Julia Cameron, in her marvellous book 'The Artists Way', urges everyone to wake up and write, first thing in the morning, at least three pages. It helps you sort out your own issues, helps you focus on the rest of your day, helps release all sorts of blocks, be they creative or otherwise. This is stream of consciousness writing, simply putting pen (or pencil) to paper and scribbling, heedless of grammar, spelling, punctuation. These are called 'morning pages'. These pages are an excellent and very inspiring tool.

Do not limit yourself. Do not hold back. And don't judge yourself. You don't even need to re-read what you write. You can even destroy them once you write them if that makes you feel better. These pages are for you; do with them what you will, whatever you need to do to make yourself happy and comfortable.

Can't make the commitment to write first thing in the morning? No problem. Always keep in mind that journalling is for you and you alone. It is a form of meditation. So you do it on your schedule, in ways that are best for you. Write during your commute, morning or evening or whenever. Take your journal with you wherever you go. Have a few minutes in a waiting room for whatever reason? Scribble a few words. Make lists of things, projects, ideas, words, associations, people. Doodle. Kernoodle. It's your space; it's your page. Make it your own.

Write 'lunch pages' or 'evening pages' or 'just before bed pages' Whatever works best for you is the best way for you to do things.

Don't know what to write about? Prefer to do things visually? Collect all your receipts and tabs and pieces of paper, napkins, bits of newspaper, things torn from magazines. Glue them all onto a page in your journal. Don't write anything at all. Just glue in bits and pieces of things. That is your day, your representation of you.

Want to take things a step further? Collage your day. Which is basically taking bits and pieces from your day, as above, and gluing them in a certain order, on a prepared, or not, background. Sometimes adding text in whatever manners catches your fancy.

Need an example? Take a plain notebook of any sort, or even a 'regular' book (we can get more into this later on) and open it. Paint one or more pages, in any manner you like. Paint it all one colour. Paint it many colours. Add layers of colours. Use various paint techniques. Do whatever it is that makes you happy. If you don't want a background, if you want to incorporate the lines or the words already on the page, do it. This is your journal. You do what you want, whatever it is that makes you happy.

No one else ever has to see your journal ever, if you don't want them to see it. You are doing this for you and only for you, not for anyone else.

Make sure you let your background dry before you close your book.

You can start collaging right then and there, using the wet background in your favour as you work to glue things in and down. Or you can allow the background to dry completely.

You can glue in anything that can be glued in. Do not let anyone tell you you can't. You may need to try out various types of adhesives, from industrial strength compounds (E6000) to school glue to glue sticks. It's all a matter of preference, and need. There are encaustic methods as well, but you can think about that later on.

Keep in mind, your journal does not have to close completely. It can get big and fat and bulky. You will want to watch the binding if you do things that way however. If you need to remove pages, blank or otherwise, do it. You can remove them in any manner you see fit. Tear them out. Cut them out. Leave edges, margins, still in your book. Whatever feels right and best for you.

You can glue paper objects, various ephemera, things in little plastic baggies, junk mail, ticket stubs, receipts from meals, grocery lists, to do lists, letters to and from others, notes to yourself, advertisements. Anything that appeals to you can be put into your journal.

Create scenes. Make your pages tell stories. Glue things in randomly with no thought of cohesion or relativity. Make yourself happy.

Practise. Play. Be open. Be free. Be yourself, in all your vital glory, pain and power, misery and vitality, joy and solace.

This section is as simple or as difficult as you want to make it.
What makes you happy?

Personally, I have been known to stand in front of the rows and rows of journals at the bookstore and drool. Do I chose lined or unlined pages? What design do I want on front? How much am I willing to pay? Does it come with some way to latch it or lock it closed, to keep all my secrets from spilling out? Do I want leather? Or velvet? Or silk? What about hand-made papers?

I must have at least twenty of these very expensive journals, packed up in a box, waiting for me to get to them. I actually have begun to give them away as gifts, along with very pretty pens or coloured pencil sets. I rarely use these journals, because I am afraid of 'messing them up'. I am afraid of ruining these fine treasures, of my writings not measuring up to the beauty of the journal itself.

Some people relish picking out a new journal, every year, or whenever they need one. I have come to dread the process, even though every time I go out I always stop, mesmorised by the journals, by the myriad selections of pens, pencils, art supplies...

It does not matter what sort of book you get or have or use. Find one that works best for you.

Do you feel better writing on plain paper, not in a notebook? Fine. Do it. Does a composition notebook feel good to you? Good. Use it. A spiral bound school notebook? Perfect. That will do. A leather bound tome with gold gilded edges? Excellent. That's the one. Whatever resonates with you is the one to use.

Ditto on the pens, pencils, paints, whatever else issues.

Use crayons, markers, felt tip pens, pencils, feather pens, fountain pens, water colour pencils, pastels, a pointy stick--whatever feels the best to you is the best thing for you to use. Period. End of statement.

The only thing I can and will warn you about is if you are gluing things in to your book, keep one thing in mind: the wetter the glue, the more you have to watch out for wrinkles in the things you glue down. If you don't mind the wrinkles, then don't worry. Rubber cement loses its glue-power as it ages. Glue sticks don't always glue things down well enough for me personally; I often find myself having to glue stick things down several times. I have changed brands of glue stick, trying to find one that works, and I prefer other mediums. But that is my own personal opinion.

I am a writer by trade. I have been nearly from birth. But I have been a stuck writer, many times, in my life. Last year, I was dead in the water. I mean this on an emotional, spiritual, and physical level. I could do nothing more than the most basic things required to support life. I was more than a zombie.

I tried writing. I tried working with morning pages. I tried making lists. I tried just putting the pen on the paper and doodling abstract images. I cried. I raged. I took long walks. I practised my Yoga. I took long slow deep cleansing breaths. I wandered, literally and figuratively.

Then ... I read something from one of my journalling friends that made me think about things. She had said something about collaging the things she had on hand every day. She glued things in patterns into her journal and then journalled around said objects. This friend also spoke of how she purposely set out to make collages of various sorts, how she collected, sorted and stored her images for future use. I began to see advertisements for collage classes. I began to read books on collage. And then, I took my first small step forward. I sent out a call using our local freecycle to see if anyone had any magazines they didn't need or want anymore. And I hit the mother-lode. I had hundreds of magazines, quite literally, at my disposal.

I went through most of them. Some I discarded out of hand. Most were magazines; some were catalogues. I took what I needed and I passed the rest on to others who might be able to sue them. I ripped out entire pages. I cut out various images, different words and phrases. I spent over a week doing nothing more than yanking stuff out of magazines.

Then I pulled out a blank composition journal and set to work altering the covers of it. I did nothing more than cover the front and back covers, the insides as well as the outsides, with various bits of torn up wrapping paper, decoupage style. Then I let it dry. I started out by slapping some paint on a few pages and letting it dry. Then I began to glue things together. I did not always have an idea in mind. I did not always think of this colour melds well with that colour, or that that image would bring out this feature in that image. I simply worked. And then I let it dry. And then I showed it to someone I trusted deeply not to hurt me, but who I knew would not lie to me and tell me it was terrific if it actually was not.

My friend was actually awed. He told me what he saw,based not upon what he knew of me, but based entirely upon what the collages showed him about me. He said based on those collages he actually felt he knew me better than he ever had, and we've been friends for more than twenty years.

I collaged my soul out onto the pages of my notebook.

You can do it too.

You do not need to ever show it to anyone.
You can hide the collages once you are done. You can destroy them if you want.
It's all up to you.

Collage is more than an art-form, it's a tool to help you access you.

I spent one week dedicated to working with these collages. One solid week where I did nothing but destroy magazines and glue images. Sometimes I would paint backgrounds. Sometimes I would use the pages themselves as the backgrounds and glue more on top of those pages. Sometimes I added my own words. Sometimes I painted or drew over things. I did whatever my heart told me to--and I was happy.

This is how I broke through to the other side, past all my pent-up pain and dismal persuasion.
I kept to my morning pages while I collaged, and I saw a huge improvement. I started to write poetry again, which I hadn't done for years. I began to outline stories again. I even signed up for a drawing class so I could learn to draw better. My dam had burst and I was moving freely again.

Any time I start to get stuck, I return to my collage. It makes me happy.

SoulCollage is a trademarked process created by Seena Frost.

It involves creating your own special personal deck of SoulCollage cards, to help you process things in your own life, guide you through your own issues.

All you need is some sharp scissors, lots of images, pre-cut mat board cards, and some glue.

These cards are made for personal introspection. They can be shared, or given as gifts, but are not to be sold, traded or bartered.

The process of creating them is very much like what I described above. In fact SoulCollage was one of the reference books I used when I began collaging.

For more information about SoulCollage cards, please refer to the links below.