Art Journaling is a Gift We Give Ourselves

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
— William Shakespeare

Do you gift yourself with your gifts?    

According to William Shakespeare my purpose in life is to give my gifts away.  It is good to share your gifts with the world.  It makes me feel good when I share my strengths, talents and abilities with others.  I’m clear about that.

The question that keeps coming up for me is do you share your gifts with yourself?  Here is an example.

If you love to cook, when there is no one to cook for, do you make a beautiful meal for yourself and share it with yourself?  Or do you swing on the refrigerator door until something catches your eye that you can nuke and eat out of the same bowl?

When you nearly killed yourself making gifts at Christmas for every one else, did you make something lovely for yourself?

Do you allow others to impose upon your gifts?  When I painted murals for a living, there was always someone hinting to me that they would gladly honor my gift by allowing me to use it to paint their nursery wall (Lucky Me!) when I never had time to paint my dinning room wall like I had promised myself a hundred times.

I really think William Shakespeare had a bigger plan in mind regarding my gift, but sometimes I need to start at home with the sharing.

Which brings me to the art journal page:  Art journaling is a gift you give to yourself.  It energizes your creativity, honors your commitment to making something from your depths and it acknowledges your gifts. 

Never let your Blockhead convince you that what you do in an art journal is a waste of time.  It’s creative, it can soothe, help problem solve, increase your skills as an artist and writer and make you more willing to take creative risks.  There is a whole world to be discovered between the covers of an art journal. 

I believe that when we nurture our gifts by lovingly giving them to ourselves, it bolsters us, makes us strong and allows us to know more how precious our gifts to the world can be and maybe make us more convinced that the world will benefit from what we have to share.

I hope you will energize your creativity this week by gifting yourself with your own remarkable gifts.

Cheering you on!

Diana Meade