The Gift You Give Yourself
The Gift You Give Yourself is a form of daily journaling through drawing. It is a small commitment with a powerful outcome. It is a practice in making, forgetting, and then rediscovering what you made.In this practice you will draw something every day, responding to a prompt that you’ve designed for yourself. On any given day, you might spend 15 seconds on your drawing or you might spend an hour. But you do it every day.
Once you have done a drawing, you will put it out of sight -- and out of mind. Months or weeks later you will reveal the drawings. Potential results include surprise, delight, and insight. You’ll have a graphic reflection of your life over 90 days, and perhaps you’ll experience a recalibration of how you judge yourself. Do you have to be able to draw to do this? No, but you have to draw. (This paraphrases Lynda Barry, the artist/writer/cartoonist whose work is the inspiration for this structure.) In fact, if you have been discouraged or traumatized by the judgment – yours or someone else’s – that you “can’t draw,” I believe this practice will offer excellent healing.
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