The Creative Journal: The Art of Finding Yourself: 35th Anniversary Edition

by Lucia Capacchione

Overview

Originally released in 1980, Lucia Capacchione’s The Creative Journal has become a classic in the fields of art therapy, memoir and creative writing, art journaling, and creativity development. Using more than fifty prompts and vibrantly illustrated examples, Capacchione guides readers through drawing and writing exercises to release feelings, explore dreams, and solve problems creatively. Topics include emotional expression, healing the past, exploring relationships, self-inventory, health, life goals, and more. The Creative Journal introduced the world to Capacchione’s groundbreaking technique of writing with the nondominant hand for brain balancing, finding innate wisdom, and developing creative potential.

This thirty-fifth anniversary edition includes a new introduction and an appendix listing the many venues that have adopted Capacchione’s methods, including public schools, recovery programs, illness support groups, spiritual retreats, and prisons. The Creative Journal has become a mainstay text for college courses in psychology, art therapy, and creative writing. It has proven useful for journal keepers, counselors, and teachers. Through doodles, scribbles, written inner dialogues, and letters, people of all ages have discovered vast inner resources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804011648
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Edition description:	1
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Lucia Capacchione is the bestselling author of The Creative Journal: The Art of Finding Yourself, Recovery of Your Inner Child, and many other Creative Journal Method books for recovery, healing, and life planning. Her work and professional training program have found an international audience, and her books have been translated into multiple languages.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 What Is Creative Journal Keeping? 1

How It All Began 1

What Is Creative Journal Keeping? 4

Forms of Expression 6

Uses of Creative Journal Keeping 9

Guidelines for Journal Keeping 10

Materials for Creative Journal Keeping 13

Preparing to Work in Your Journal 14

Chapter 2 Where You're At, Where You're Coming From 16

Warm-Up 17

How Do I Feel Right Now? 18

My Inner and Outer Selves 21

Looking Back 24

My Life History: A Time Line 26

Where Am I At? 30

Time/Life Map 33

Do Like and Don't Like 34

The Key Word 36

Current Challenge 37

Chapter 3 Who You Are 39

Self-Portrait 40

What's in a Name? 48

Who Am I? 50

I Believe… Part I 52

I Believe… Part II 53

Self-Inventory 54

My Creative Self 54

Parts of Myself 58

Putting It All Together: A Mandala 62

Chapter 4 How You Are with Yourself 67

Critical Parent and Child Within 68

My Critical and Assertive Selves 70

Nurturing Myself 72

I Need… 74

Yin and Yang: The Polarities Within 76

Me and My Shadow Part I 80

Me and My Shadow Part II 86

My Body, My Self 87

Love Letter to Myself 89

Chapter 5 How You Are with Others: People, Places, and Things 91

A Very Important Person Part I 92

A Very Important Person Part II 94

My Support System 97

Giving unto Others 98

The Most Satisfying Relationship 99

Someone I'd Like to Know 100

My Own Space 100

My Favorite Things 102

Reflections 104

Chapter 6 What Your Higher Self Knows 107

Preparing for Dream Exploration 108

The Dream Speaks 109

Rewriting the Script 112

Draw a Dream 112

Translating My Dreams 114

Intuitions and Hunches 115

The Guide within Me 116

Letters to Others 118

Insights and Wisdom 120

Chapter 7 Where You're Going 123

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up 124

Making My Dreams Come True 125

I Wish 128

Where I'll Be in Five Years 129

Opening Doors 130

Building My Dream House 133

Dreams of Glory 133

Treasure Map 134

Where I'm Going 136

Reviewing Your Journal 137

Postscript 141

Questions and Answers 143

Applications of the Creative Journal Process 163

Editorial Reviews

The process of healing is the product, and her work guides us in the process, presenting us with tools for change.”—Bernie S. Siegel, author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon’s Experience with Exceptional Patients


“Beginning with The Creative Journal, Capacchione has been a powerful champion of the therapeutic potential of keeping one’s own drawing journal.… In [her books] she discusses her personal journey and how journaling has facilitated her growth and development…. This intimate touch engages readers and offers them permission to tell their stories through working in their journals.”—Art Therapy


“I think both drawing and writing encourage a fundamental need that we have for self-expression. There may be an added benefit to writing in that it translates experiences into language—which helps the person to resolve a trauma more quickly.”—James W. Pennebaker, author of Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval


“Lucia Capacchione’s workshop was a powerful tool on my healing journey. She shares her insights and gives you the opportunity to heal your relationship with your inner child.”—Louise Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life


“[Capacchione] not only helps to bring out the best, but helps to discover that there is a best that is worth bringing out.”—Norman Cousins, author of Anatomy of an Illness

From the Publisher