Introduction
A low key Advent experiment that you are invited to join me on.
An examen is a way of praying, where you review your day, in the evening. You look for what has been good and life giving and look for what’s been hard or stressful, and take all that to God in prayer. (Here’s a good introduction to the Examen – in case you’re interested) https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/
For a while I’ve been wondering, what would a creative version of that might be like. (Or indeed, a creative-ish version). So, I’m going to have a play.
Here is my initial suggestion.
You’ll need something to draw with – whatever you have to hand and like using. Paper, and pencil crayons, biros, felt pens. App on your phone. Whatever works for you.
Steps
- Draw a rectangle to represent your day.
- Fill it with some colours, to represent the mix of emotions of the day.
- Draw something on it, to capture a key moment of the day. It could be a drawing OF something. Or an abstract squiggle that means something to you and no-one else. Drawing skill entirely optional. I’m not attempting anything of lasting artistic value, just an aid to reflection.
- Add a word or phrase that seemed important today. Maybe something you said, or heard, or read somewhere. Maybe an advertising jingle or a line from a song. Maybe a thought you had.
- Look at what you’ve done, and chat to God about it.
Other Thoughts
These steps can be done in whatever order seems more natural. I’m imagining this taking more like 5 minutes than half an hour, but give it whatever amount of time works for you.
Having played for a few days already, I found I sometimes wanted to write a couple of sentences next to the picture too, with some context and comment or maybe what I wanted to say to God about my day.
It’s an experiment, so if the instructions don’t quite work for you, feel free to adapt, and offer suggestions for alternatives. We’ve already had some interesting discussion about whether a haiku or some other form of tiny poem would be a good alternative, for those who prefer words to images.
Sharing what you’ve done is definitely optional. I’m going to try and share mine most evenings during Advent, but I’ll probably share the pictures without explaining what lies behind them, because I want it to be something that’s between me and God. It will change it if it feels like I’m doing it for an audience.
If your brain isn’t wired for consistency, it’s fine to have a go at this, do it a few times then stop, then maybe start again for another day or two then have another gap. You will have done something prayerful and creative a few times. That’s good! Much better that than decide you’ll definitely do it Every Single Day, miss a couple of days, want to make up for what you missed, realise you won’t, then feel like you’ve failed and beat yourself up about it. (Trust me, I’ve been round that cycle a few times)
Try this out and see how it works for you. If you want to, I’d love to know how you got on.
Ragbag Mending 