My Collage of Joys (Revised)

I’ve been reading a lot on Neuroplasticity. Basically it’s how our nervous system responds and reacts to everything and how one is able to change those natural responses. I am on a journey to expand my neuropathways. With research, prayer and incorporating more of what I learn from the Bible, I can feel there being an internal change in the way my mind is understanding the things in life that put me in distress. With this, I hope to gain a core of calm. Now, without going on another tangent on all the different ways I am experimenting and trying to work through this and why, I’ll just share one of the things: My collage!

Literal Picture description: (Left to right, top to bottom) Forrest and trees. Old visas pulled by a rope. Impressionist sunset painting on an actual Californian beach. Giant half sunflower with vintage world map at its center which is being approached by a toy airplane that is pulling the rope from the vintage visas. Pictures taken of me in different parts of the world border the full acoustic piano that holds a Van Gogh painting. Tiny man, playing accordion that looks like mine, sits besides the scripture found at Eccl 3:11 which are on the piano. The piano keys are swarmed by the fireflies that come from the jar to the right. Finally: bottom of the piano, below the keys, is full of cork.

I saw an idea on Pinterest that talked about a “happy box” (I think that’s what it was called). The idea is to decorate a box and fill it with things that bring you joy so you can open it and go to it whenever you have a bad day. Well, since I’ve been more into digital collage making lately, I thought I’d just take that box idea and make this. I looked up as many photographs of general but beautiful things that bring me joy then resized them, cut them and placed them in certain areas. Not only was it therapeutic, but it really felt like something that was done purely out of the joy of my heart. In other words, I made this with all my heart!

We’re all a work in progress, but we have to trust the journey. In the end, everything is going to be okay. No, it’s going to be INCREDIBLE! We all just have to keep pushing and keep chasing after that inner peace that our Creator so generously loves to provide. It’s a journey we will be on probably for our entire lives, but it’s worth staying on.

So the reason for this, I will start a new series of posts where I pick 5 of the items on this collage and tell you the story. The goal is to further expand my positive experience-dependent neuroplasticity. It’s all based on the current book I’ve been reading titled Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm by Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson. Basically, just how that famous saying goes “you are what you eat”, well, you also become what you think about. If you think about the bad past experiences, it will affect you and it will continue to imprint itself onto your nervous system. However, if you can take in the good experiences, no matter how simple and small in your day-to-day, then all of that good will imprint itself onto your nervous system. This new blog series will be helpful to me too because I’ll be able to really get my mind in those moment that resulted in calm and joy. I plan to come back to them and re-read and remember them. I also hope they can inspire others.

Finally, it’s important to remember that none of us are perfect. We’re all trying our best. Keep going! You’re doing great!

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