[Tweet “”That’s life. It hurts, it’s dirty and it feels very, very good.” -Si Wang-mu, Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card.”]
Life can be hard. It can drive us nuts. There are times when life seems like a never ending string of problems, either little or big. But life can also be wonderful. It can bring us so much happiness. In so many different ways. However, it can often be hard to hold on to that happiness. That’s why I am starting my new series, Finding Happiness.
The Finding Happiness series will take a look at ways I’ve found that help me hold on to happiness. I hope in discussing ways I’ve been able to find happiness that I can help others find new ways to seek happiness.
As the title for this post indicates, one way I’ve been able to find happiness is by being creative. Now I’m not a pen paper creative. I don’t use physical paint or scissors or paper. I use Photoshop CS5.
I use Photoshop for two activities, digital scrapbooking and digital art journaling. I started as a paper scrapper back in 1997. Then in 2006 I made a switch to digital and GIMP. I have to admit that I tried digital reluctantly. But my techie geek side fell in love immediately. I was afraid I would miss tearing paper, inking page edges and working with chalk. I was wrong. It totally opened up my creativity. I was so slow at paper scrapping that I rarely finished a page. In fact, I still have a ton of unfinished pages. With digital scrapbooking, I didn’t have to worry about mistakes thanks to the Undo option. Plus I was so much faster. Switching to digital was an amazing choice for me. A couple of years ago I switched to Photoshop. But regardless of the program, I love digital scrapbooking. Plus scrapping about people, animals or moments I love just brings me so much happiness. I may have been a reluctant convert to digital, but I am not a complete convert. In the last couple of years, I’ve developed another creative passion as an offshoot of digital scrapbooking and that’s digital art journaling.
Art journaling has become very popular in the last few years. Initially I wasn’t very interested until I came to realize how perfect it was for someone like me. Since I don’t have children and all of their activities to scrap, I don’t always have a ton of photos to scrap. That can definitely get in the way of digital scrapbooking. With digital art journaling, I don’t need photos. I love working with digital paint and blending modes. I love the messiness of it. It’s such a fun way of digital expression. Plus it’s a great way to express emotions. It’s also a great way to create positive messages for myself. To remind me to be happy when I am feeling nothing but sad.
Being creative is a great way to find happiness. I know that when you think of creative, you tend to think of art or music. But there are plenty of ways to be creative in other ways. Do you enjoy cooking? Then use that to express your creativity. Are you good with a sewing machine or a crochet needle? More options for creativity. Maybe you like creating videos to post on YouTube. Another chance for creativity. The goal is to find your favorite way of being creative. Then you can use that creative expression to seek happiness. That is our goal, finding happiness.
This week, I challenge you to find your creative passion. This is the first step in finding happiness. Once you’ve discovered your creative passion, come back and share it with us. Sharing your creative passion is a great way to seek happiness.
Until next time, don’t forget to seek happiness. You deserve it.
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