Gratitude Project
Inspired by Laurel Guy's decision to use "gratitude" as the theme for the 2004 Ithaca Festival, and also looking for an exercise to indirectly wake up my creativity, I set aside a little time a few days a month to make a small watercolor painting about something for which I feel gratitude. I started in early February, 2004 while on vacation in California (that made it easy!) and ended in early January, 2005 -- eleven months in all.
These paintings are small -- 5 by 5 inches each. I wrote the number of the painting, the date, and a short sentence about my gratitude on the back of each page. I found myself reviewing many things when I sat down to a blank page, picking topics that could be depicted in graphic form. It is a visual blog of sorts.
The paintings seem to divide into a few general topic areas: my body and my physical experience of life (including food); people in my life; nature; and culture. One 'iconic' theme has emerged: colorful swirls coming out of mouths or heads or violins or the FM radio or my computer standing for culture, dialogue, on-going interaction between people.
To learn more about gratitude, check out the Ithaca Festival site and the Network for Grateful Living. While taking a little time each day to feel grateful seemed naive to me at first, I have discovered that my mood, sense of well-being, and ability to focus were much better when I took time to make a gratitude painting on a regular basis. The effect is better than anti-depressant drugs for me.