Happily Creating What Creates My Happiness

It’s amazing how challenging these past few years have been for the bulk of humanity. In my own personal life, I find myself halfway through a decade of intense personal growth. A major part of this journey I have been on towards my highest and best self has been to try and understand what truly makes me happy, what truly creates joy in my heart. After many years of crying, feeling, dealing and healing, meditation, thought and reflection, I was able to determine what crafts and projects really move the passion dial of my soul, giving birth to peace and joy along the way.

One of the torturing challenges I am currently facing is knowing what crafts and projects I’d like to do that would bring me joy while at the same time not being able to do them due to lack of funding. I’ve been going through a divorce, while living in and out of my car for the past few years, taking every job I could while also doing my best to maintain a strong connection with my two beautiful children. I have been living in complete survival mode, a mindset out of which I am slowly but confidently emerging.

When I looked at my email this morning and saw this writing challenge from Vocal, and its prizes, I got really excited at the thought of winning, thinking that perhaps a prize would assist me in ending my time of living in and out of vehicle rest areas. I was so pumped, that is… until I saw the topic. The topic immediately brought my mind to the pits.

Why the pits you say? Well I’ll tell you. I initially struggled with the topic because as I previously stated, every craft/project I could think of that truly brought me joy, has recently felt so far away, separated by price tags and an almost empty bank account. Tucked under a seemingly ever growing list of higher priority purchases, you know… like gas and car insurance. I was dismayed. I was feeling down. In fact as I was feeling down, I happened to be looking down to the floor, and lo and behold right by my left foot sat exactly what I needed to be able to write this challenge.

After all, I didn’t want to just pick a craft or project I’ve done in the past because I wanted to move with integrity and keep it in the present. It turns out, once again, I was getting in my own head as I forgot that I had just started an amazing project last night. A project that not only brings me peace and makes me feel good, but it also acts as the very creative framework launcher for the other crafts/projects that will create even more happiness and joy in my life.

Over the past few years I have done a decent amount of research on the mind, body, spirit and the laws of attraction and manifestation. One of the practical tools I came across was the idea of vision boards. I was familiar with vision boards in a business sense, but those kinds were more goal oriented that usually ended up becoming corporate BS wall decor. The type of vision boarding I recently discovered has more of a creative focus. It works to connect both your mind and heart to that which you desire to see end up in your physical reality in time.

You start by grabbing a poster board and putting things on it that you want to eventually manifest into your life. Once the board is done, coupled with meditation, you look at it often and try to visualize and experience the feeling tones the items on the board create in your heart. It is said and taught by even some neuroscientists that by doing this process often, your subconscious will then through frequency start to attract those very things into your life through our energetic fields.

After learning all this and combining it with what I’ve picked up during my intense personal growth, I wanted to do a vision board so badly. I eventually bought a poster board but then life in the car once again took over, and the empty board remained crammed into the trunk with the rest of all my belongings.

Last night I finally mustered up enough motivation and inspiration to just go ahead and try the board already. After all, if such a simple tool and practice could literally help change my living situation I had nothing to lose. As I was about to grab the now slightly bent poster board from the car, I was inspired with a more fitting idea for a visioning project. I decided I would make a vision book.

I chose to do a vision book instead of a vision board due to my current nomadic life, after all, I can't really hang a poster board in a small vehicle. I also struggled with how I was going to be able to get everything I want to create in my life onto just one board. Well, with a book, I can have as many pages as my heart can conceive. Possibilities truly do become endless.

I’m not going to lie. At first I sat blankly staring at the new notebook on my lap and it was already getting late so I considered going to sleep and starting in the morning. Then I decided to at least start the project. Six hours later, at almost 3am I finally stopped for the night. It turned out that creating the vision book itself was already a craft/project that was bringing me happiness and joy.

How cool is it to find a craft/project that creates joy in one's life while at the same time, it is also launching more crafts/projects that will also create more joy and happiness in one’s life. Hence the title, “Happily Creating What Creates My Happiness”.

So there I was, hour after hour into the night. Notebook, pen, markers, HP Sprocket photo printer and of course, the biggest, nicest pair of scissors I could find. I woke up this morning and went right back to it and I now know this project will become a part of my lifestyle. I love the way it feels when you look down at the blank page and then let your creativity and desire take over, resulting in something beautifully you. I mean it's so fun! I get to make something while thinking about the other cool things I want to eventually see in my life. In fact, I think I’ll dedicate a page or two to future crafts/projects I want to see myself eventually doing once the funds have been manifested, perhaps even through this challenge! :)

I noticed that Fiskars was partnering with Vocal for this challenge which I think is so amazing because if there is one thing I have come to learn, it is that the right tools take your creative game to a whole new level of crafting. Scissors for instance can make or break craft days! I used to have a really small, dull cheap pair that made it difficult to cut, but for my vision book I found a nice big sharp pair. It was one less thing to think about. If I saw a certain shape in my mind's eye that I wanted to cut the photos into, no problem, the orange handled scissors were at my service. It's also really cool to realize that tools like scissors were also crafted by someone at some point in time, and I'm sure creating the scissors themselves brought some joy and happiness to their creator.

It is my hope that anyone who reads this will be encouraged! Encouraged to go for it! To do what you can until you have what you need to do more of what you want. Start! Don’t be like me and let that creative project that could be bringing you joy stay in your trunk for endless months. It may very well be the very key to putting a deep seated smile on your face.

My personal circumstances may or may not change overnight, but regardless of what happens in my outer world, I have gained yet another way to create true happiness and joy in my inner world. And hey… I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that if there is one thing most of humanity could use a whole lot more of, especially during this time, is the ability to create their own happiness and joy.

So go! Create! Maybe even happily create what creates more happiness by doing your own version of a vision board or book, and if you do happen to try it, remember two things, one, you are not alone my friend, you have a fellow human vision booking over here, and two, if you can, make sure you have a nice quality pair of scissors in your arsenal… you won’t regret it.