I bought two new books. A blank journal. And Visual Journaling: Going Deeper than Words by Barbara Ganim and Susan Fox. The book presents a 6 week course in using drawing to get in touch with your feelings. It addresses: healing your stress-producing emotions, overcoming fear, resolving inner conflict through soul wisdom, among other topics.
I began with the fear chapter. I chose to work with the fear of buying a house. On the left side page I wrote how my fear was unrealistic. Then I drew the above picture of my fear. As I later revised the picture it may be hard to see the original in which I drew a black fog smothering my nose, stitches closing my mouth and my stomach full of fear butterflies. My heart is encased between these two congested realms. My healing of the fear, visually, was to remove the black fug and breathe in and out freely. To unstitch my mouth and ask for help. To let the butterflies out of the stomach cage so they could fly free. Then you are supposed to burn this drawing.
The next step is to draw a symbol of the "lesson" your fear is gifting you with. Some words that came to me about this image are: it's okay to leap and make choices for yourself, to be your own parent. I am good enough, I do deserve a house that I love.Of course as a long time journal writer I have in the past used words to work through blocks. Now though, I do not write in my journal. I am finding drawing an image of my fears (in this case) goes quickly and directly to the essence of what is happening inside me. At the least, it seems to work for me in the present moment.
