic things you’ve done for money.” How many items you list is up to you.
In the introduction to Listmaking they suggest that lists are a time capsule of who you are and where you’ve been. It’s up to the minute. It’s your latest snapshot. See your heart, mind and soul lined up in one neat vertical row. Here’s a sample from one of the authors’ five favorite lists at this particular sitting.
Or, how about, "List all the objects you wish you had from your parents’ living room." Here’s mine. Won’t you join in sharing yours?
1. My dad’s Morris chair which was passed to him by his dad (I’ve even written a whole essay on this chair.
2. The big piece of petrified wood they picked up somewhere in New Mexico.
3. My mother’s sewing box and her button box.
4. The Tiffany-style glass library lamp with a garden scene. (My eldest sis got that when my folks died and one of my nephews has it in Ohio now.)
5. My dad’s collection of science fiction magazines and books.
6. My mom’s bible where she kept a lot of family history and information (which one of my sisters does have)
7. A Victrola with cylindrical records.
8. A stereoptican and the box of cards of exotic far-away places.
9. One of my mom’s handmade bib aprons which always hung over her sewing chair.
10. A white stuffed cat with angora fur that was as soft as an angel’s wings.
You get the point, I’m sure. Now here’s an intriguing one I would like to tackle sometime: "Suddenly you can talk to animals. List the ones you want to converse with and why."
Several people have e-mailed, or asked for further information about five year diaries which I posted about some time back. They are not easy to find in the U.S., at least not the small ones I prefer because they travel so well. My major sources are in the UK or Canada. For anyone who doesn’t know, these are small diaries with one page with space for five entries on each page for each year. I am just beginning my fifth year and will order one for me and a few for gifts so I don’t scramble when it comes to this time next year.
I have photographed a 2 page spread of 2004-2008 for the dates of Jan. 2 and 3 so you can see what one looks like. As soon as I read what I was doing in the years previous on this same date, incredible memories come up. These diaries are also excellent tools for people who say they want to write every day but just can't find the time.
I did note that several 5 year diaries are available on eBay UK with a Vincent Van Gogh design. Shipping is high, but the basic price is cheap. Just go to eBay and search for 5 year diaries.
Here are my four current sources and I welcome your suggestions as well. If I were a wealthy woman, I would publish some in the U.S. as I think they would sell like hotcakes. By the way, though I recommend these companies as sources, I have no vested interest in them whatsoever.
Arts Krafts Canada
Diaries Direct
Rare Device
Doreene Clement
Leave it to journal therapist, educator and poet Kay Adams to pull together the top journal teachers in the nation for a conference in June 2008. I will definitely attend this conference as all the presenters have been important to me over the years. Kay has booked a hotel, and though the conference is still in the planning stages, she says that the earliest bird pricing before the end of 2007 will probably be $295 with early bird (Jan-mid-April) at $325 and regular $355. Watch Kay's website for more details as they evolve.
Save the Date!
Journal Conference 2008
June 18-21,2008 Denver CO
Together for the first time, four leading voices and theorists in the field of journal therapy:
Dr. James Pennebaker
Research psychologist, author, Opening Up and Writing to Heal (et. al.)
Tristine Rainer, Director of the Center for Autobiographic Studies
Author, The New Diary and Your Life as Story (et. al.)
Christina Baldwin, Director, Peer Spirit Network
Author, Life’s Companion, Calling the Circle, Storycatcher (et. al.)
Kathleen Adams, Director, Center for Journal Therapy
Author, Journal to the Self and Scribing the Soul (et. al.)
All in plenary session, plus dozens of pre/post conference workshops and breakout sessions with other authors and experts including Judy Reeves (A Writer's Book of Days), Charlene Geiss (Inner Outings), Sue Meyn (Journal Magic) and Cindy Coney (The Wild Woman's Guide to Living With Illness).
Rev. Dana Reynolds, Director of Sacred Imagination, Conference Weaver
Save the date for this once-in-a-lifetime event!
More information, as it is available, will be posted at Kay Adam's website or send an email requesting placement on the announcement list to: JournalConf2008@aol.com
Toll-free 888-421-2298 KAdamsRPT@aol.com
So often I forget to read Thoughts From the Universe, but I read it right now. I don't kid myself that each of us are getting personalized messages from God, the Universe, or Higher Power, but what it said was what I actually needed to hear tonight.
If you could read all the minds that I read, Frances Ann, hear all the prayers that I hear, and beat all the hearts that I beat, I wonder if you'd even believe how often you're thought of, talked about, and fallen in love with...
2007 is payback time.
Ándale Ándale!!!
The Universe
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones! ®
Today, in spite of having a hacking cough and draining sinuses (it has been 4 1/2 months since a recurrence; for that I am grateful), I dismantled my way overdone Christmas, except for the tree and ornaments which I'll do while watching the Rose Parade. My grandson helped me get it all back into the rafters in the garage.
So, when I settled later on the sofa wrapped in My Blankee, I began the first of three or four in-depth journal entries I do when I wrap up the old year and prepare for the new one. This included a dialogue with one of my inner guides, Amaria, and out of the writing came the notion of doing a "burning bowl" exercise on behalf of my grandson. He is the love of my life, but I don't kid myself that this 3 1/2 years has been easy. After re-reading and feeding back in my journal tonight, I took a bright orange paper out to the patio and burned my affirmations on his behalf--and vowing to let him go. Though I don't impose my will very often, it's time to be more diligent in setting my own personal boundaries--and trusting that his life is unfolding divinely.
What brought tears to my eyes in reading back my journal entry and dialogue with Amaria, was that I had written paragraphs of self-criticism, but I also know that I have a tendency to periodically do the mea culpa thing and make too many resolutions.
Though I am not going to write in detail what Amaria said, one of her entries began with, "It's true you do these self-sabotaging things, Frances, what I call those very human things we all do. But, you discredit yourself for many good things you do day in and day out." And then she listed a whole page of good things I've been doing lately, that I frankly hadn't seen in that light.
Thank God for the healing power of journal writing. I will begin to consult with a new woman who bid for and won two private writing sessions I donated to a local church silent auction. It's time for me to actually begin more actively preparing for how I will use my time after Anthony moves this summer.
Do you have any practices of your own to wrap up the year and prepare for the new?
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