Create 365 Days in 2020

There are three things I need in my life…writing in my journal, going on walks outside and creating art. Looking back on 2019 I did all three of these things but creating art was not at the top of my list. In 2020 I want to change that. I want to create every day. Every. Single. Day.

No excuses.

Now I am realistic. I KNOW if I make this to elaborate and tell myself I will create a page a day in my art journal…it just won’t happen. BUT I DO know if I do some ground work NOW and do something that can EASILY be done in 5 minutes or less…I WILL get it done. It’s all about baby steps and making creating a HABIT.

Here’s how this will work…

On January 1st, 2020 I will share a complete list of 365 prompts, words, quotes that you can use over the next year. YOU get to decide what it is you are gonna make. I have decided on Soul Cards using old playing cards, business cards and index cards. To make this even easier I am already painting the backgrounds and putting the cards in a basket so I will be ready. All I have to do everyday is maybe add a few marks with my Posca paint pens, some images and a word or quote. Boom! Five minutes or less!

Join us in our Brave Heart Sisterhood Community on Facebook to share your work, find out more about the challenge and to be inspired! https://www.facebook.com/groups/134794110552217/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Week 4: Live JOYfully

It’s our final week of “Do All Things in Joy”. I hope you have enjoyed my four week mini challenge! If you weren’t able to participate no worries…it’s all in the Files section of my Facebook group “Brave Heart Sisterhood Art Journaling”. Now let’s get on to our last week.

Live Your Life on Purpose

In his book “The Success Principles” Jack Canfield says…”The things that bring you the greatest JOY are in alignment with your purpose.”

WOW! Such a simple yet profound thought!! When we are doing what we LOVE we have JOY!! When we KNOW what brings us JOY and makes our Heart sing…that’s when we can point a finger and say…YES! I love THIS! That’s what I want to do with my life!

That principle has inspired my Word of the Year for 2020 as well as fired me up to LIVE MY LIFE ON PURPOSE!

This week I invite you to go through your past journals, read what you wrote and look through the images you used. How have you grown? Are you still stuck in that place or have you moved on? Are you living your purpose or still on auto-pilot? Be on the lookout for clues regarding your Purpose. Do you keep seeing the same things written down? I did this exercise today with a journal I kept last year. Sadly most of my goals went untouched in 2019. Not a good feeling. But yet they have motivated me like never before to work for them and make them come TRUE!!

Author Jacks Canfield has three great questions to ask ourselves in order to align what brings us JOY into defining our Purpose…

1. Make a list of all the times you have felt MOST JOYFUL and Alive
2. What are the common elements of these experiences?
3. How can you make a living doing these things?

In order to Live with Intention and Purpose I am working on a 2020 Dream Board filled with images, words and my 2020 BIG DREAMS! I am going to hang my board in my studio and look at it EVERY SINGLE DAY! I invite you to do the same and share your creations with us in our Brave Heart Sisterhood group.

Thank you so much for joining me these past four weeks. For more inspiring challenges and art journaling ideas please join the Sisterhood!!!

Week 3: Joy & Gratitude

It’s Week 3 of my “Do All Things in Joy” mini challenge over at Brave Heart Sisterhood Art Journaling on Facebook.

This week we are focusing on being GRATEFUL. It’s Thanksgiving week here in the States, the perfect time to reflect on everything we have…right down to the things we take for granted…our warm beds, a roof over our head, clean water to drink, etc. I believe the quote above with all my Heart!! The more we give thanks the more JOY we have! When things have seemed overwhelming in my life, like I am in a hole and will never get out…I say a prayer of gratitude, thanking God for EVERYTHING! It’s the BEST way I know how to SEE abundance all around me.

While researching the connection between JOY and GRATITUDE I ran across this gem from author Brene Brown…

This week I invite you to begin the PRACTICE of GRATITUDE. Write down 5 things in the morning and 5 things at night you are grateful for. You can write these in your journals, a notebook, on index cards…where ever you choose. Be sure and SAVE THEM for a project we will do next week!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Week Two: What’s Your Joy List?

This quote right here may be my favorite JOY quote of all time. How many times have YOU battled to find JOY in your days? For those of you that have followed me for awhile you KNOW all the crazy stuff I have been through in the past few years…enough to suck the JOY right out of ANYONE! Holy Heck!

And while I have lived on Auto-Pilot off and on for years (if you don’t know what Auto-Pilot is it’s when we feel so stuck, so scared in our life that we just sit and stare off and stop living!! I wrote an entire year-long course all about how to get UNSTUCK!!) JOY always manages to seep in, light me up and give me energy to KEEP MOVING FORWARD! I NEVER give up the battle to find my JOY!!

Bringing JOY to Our Days

WOW!! This quote is sure speaking to me…BIG TIME! Looking back on my life I can’t begin to count all the times stress has overtaken me, paralyzed me and ruined my day…all because I am focusing on the ending…rather than the here and NOW. Stress is is a JOY SUCKER…Stress takes a perfectly good day and RUINS it!

What if we learned how to carry ALL things in JOY? What if we decided TODAY that NO MATER WHAT we were gonna face our days moment by moment rather than stress by stress.

Last week I invited you to create two pages in your art journals…one showing what stress and anger and sadness and frustration looks like and the other one what happiness, peace and JOY looks like. Here are mine…

I LOVED this exercise!! It’s just so great to have a visual of what my emotions LOOK like! If you haven’t done this yet I encourage you to…it brought me so much JOY!

This week I invite you to create TWO LISTS in your journals. One page should say…”What Brings JOY to My Everyday?” and the other list should say…”What Sucks the JOY Right Out of My Days?” Don’t feel like you have to fill your pages right away…rather let ideas come slowly throughout the week. Try catching yourself in a JOY-filled act or JOY-sucking act. Then WRITE IT DOWN!

Obviously we all have responsibilities that probably don’t light us up and fill us with JOY. Maybe our job sucks the JOY out or housework or dishes (me) or whatever. And yes, we still have to do those things…we do live in the real world after-all. The trick is to NOT let those JOY sucking activities phase us. We must put on our Armor of JOY in order to live a JOY-filled life.

We MUST have an ATTITUDE that supports peace, happiness, harmony and JOY. We become STRONGER when we keep JOY and Happiness and Peace with us no matter what! So this week let’s start recognizing what TRUE JOY feels like.

Please join our Facebook Group here.

Week One: Do All Things in Joy

Welcome to my Four Week Class “Do All Things in Joy”. I am sooo JOYFUL you are here! I would love for you to be a part of my community on Facebook “Brave Heart Sisterhood Art Journaling”. Please click here to join an amazing group of loving, supportive and VERY creative women!

What is the Challenge all about?

The inspiration for “Do All Things in Joy” came about a few weeks ago when I was listening to Christmas music. (Yes, I have been listening for weeks now!) As I was listening I was thinking about the Christmas Season and all the JOY associated with it. However as quick as I thought about the JOY of Christmas I thought about all the expectations, work and to-do lists of the Season. Kind of sucked the JOY right outta me!

At the same time I had just started a new job which requires me to get up EARLY. As I was applying make-up over my sleepy face I made a vow to BE AWAKE! To open my eyes wide, put a smile on my face and be JOYFUL. After all I had been praying for this job and was so grateful for it!

On my way to work that morning, Bing Crosby’s “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas” came on. Not only is that one of my FAVE holiday songs it just ALWAYS makes me HAPPY. Singing at the top of my lungs I made a decision right then and there to be as JOYFUL as possible everyday. Even those yucky things that weren’t so fun like getting up before the sun rose or cleaning house. Joy was going to be exuding from me!

I began researching the word JOY along with reading articles on how to have more JOY, give more JOY and LIVE IN JOY. I got so excited I KNEW I had to share…and that’s how this class was born.

Our Joy Mission

It’s Week One and our Mission this week sets the tone for the next 4 weeks.

Create a two page spread in your art journals…on the left side create a page of what it looks like to feel…hopeless, frustrated, angry, sad, lonely, etc. On the right side create a page of what it looks like to feel JOY, HAPPINESS, GRATITUDE, LOVE, FAITH, ETC. We will be going back to these pages throughout the Challenge to help us stay full of JOY!

Here is a fantastic list of JOYFUL activities to infuse your days with JOY.

“50 Ways to Add Joy to Your Day”

Be sure and stop by Brave Heart Sisterhood Art Journaling to join in our JOYFUL conversations and SHARE your journal pages!

My Heart is Calling

It’s Been a Long Time

The last time I wrote a blog past was about 9 months ago. It’s hard for me to believe it’s been that long. I began keeping a blog back in 2006 or 2007 on Blogger…writing my family stories, sharing my art work and thoughts on life. I rarely missed a week…many times sharing two or three times in one week. In 2018 I moved my Blog to WordPress and used it solely for my on-line class “I Say Yes”. Eventually I got out of the habit of posting but not the habit of writing.

Last November I picked up a brand new notebook, stickers and colored pens and began what made me fall in love with writing in the first place…journaling. Oh how GOOD it felt to write my thoughts, ideas and feelings down in a book! The more I wrote, the more I fell in love with writing again and the more I fell in love with writing again the more I felt called to start my blog back up.

What to Write About?

It’s been nearly a year since I picked up my journal practice and I have learned so much. The main lesson has been…the more I write the more I write. And the more I write, the easier the words and ideas flow. It’s like creativity…you can’t use it up you just get more creative!

So here I sit at the computer once more writing. What do I want to write about? So many things. Mainly about my observations of others, of myself, what I am learning.

I wrote a weekly newspaper column for 5 years. Let me tell you…that’s no easy task! So many topics to come up with!! But just like my journal practice this past year…the more I wrote the easier it was to come up with subjects. And honestly the best way I know how to come up with ideas is to just LISTEN to the people around you…everyone has a story to be told, a lesson to be learned.

Writing and Art Journaling

Here’s what you can expect from my blog…

1. One to two posts per week on anything from lessons I have learned, my Faith, art journaling ideas, creative projects, etc.
2. Ideas YOU can use in your journals, your art, your life
3. Me being REAL…ALWAYS!

Along with my passion for writing…I am in LOVE with Art Journaling and sharing ideas. So for me it’s natural to mix words and pictures and paint and share my ideas with YOU. In fact I have several ideas from my on-line class “I Say Yes” you can access anytime!

Just look at the top of my blog and click on “I Say Yes” or Fifty Ideas for your Journals.

You can follow me on Instagram for lots of art and health ideas, too!

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Now is the time to say YES❤️❤️❤️. Join a group of over 100 women as we heal and start taking our lives back. I Say Yes art journaling. 100% FREE. Link in profile.

A post shared by Leslie Ackman (@braveheartfaithwarrior) on Feb 5, 2018 at 3:46pm PST

So WELCOME to my Blog! I am back and ready to encourage, uplift and inspire you with words, art and my love of God, Family and the world around me.

Week 45: What are YOU Cultivating?

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I absolutely LOVE this quote…and so true! Our thoughts make up our world. They really, really do! Think about your own thoughts. How many times have you become overwhelmed about something simply because you let your mind wander? I know I have PLENTY!

With the New Year upon us it’s important we start out our year right by CULTIVATING positive, uplifting thoughts. There are ALWAYS two ways of looking at things…let’s take this first week of January to be POSITIVE!

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Our Assignment

This week’s assignment is to create a page of flowers and a page of weeds. You can use images, words, drawings, doodles, stickers, whatever you are inspired to!

Have you heard about my Year long art journaling class? I Say Yes can be found here. 

Please join our FB Community here.

Week 43 & 44: 100 Things

What’s on YOUR List?

This is sooo simple and will help you SEE what your Heart Whispers truly are!! Here’s what you do….

Decide what kind of 100 List you are going to make. It could be goals, Bucket List items, ways to control your clutter, stuff just running around in your brain, etc.

Take a piece of paper or your journal and number 1-100.

Now start writing and don’t stop. Not even once time! Keep on listing.

Once you have filled in ALL 100 lines read through them.

You should start seeing a pattern of what your Heart is truly saying. It’s possible you will list “Have an art retreat” over 20 times on your list (like me!!!). That’s a sign to YOU of what it is your Heart is longing for!!!

By creating a list without thinking about it long and hard we are only writing down those things that truly matter to us!

Happy Listing!!!!

Week 42: Mind Mapping

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Why I love this!

I first learned about Mind-Mapping fifteen years ago from a magazine article I read on journaling ideas. What intrigued me the most was instead of having a list of things to do, ideas, goals, etc. you had a visual of everything. And the more I wrote in my Mind Map the more ideas just flowed out of me!

Here is a WONDERFUL article on Mind-Mapping.

Our lesson this week is to create a Mind Map of Ideas. Your topic can be anything! Whether it’s a list of what you want to accomplish in 2019 to your creative endeavors…try your hand at this highly effective journaling technique!

Here are more creative ideas for your Mind Map…

Week 41: Daily Journal Writing

There are so many reasons I love journaling…but this quote sums it up perfectly!

My Writing Journey

I began keeping a journal back in 1978.

Grease was the Word…

Mork had just landed on Earth from Ork…

And Andy Gibb’s “Shadow Dancing” topped the charts.

My grandma gifted me a tiny gold pocket journal for my Birthday. I absolutely LOVED it and began keeping it that day. I still have that little journal filled with all the important stuff a fifth grader has on their mind…boys I liked, sleepovers with friends and the weather.:)

The older I got the bigger my journals got. My book of choice was a spiral bound notebook with images like these on them…

I filled each book with problems, my love of Donnie Beger and all my Dreams for the future. Looking back those journals helped me have a place to process all the yuck in my life and allowed me to stay sane.

Your Assignment

Your assignment this week is to either purchase a journal or find one you already have and start writing in it…DAILY.

Yes, DAILY.

Even if all you write is the weather…just do it. Over time you find that journal writing is one habit you won’t want to do without!

To help you get started be sure and print off my FREE “What to Journal” page!!

What to Journal About

You can find ALL 41 prompts of “I Say Yes” here.

Our private FB group is here.

Hope you can join us!!

xoxo

Les