Yesterday I participated in a new Soul Collage group meeting. Our goal was to create a "flash card" that would convey a message using an image of a person. I culled through the large selction of images on the table. We were instructed to select 3 pictures and then sit down. I circled the round table 3 times. I had two images in my hand but I kept picking up and laying down one picture. It was too disturbing to keep, yet, I knew that was the very reason it needed to come with me back to my work area. It was a Marilyn Monroe-kind of woman being pulled into the water by a green, scaly hand. One could only imagine what that monster looked like but the image gave me goosebumps. We were told to select only one of the three people pictures to use in our card. I was compelled to choose the unsettling image of the woman in the water. Each of the members of the group shared why the image they had in their hands "called" to them. That was easy--water often represents emotions and the woman was drowning in emotions but the desperation in her eyes revealed that she had not given up. She still was trying to stay afloat. That's me, for sure.
Our next challenge was to select a background and any other image/images that needed to go on the card. In creating Soul Collage cards, this is the time when you let your gut tell you what to do. It is a very right-brained process. No rationalizing or overthinking is allowed. I quickly grabbed a cool black and white design for the background, a beautiful blue-green geode, and a moon. I really didn't want to cut out the top part of the water in the image of the woman but I had to put the black and white background behind her, I don't know why. I wanted her to appear as if she were coming out of the geode and reaching for the moon.
Once the collage is assembled, then each person is challenged to interpret what the card is telling you about yourself. (The idea is to get a visual image of one of your strengths that you may apply to a certain situation.) So, my I am the one who statement is I am the one who can see color in a black and white world of emotions. Like the geode, which is a cooled volcanic bubble, the eruption that formed the emotions in me created a thing of beauty. It's okay to feel the colors of emotions. My world is a kaleidoscope--not a black and white movie. In reaching for the moon (my desires and goals), know that I will not drown. I will float out of that volcano, cool off, and become the person I was meant to be.
Pretty powerful knowledge that I can check into long term memory and retreive whenever I feel emotionally overwhelmed. I love Soul Collage!