Collages of Reality

“Everything happens for a reason.” Were the harsh words that penetrated my ears and echoed in my brain at the age of 13. My sister died. What reason was there for that!? I spent years thinking back to that moment when someone offered those words as a form of their sympathy and condolences. I said to myself, “they should have just said nothing!” Every time I thought of it, I became angry. There is no reason for my older sister to be buried in the ground. I could not even bring myself to stand over that ground; or think of that ridiculous phrase ˗ everything happens for a reason!

Throughout my healing journey I read books. One of the books I read was about God and the afterlife. The book provided answers and guidance for many of the tough questions people tend to ask. Why would a God who loves us let such terrible things happen in the world? Why are some people rich and some people poor? Why do some people live in countries with no clean water or food to eat? Or are born in environments where violence and chaos threaten their existence every single day? The author of the book offered many words of faith and hope, but the one thing that resonated with me was her simple explanation for these hard questions people cannot answer when tragedy strikes and their faiths are thus tested.

The author said, “Life is like a tapestry. On one side appears a beautiful picture. If you flip the tapestry over, you do not see a pretty picture at all. You see knots of threads and strings, mismatched patterns, some strings are longer than others, some are short, some hang loose and some fit perfectly woven into the large piece of cloth. It takes all of these strings and threads and knots to make the beautiful picture on the front.”

After reading these words I was able to release the anger I had built up inside of me for all those years. I suddenly had a greater understanding of life and that everything does happen for a reason˗ even if we cannot see that reason at the present time, even if the reason is never consciously revealed to us. We all have meaning, we all have a reason; our grief, our successes, our dreams, and our failures come together to make up the beautiful picture… life.

I was always a creative child, adolescent, and now at 32 years old I guess an adult. Creativity has been a way for me to show my sincerity and thoughtfulness. Creativity has been a way for me to give gifts from the heart and to stimulate my senses; to add depth, layers and personability to all my endeavors or projects.

As I continued to heal and learn doing my reading, journaling, drawing, painting and soul searching- I came across a journal that suggested to build a “dream board,” or a “vision board” whichever you prefer to call it. I was like, “Ouuu! A collage.” A dream board or vision board is essentially a collage, but with power!

The author of the journal explained the Law of Attraction. Building a dream board and placing it where you will see it every day can help your subconscious attract your dreams, wants and your vision of your highest self. Not only is this a fun project that you do not necessarily need to be particularly artistic for, but the supplies are also cheap! Often even able to be recycled materials.

Almost everyone in the world owns a pair of scissors. All you need to create this super cool inspiring craft is a piece of cardboard or thick paper, a pair of scissors, some glue, and magazines, newspapers, photos, or images that inspire you or are aesthetically pleasing. The idea is to look for images or words, people or places or experiences that we would like to draw into our lives.

You cut out the images using scissors and make sure the images or words and colors lift you up and inspire you to feel your best or feel like something you want more of in your life. You can cut out the images and words that you are going to use from any array of magazines or newspapers and save them up like little treasures that you will then arrange into a collage of artwork. The collage you end up with at the end is as unique as a fingerprint. No two people who work on a dream board, vision board or collage are ever going to construct the same final masterpiece. It literally has your unique spirit built right into the collage.

I have been making a dream/vision board every single year since 2015. You can make a dream board any time of the year or for any reason. You could even have separate boards for personal life and business or career goals. Not only is this craft my favorite activity for setting my intentions and reflecting on my new hopes and aspirations for each year, but the layers that you arrange and create in collage remind me of us as humans and the human experience.

People are like a walking collage. Taking bits and pieces of memories, visions, lessons we have been taught, behaviors we emulate, others we admire, culture and experiences to make our identity.

As you cut out your pictures and pieces of paper, colorful words, and images to build your collage of your dream board˗ you can reflect on the nature of the human experience and your soul. Everyone walking around has bits and pieces that they are carrying with them, viewed through their lens of personal perspective and experience all coming together to create one giant collage that we know as life.

I was able to keep my sanity, happiness, hopes, dreams, aspirations and individuality by simply cutting out pieces of paper.