What Is Life Book? Life Book was first born in 2011 as a yearlong, online mixed-media art course with a personal development and healing focus. I created it to help people grow both creatively and personally through a wide variety of artistic and personal explorations. It has always been my deepest wish to help people find more self-love and self-worth so that we may collectively feel better and do better—for ourselves, our families, our friends, and the world. Each week during the Life Book course, students receive uplifting and inspiring mixed-media lessons exploring topics such as self-love, the inner critic, creative block, and transforming limiting beliefs. Each year, between sixteen and twenty-two contributing guest teachers share their creative techniques as well as their insights on a healing theme. The pages created throughout the course end up bound into one big, beautiful book by the end of the year: A Life Book. This book serves as a keepsake and honoring of the journey the person has gone through. Thousands of Life Books have been created all over the world since it all started... Interior Projects Project 4: Following the Light Engage in Meditative Painting. Contributing Artist Alena Hennessy. In the painting shown opposite, I explored expressing light in abstract and symbolic ways. Not only did I create layers of paint to show the elusive and ever-changing qualities of light, but I also added actual gold leaf, which adds a highly reflective quality to the works. I was also interested in creating works with the intentional energy of “I am.” In other words, what lies at our true essence? Invoking a feeling of the mystery and the depth of our existence is of much interest to me, as is the perpetual changing nature of reality. The delicate leaf forms in the square painting are representative of the fragility of existence. To me, in the end, they create a feeling of celebration and gratitude that every day is indeed a gift. Project 5: 'No One Alive . . . Is Youer Than You!' Embrace & Love Your Inner Quirky Bird. Something that helps me cultivate happiness and contentment in life is being less judgmental and more accepting of myself, including my more unusual and quirky personality traits. We’re often taught that we’re not good enough and told we must change things about ourselves to be acceptable to others. I personally think this is harmful to people’s self-worth and self-esteem. I’m no longer interested in pursuing some sort of elusive definition of perfection, and I have decided to embrace all my quirky and weird personality traits! I’ll tell you, it’s a huge relief, and it brings freedom to be at peace with yourself. So, instead of feeling ashamed of the fact that we love to sing in the shower, we wear bright purple clothing, we talk to ourselves, or we are Star Wars geeks, I encourage you to embrace all your quirky traits by embodying them in one of my signature Quirky Birds. Project 13: Empathy Affirmation Feather Self-Forgiveness Helps You Heal. For me, a big part of healing and personal growth is letting go of guilt, shame, and self-judgment. For this project, I’d like to work on an issue you judge yourself for and find difficult to let go. For example, you could use, “I shouted at my children” or “I lied to a close friend.” As before, try to choose an issue that does not have too much of an emotional charge for you, just so you can gently learn to understand the process first. You may wonder why forgiving yourself for acts that have possibly been upsetting or harmful to others is a good idea. Shouldn’t we feel guilty, bad, or terrible about ourselves if we’ve done harm one way or another? I personally don’t think so. I know, it’s a daring statement, right? Let me explain. Hanging on to shame and guilt, while understandable, is not helpful, noble, or redeeming. It only serves to darken you, your life, and the people and beings in your life. Blaming and judging the self will stifle and imprison you. It stops you from growing and becoming a better person. You have a much better chance at changing unwanted behavior if you can let go of guilt and shame (forgiving the self) than if you hold on to the harsh inner judgments many of us walk around with. This isn’t intended to justify behaving badly. This is an effective method of helping you heal from deeper pain and preventing you from behaving badly next time you’re in a similar situation.
✔ Author(s): Tamara Laporte
✔ Title: Create Your Life Book: Mixed-Media Art Projects for Expanding Creativity and Encouraging Personal Growth
✔ Rating : 4.7 out of 5 base on (1321 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 1631593536
✔ ISBN-13: 9781631593536
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
Readers' opinions about Create Your Life Book by Tamara Laporte
Sarah Franklin
I must confess, this book made me shed tears like never before. The themes of love, loss, and resilience struck a chord with my soul. It was an emotional journey I'm grateful to have taken.
Laura Hill
I couldn't stop raving about this book to my friends and family. It's a literary gem that deserves all the praise. I can't wait to dive into more works by this talented author.
Violet Tyler
This book is a work of art. The language, the imagery, the symbolism - everything came together beautifully to create a memorable reading experience.
