Day 13 - Navigating a new path while retaining wisdom

Quotes

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust

"The right path is characterized by a rough road."

"True navigation begins in the human heart. It is the most important map of all."

"I believe that when an elder dies, a library is burned: Vast sums of wisdom and knowledge are lost.   Throughout the world libraries are ablaze with scant attention." - Elizabeth Kapuuwailani Lindsey

Intention

To create a page that represents a map of my new path

My Process

For this page, I washed the circle in orange acrylic paint, allowed it to dry partially, then covered over the yellow paint with orange acrylic paint. While the orange layer was wet, I dropped large blobs of methylated spirit (rubbing alcohol) onto it. The two layers began to mix so I mopped up parts of the orange layer with a kitchen towel and scraped part of it away with a cotton bud. Once the page was dry, I drew imaginary latitude and longitude lines and islands on it in black gel pen and marked out imaginary cities as black and white dots. Then I asked the image of the luminous new world I had created what I needed to learn from it. My takeaways are summarized in the quotes above.

Journaling Prompt

How am I preparing myself to function in the "new world" that I hope to create for myself?

NB: Today's work is lengthy and demanding. You might want to spread it over a longer time frame. Do what works for you

Before attempting to formulate a Life Plan, it is necessary to look at one's past, present and future.

To  do that in a meaningful you would need to:

1. Go through your background.

2. Go through your present.

3. Get ideas for the future by using the models and techniques for raising awareness.

4. List the alternatives.

5. Analyze the alternatives.

6. Mitigate the alternatives until you are satisfied.

7. Arrive at a conclusion.

8. Make a decision and have the resolve to take action.

9. Execute the alternative.

10. Review.

Today, we will look at the past. What happened to us? Why? How did we handle it? What aspects of the past can we retain and build on and what do we need to re-frame or give up entirely.

Analysing the past

   1.      Write down the names of the five people who have influenced you the most.

   2.      How has each person specifically influenced you?

   3.      Think about moments from your past that have formed you into the person you are today. These  are major defining moments or turning points What makes these moments stand out? What are these moments; write down what happened and how this shaped you.

   4.      You have also made some critical decisions that have formed you. What are these critical decisions and what they have meant for you?

   5.      The major areas of your life are:

Health – your physical well being.

Spiritual – your beliefs about the world and yourself.

Career – your livelihood or profession.

Financial – your monetary worth or well-being.

Emotional – your mental health.

Relationships – your thoughts, feelings, and interactions with other people.

On a scale of 1 to 10,  today, where are you in each of the areas listed above?

   6.      What do you think about?

   7.      What areas of your life are you very aware of?

   8.      What areas of your life could you be more aware of?

   9.      Ask yourself: How can I increase my awareness about myself?

  10.  What goals do you have today? Write down a list of goals and then a sentence for each goal

  11.  How did you state your goals? Did you use the past, present or future tense (e.g. did, do or will do?) What pronoun did you use? (Did you say 'I' when formulating your goal or say 'you' or 'we' or 'he/she/them')? What kind of certainty did your goal statements indicate (e.g. Did you say 'I might' or did you say 'I will')?

  12.  What time frame do you have on your goals?

  13.  What roles do you play today, in both your professional and private life?

  14.  Who are your role models and why? Who do you admire and why?

  15.  Think of giving in the broadest terms. Be specific. What do you give?

  16.  What are your values?

  17.  Do you currently live by these values?

  18.  What are the values you do not want to compromise?

  19.  When are you happy?

  20.  What is your philosophy or your beliefs about yourself?

  21.  Do you have reason to believe that your philosophy is rational? Why or why not?

  22.  Would you be willing to change your philosophy and your beliefs if they proved to be non-rational?

  23.  Are people basically good or bad? What makes you think that?

  24.  Are people worthy of trust or not? What makes you think that?

  25.  Is the best yet to come or are the good times in the past? What makes you think that? Will the future be better or worse? What makes you think that?

  26.  Are your current problems solvable or unsolvable? What makes you think that?

  27.  Will you overcome any problems or worries you currently have? What makes you think that?

You have generated a large body of data to reflect on and analyze over time. For now, though, do a quick scan of your answers and highlight the aspects you want to work on in the short-term.

 

Daily Wrap Up:

     After completing your artwork and journal entry, consider the following questions:

   - Has my work followed the suggested theme? 

- - Is a particular motif, story or message persistently showing through in my work? What does this suggest to me?

   - If not, is there a pattern, underlying suggestion, message or idea which it has raised. 

   - Is this pattern related to my previous journal entries?

   - Would I like to follow it further? If so, how can I do that in a way which empowers me?

   - How do I feel about the work I have done? Why?

- - Do I feel any resistance to the process? Why?

    In your journal, write up a few comments answering these questions, or else highlight the sections of your written work that seem to suggest a pattern or feature you would like to work on.