This is a course that I dreamed of teaching for many years before I actually wrote it and sold it the first time. It is a class that enables women to freely explore and learn about themselves in a creative and non-threatening way.  Through  the lessons I share the methods I have learned from many years of self exploration, leading to mygrowth in being able to nurture myself, forgive myself and face the hard things in life with confidence and optimism.

Some people reach adulthood with the ability to handle life with finesse and balance, but most of us don’t.  Especially women.  We have so many things we are responsible for that we usually are just running to try and keep up.  Who has time to slow down and look inside?  I sincerely believe that is the reason for stress related diseases, sadness, discontentedness and many other issues we face.

If you would like to acknowledge your worth, and give yourself just ten weeks (one lesson per week) to explore the methods I’ve found to be successful for the the past twenty years, then please join me in Waking Up to the Real You.  To sign up, go here.

I am on a Mission next year and would love for you to join me.  Here’s a little background.

For many years I have selected a word  in January that I want to focus on throughout the year.  These words were things I wanted to bring into my life.  I’m not talking about words like Cadillac or husband, but more like love, harmony, awareness.  By selecting a specific word, it gave me something to focus on in order to bring my life closer to what I wanted it to be.  Having a word allowed me to look for opportunities to practice the thing I want.

I have outlined a lot of activities that we can do together to keep us focused on our word throughout 2010.  I have seen this work in my life for many years and I would like to share this exciting experience with all of you.  This is something we will share and do together. It won’t require much time and the activities are fun.  I will post a monthly focus activity.  We will do these activities in our blogs or journals or just alone with no one else.  We can share if we want, encourage each other and celebrate what we’re doing.

If you want to join me, let me know here by leaving a comment on this post.  If you aren’t already subscribed to my updates, please click the link at the top of the right column.  That will keep you updated when I post our activities throught next year.  If you use Facebook, you can join the Oh My Word! page there.  And if you use Twitter, my updates will include the hashtag #onmyword.

All you need to do for now is select the word you will focus on in 2010.  In order to do this, just be open.  Spend a few moments being still and quiet and listen.  It might not come to you immediately.  Be patient and wait.  If you don’t feel this method is working after a few days, look through books or magazines.  Pay special attention to any words that you are attracted to.  Don’t analyze it.  Just be willing to be drawn into any particular word.  If it speaks to you, then that might be your word.

My word for 2010 is acceptance.  The word I have used for several years in a row was harmony.  It took several years to bring that into my life because when I chose it I was living in anything but harmony.  It took lots of patience and time, but I did it.  I have a life of complete harmony now!!  So, I think it’s time for some serious self-acceptance.  But just as you can’t give love away unless you have it for yourself, you also can’t give acceptance to others unless you accept yourself.  That’s my mission for next year.  I want to completely accept everything about myself.  I’ve worked on change for most of my adult life.  That’s a worthy goal but after years of focusing on what’s “wrong” I’m ready to just BE!

I have recently been evaluating where I should be spending my time in building my business.  I have felt pulled in many directions for a while now and want to focus my efforts in the way that will help my readers and customers the most.

Art journaling is a broad topic and it is covered by many wonderful, creative people on the ‘net.  So where do I fit in?  What do I have to offer?  What are my unique gifts in the sphere?   I have two dear friends that help me sort through these tough questions and we’ve spent many hours recently trying to answer these questions.  Together here are the answers we came up with.

• I focus on the emotional/spiritual outcome of journaling more than the art process.
• I am passionate about the journaling process and want to share that with everyone
• I have so much fun creating in my journal that I don’t worry about doing it “right” and I love to make a mess and encourage others to do the same
• I have compassion for those  that have fears around digging deep into their hearts and creating what someone calls “art”.
• I contribute a great deal of my own personal growth to journaling and love to share that journey with others.

So, with those things in mind, I am going to begin to focus more on the ways journaling can help anyone learn more about themselves.  I will help anyone that is interested use journaling to have a good look at what is beautiful about them, as well as the things that they might not feel are their assets.  This process will be fun and hopefully will feel safe.  It’s a gentle way to comfort your pains, work toward the goals you have for yourself, discover your passions and gather the courage to go where you want to go.

You will see me focus my blog posts, newsletter and the products I sell more toward self discovery and healing than in the artistic process.   It is a creative process for me and will always include paints, glue and all the fun stuff, but those will be playthings rather than something to master.

So, stay tuned for the adventure we will create together – The Creative Journaling adventure!