There are many sites with tests and quizzes to help you uncover parts of yourself you may not have known about, and these will be listed. While I love doing magazine-style quizzes I decided to start my journey with simpler tools, pen, paper and images cut from magazines, as I had a hunch that the answers I wanted were inside and just needed to help them out.
Having never previously succeeded in keeping a diary, I was dubious about journaling, but found books and sites that made it easier by offering prompts for things to write about. Some were largely reflective, encouraging me to think about an event or incident in a new light, while others were more about visualizing the world I wanted to inhabit.
Some days I found I wrote very easily, and other days found it was much harder to write more than a few sentences. I decided that this process was not to become a chore, so simply wrote as much as I felt like writing on any given day. It wasn’t long before I found myself using these new techniques to evaluate things that were happening right now, and to uncover a better way of dealing with it. By writing the details of the event down and read them back I found I was able to get a clearer perspective of what was actually happening, and could then work out a better way of responding than my initial response might have been.
In tandem with writing I began using images to help clarify my thoughts. I would go through a pile of old magazines and tear out any pictures or phrases that I liked. I did it quickly, not stopping to analyze why I had selected them. When I ran out of magazines I looked through the pile I had created and started to find themes running through my selection. There were an enormous number of images of the sea and coast, especially of houses on the coast, and lots of rich blue, Mediterranean skies. There were also many of people in groups eating, and images of interesting food. Many of the images involved the process of travel and foreign locations. As I sorted the pictures into piles I found there was a lot of energy from these images that made me feel eager to experience the events and places.
I have sometimes taken one picture and written about the life I would be living if I was in that location. I have also made a vision book with pages around themes and a vision board that is a summary of the things I would really like to incorporate into my life. While I can’t claim to have seen any physical manifestations of the images I found, I do have much greater clarity about what I want to achieve now.
For more information about techniques involving using the arts to help, visit this site, Midlife Creativity.
