Direction through creativity: The passageways of self
“There is no wall within which a door cannot be built.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
It’s been a minute since I have sat down and indulged in some creativity to process the busy-ness of the days and weeks. Life has been feeling as though it is moving quickly and passing by like the speed of light. But this weekend I decided not to schedule anything and have a weekend to regroup, to slow down, and not work as much. For weeks, I have been feeling the itch to do some art journaling but never got around to it – until now.
What I love about art journaling is it brings all the mental health benefits that creative art gives – it helps us to get into a flow state where we are immersed in the act of creating and not distracted by worries, anxiety or tasks. But another huge benefit is that it evokes deeper reflection and insights from our subconscious, more than what we would get from just thinking. For me, I notice I lean a lot on my intuition when creating, and intuition is like a passage to our subconscious. When we can slow down enough, step out of the routines of the day-to-day, and step away from our phone, email, tv etc., there is a lot more we can “hear” from our body, soul, and intuition.
In the process of creating a collage, I spontaneously came across the word “Passage” in a magazine. It immediately felt like the right word for this collage, which then led to the whole theme of this blog post. Through the process of collaging around this theme, reflection of “passage” began”…
“Passage” is a word packed with metaphors – no matter what definition you are using (i.e passage of time, a corridor/path, or a written passage). It’s a word that can help us see light amongst darkness, movement amongst stillness, and hope amongst despair. The meaning that arose for me when I came across the word while collaging was passage like a passageway. And what’s interesting about this word is that it can mean two completely opposing things – it can mean an exit or an entrance, whatever you need it to be.
Currently, it is the beginning of September, and only a few weeks until it’s officially Fall. The seasons offer us a natural passage into a new chapter, a sense of refresh four times a year. It made me think of how I want to exit the summer and enter the Fall – the directions I want to focus on for this latter part of the year.
One of my intentions for 2025 was to trust in myself to take some leaps in my career that I have been too afraid to do before. Specifically, I wanted to take the chance of opening my own private practice space, which I did. Before I took that chance, I seemed to always hit a wall or a closed passageway when it came to taking action in my career goals, but this year, I opened the door, and I am grateful I did. And while I don’t know how close the exit is to this passage or when it will come to an end, so far it has offered a lot of potential.
Everyone gets to decide how they want to go through their passages – stay in the same habits or create/add new ones.
Up until this point of reading this post, you have probably gone through several different passages in your life. Maybe you opened the door to parenthood, to a new career, a passage into a different lifestyle or friend group, or created new avenues to process emotions. Passages are always there, some may just be hidden. We might intentionally choose them or we might fall into them or miss them completely.
Reflection Questions:
Are you choosing the passages or paths in your life?
Do you need a passageway right now either to exit or enter something?
What ways can you create a passage from your heart/soul to find the direction you need?
For me it is intuitive art, but is not limited to that. For some it might be inspirational music, writing, participating in new activities, reading, poetry.
My invitation to you all is to remember that even when things feel like they are unchangeable or un-moveable, create that door in the wall – find your passage that will always show itself if we slow down enough to see it or to create it.
Build your passage and know the strength or fortitude within you will lead you through.
