Creative Journaling For Self-Love
February is a month associated with love which can come in many forms: self-love, romantic love, love for family members, pets or friends. And there are many ways in which we can show love. In this post, we will talk about self-love and ways in which creative journaling can help you connect more with the theme.
Let’s Talk About Self-Love
Self-love can be a beautiful way to support ourselves into finding more compassion, grace, confidence and acceptance.
Self-love can be found in the small moments: how we speak to ourselves, the self-care practices we engage in and in the ways in which we dress and carry ourselves.
Self-love can be found in the big moments: birthdays shared with others, a promotion at work or even taking a moment to celebrate our existence.
Self-love is a practice that is cultivated through consistency and rituals.
How Creative Journaling Supports Self-Love
Creative journaling is a gentle practice that invites you to use words, shapes, lines and colors as a way to process, reflect and explore your inner experience. You can read all the ways to get started here.
Creative journaling can support your self-love practice by:
increasing emotional awareness
providing you with a safe space
strengthening your connection to your inner voice
increasing self-compassion and grace
Creative journaling becomes your safe space to explore and celebrate yourself through metaphor and images.
Creative Journal Prompt: What Does Self-Love Mean To Me?
Now it is time to explore the personal meaning of self-love for you in order to find more ways to experience it and bring more of it into your life.
What you will need:
a journal - preferably one without lines but if you don’t have one use what you have on hand
drawing or collage materials - colored pencils, markers, pastels, pens, magazine cutouts, glue, scissors are some things you can use
a safe space - somewhere you will not be interrupted, you can light a candle or incense, have some tea or a comfy blanket to set the mood
Getting started:
Find your safe space and gather your materials.
Take a moment to check in with yourself. Maybe you find a comfortable seat and close your eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths to ground into your seat and arrive in the space (mentally and physically).
Using one of your drawing materials - start to write down words associated with self-love on your page. Try to give yourself permission to write down and explore the things that come to mind right away - even if they may not always “make sense.” Not only thinking of specific activities but also exploring feeling words, sensations in the body and past moments that you may associate with the theme of self-love.
Either drawing or finding images in a magazine, add an image that corresponds to each of the things you wrote down. This may be a doodle to represent the feeling of love, like a heart in the color pink. Or, it may be a stick figure in front of a mirror saying affirmations to him/herself. Don’t worry so much of how “good” of a drawer you are but rather give yourself grace to reflect on the personal meaning the images have for you - this is a process that is just for you so no need to worry about anyone else seeing what you made.
Once you have finished, take a moment to observe your page and see if there is anything missing or that you may want to add. You may have thought of more things as you were drawing or you can add a symbol or color for the physical sensation experienced as you were reflecting on the theme.
You can use this practice as one to continue to come back to when you find yourself needing some self-love or as a reminder for the meaning of self-love for you.
A Gentle Reminder
Self-love comes in many forms and is often found in the most simple of moments. Whether it be consistently saying kind words to yourself, engaging in activities that bring you joy or your creative journaling practice - it is a chance to choose and come back to yourself.
If you want to explore bringing more self-love through a creative journal practice, I have free PDF workbook you can download here or an extended version available for purchase here (50% off through the month of February.) Both of these will support you in you creative and emotional exploration through this beautiful process.
