How to Enhance Your Journaling Experice with HeArt...

Hola, Fierce Feminina,

Sharing the stories of women will always be a focal point of Fierce Feminina Inspired. The importance of seeing and hearing stories of other women who have created their art, found their purpose, or lived out their dreams helps us to believe that we can do it too.

The Fierce Friend in today’s issue is Aleca McKenna, a woman I met while at a retreat last spring. Each woman at the retreat would go off on their own and write in a journal or notebook. Then we would come back and share our thoughts, our fears, and our dreams.

It was at this gathering where Aleca shared with us her journaling process. Her beautiful artfully decorated journal is what we will be sharing in this issue, The HeArt Ritual.

The HeArt Ritual by Aleca McKenna

I asked Aleca why she started The HeArt Ritual and she said… “I have journaled all my life.” As a child, she remembered having a diary with a small key. “Over the years,” Aleca said, “journaling just became a way of life.”

In her early 20’s, Aleca would take basic composition notebooks and beautifully decorate them on the outside. However, it wasn’t until her divorce that journaling took on a whole new artful direction. Aleca said, “I read that mandalas were prayers and began drawing mandalas as a therapeutic outlet.”

Aleca would write about the anger inside of her and then paint over her words. It was Aleca’s way of creating beauty out of her pain. Art journaling had become her own healing process.

This journaling process helped her to listen and find her voice. Aleca, reflected that when she began to listen to her internal voice she could determine for herself the next steps to take in life and not rely on the external perspectives and input of others. The practice of journaling has been a force of powerful change in Aleca’s life.

Two years ago, Aleca was inspired to do some research on rituals based on what she heard in a church sermon. In her discovery, she found the importance of rituals as celebrations and how they connect us to our tribes and communities. Aleca saw how she could incorporate it into her daily life, through her HeArt Ritual.

The HeArt Ritual was created “to be and to hear.” This is completely in line with what we are trying to learn here with Fierce Feminina Inspired. Aleca believes, “It’s really a go with it process, a way to show up for yourself.” Here’s what it looks like.

The HeArt Ritual combines both art and journaling. The guided process Aleca created is developed in your own journal or sketchbook using pens and markers. Aleca shares with you the guided process she uses so that you can create your own artful journal.The Process

First, you draw a circle and label it as, You Are Here. You use your imagination and art to create a terrain of your life. Is it rocky or a lush paradise?

The second page is a reflection. Aleca guides you in creating a mandala, a prayer for yourself or a place of gratitude. She asks the question, what colors do you feel inside?

On the third page you draw a cup. Aleca asks you the question, what fills your cup up? Are there feel-good things or sensory items like good smells or tastes in your cup? When I went through the process I thought of chocolate.

On the last page, you list three experiences or projects that you are proud of. You can also include two experiences you would like to have. Listing these experiences or projects helps you to be focused on the positive things in your life.

All of this is on her website, but just for you Aleca has created 💌 “Love Letter to Yourself,” a template for the Fierce Feminina community. You can also purchase the recordings, blank sketchbooks, images, and more. https://www.theheartritual.art

Aleca reminds us all that our “journal is a sacred space.” It is a place of prayer or reflection. Now, go and start writing! Your journal can be a source of your greatest breakthroughs!

Like what you see? Invite your Fierce Friends.

Remember to check us out on your favorite social media platform to get a little bit of inspiration daily. If this was forwarded to you click to subscribe!