Been working on my journal. Painting messes, ripping pages... here I painted warm colors on the front and cool colors on the back before ripping. Then stapling the pages together. I'm not sure I like the way it turned out. I might wreck it some more.
Then the "lose this page" page. Somehow, I couldn't bear to just get rid of it. I wrote on the back the things that I wanted to release. Things like anger and resentment, or things that I no longer have but can't let go of for some reason. I tore the page out, took it out into the garden and got ready to burn it.
Oh yeah. Fire! Fire! heheheheh. Here you can see the flames licking through the list of things to let go of, releasing them into the air as carbon and oxygen. Bye bye things that keep me tied up.
Except in the end... this was what was left, what didn't burn. "The Loss."I thought it looked cool and stuck it back in my journal...
Uh... I thought I was supposed to let it go?
I thought I was supposed to accept the loss. Why am I still holding onto it?
Hmmmmmm.
Evidence? You do represent a super hero and maybe forensics can use it...
ReplyDeleteOh! How ingenious to put the things you need to release on the page and burn it! :) You keep what you need to keep until you don't need it anymore! You'll know when. You are the mistress of your own wreckage! :)
ReplyDeleteYou did let go... The rules are that you should break them and experiment so I think holding on is fine as long as you look at why you want to hold on *grin* It does look cool and all these different crazy things are merely techniques and experiments....
ReplyDeleteNice use of color on the tear strips page-- There might be more to be done on it, but I'm already really liking what you have!
ReplyDeleteYou are an incredibly talented artist! If you ever want to be featured on the Pink Heels blog, drop me an email!
ReplyDelete...it doesn't say when to let it go:)
ReplyDeleteThat is gorgeous. The process, the shape of your surviving loss, the intuitive direction of each choice.
ReplyDeleteI love it.
There is always a second chance.
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I think it was a clever interpretation of the rules, well done. Tomorrow I plan to leave my page on the London underground (Northern Line) so it goes on an interesting journey. I may tape it to the advertising above people's heads to give it a little staying power. Imagine the strange thoughts that may pass through people's heads as they wonder at its meaning!!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am certainly intrigued by this post and a few others I've run across, connected with the Wreck Your Journal idea . . .
ReplyDeleteRowena, it is too too "interesting" that the little piece you had left was "the loss"--and I think maybe letting go happens in stages for some of us, some of the time. I have been getting HUGE prompts from????? the Universe?? God? Me??? to LET GO . . . and I think I do, and then it comes up again . . so I think I'm letting go in layers, somehow ..
A few inches from the keyboard here is a quote Amanda/Persistent Green had on her blog recently: "Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hand onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?" by Mary Mannin Morrissey.
Actually - you are accepting "the loss" - accepting it back into your journal after it helped release the things that needed to be set free in the fire. It did it's job and you welcomed it back home.
ReplyDeleteI love how you burned the page and kept "the loss" part. It's just a small part and it looks very cool.
ReplyDeleteToday I got angry, and in a storm of fury I took a pile of my journals and hurled them in the dumpster. Now they're gone and I'm not sure if I've accepted that loss or not.
ReplyDeleteWe writers get so hung up on rejection, but it isn't as if we're so great with acceptance either.
Love the art you've been doing lately. Well, always.
I love that your wrote on the back of the lose it page. Such wonderful, powerful wrecking you are doing.
ReplyDeleteLove what you are doing with your journal.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to let go negativity like that is such a release! Love how you tied that into your journal.
I had just thought to tear those strips but I like how you created on them first.
Keep on wrecking!
OK Rowena, I'm totally stealing this idea. Writing what you want to let go of on the loss page is amazing - I feel lighter just thinking of it! Then burn it, punch it, rip it to shreads - so freeing! Love it, love it, love it.
ReplyDeletegreat post! I am going to use your idea of writing a list of things I need to let go off..thanks for a great idea!
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