What do I Want? What do You Want?

In the movie ”The Women”, Mary, played by Meg Ryan, discovers her husband is having an affair. Her world begins to fall apart. She then goes through a very interesting process to answer the question – “What do I want?”

I love the way she processes this question. It reminds me of a vision board or art journaling exercise.

She uses words, pictures, bits of cloth, sketches she’s made, letters written to herself, and anything that calls to her. She pins everything up on a board where she can see it every day. She begins to awaken to, and remember the things that used to bring her joy and delight. She begins to rediscover who she is.

I like that she took her time and didn’t try and do it all in one afternoon. I like that she didn’t begin with any preset ideas. She took her time and just began gathering images that appealed to her. She began to gather the images by doing things that appealed to her. She dug out her camera and started taking pictures. She began to sketch again. She wrote letters to herself. She touched things and felt them. She explored, not with just her mind, but with all of her senses.

I have answered the question “What do I want?” in various ways in written journal exercises, and one time I did do a an affirmation journal with pictures, but, I’ve never answered this question in such a visual, tactile way.

I want to try this.

What do you think? Would you like to join me? Do you want to go exploring with me?

How to play:

All you need to start is some glue or tape, a piece of poster paper (any color you want) and a place to hang it where you can see it everyday. Or, can you can use a large bulletin board and push pins.

Each day you will take time to reflect on the question “What do I want?”

Then begin to gather images, words and anything else that appeals to you. Then slowly just start adding them to your art journal/dream board. There is no rush. I expect this project to last several weeks as we explore and have fun.

I’ll post a picture of my art journal/dream board once a week, every Wednesday.

If you decide to join me you can participate on your own or share your images with me and I’ll post them here along with my own. You can also share what the process is showing you and what you are learning.

So, “What do you want?”

Do you want to join me? Leave a reply and let’s go exploring.

I’ll post the first picture of my art journal/vision board on Wednesday.