Art Journals - Year In Review

In December (along with the baking and shopping and wrapping and decorating) my mind begins to collect memories and reflect on the events of my past year in preparation for my "Year In Review" art journal page.

I start by undertaking a review of my art journal drawings and sketches for the whole year. I try to distill my life events and then highlight them in a thin ribbon around a new year's art journal page (see years 2010-2012 below).

Some years my "Year In Review"page also includes my plans for the upcoming year or sometimes I create a seperate art journal page to record my new year's resolutions (like my 2011 plans below).

Art Journal: My Plans for 2011
Artist: Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

I love this tradition. It keeps me balanced. It fills me with gratitude.

16 Questions To Help You End The Year Well

This year I received a list of "16 Questions to Help You End the Year Well" from a mailing list that I belong to called "Always Well Within".

These are wonderful, interesting and hard questions. They would be hard questions especially if your 2014 has been particularly rough.

I plan to do this exercise. I will carve out some quiet time with Tazo chai tea, candles and soft music to do this exercise. You might consider it too? Be sure to visit Sandra Pawula's web page for more information and join her email list.

The "AlwaysWellWithin 16 questions are:

1. Describe your year in a single word, sentence, or paragraph
2. Look back at each month of the year. Write one sentence to describe  each month. Or write a sentence that elucidates the most important  lesson learned from each month.
3. What were the highlights of your year? The low-lights?
4. Read through your journals, highlight the juicy bits and compile a mega  list of lessons learned. Then whittle your list to your top 3 life lessons  from this year.
5. Who/what were the significant people, events, and places during the past  12 months?
6. What would you like to forget about this year? Do you have any regrets?  Anything you would like to have done differently?
7. What was the emotional tone of the year? What were the dominating  emotional patterns? Don’t forget the good ones!
8. Capture your year as a color, a taste, a feeling, a visual or a smell.
9. Look through your photos and chose the ones that best represent the  year. Write an evocative headline for each. Create a photo collage that  represents the essence of your year. Collect your ideas here:
10. What did you accomplish? What challenged you?
11. List your most important insights about your body, emotions, mind, spirit,  work, finances, and/or relationships. And anything else important to you. 
12. What lessons, insights, perspectives, and new behaviors would you like to  carry forward into the new year?
13.  Is there anyone to forgive, including yourself?
14. Did you choose a single word as your guiding star this year? If so, how did  it go with your word? Did you remember it? Did you bring it alive?
15. Is there anything you would like to complete before the start of the new  year? List them here.
16. Create your own question(s) about the past year here: 

Art Journal: 2010 Year In Review

Art Journal: 2010 Year In Review
Artist: Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

Art Journal: 2011 Year In Review

Art Journal: 2011 Year In Review
Artist: Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

Art Journal: 2012 Year In Review

Art Journal: 2012 Year In Review
Artist: Cindi Moynahan-Foreman