What if you treated yourself like someone you love?
Published 20 days ago • 2 min read
The Journaling Muse – Issue #15 Creativity as a Core Practice of Self-Love​ ​
A soft space to reflect, reconnect, and create with feeling.​ ​My mission is simple:to help you slow down, explore your inner world, and unlock your creativity through color, texture, and gentle self-expression.
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Dear Reader,
How often do we cruelly judge ourselves—without even noticing?
We rush through our days, pushing through tiredness, ignoring thirst, and silencing small aches. We prioritize everyone else's needs, and our own quietly fall to the bottom of the list. We hold ourselves to impossible standards—and forget that we are human.
I know this pattern intimately. There are days I catch myself treating my body, my time, and my spirit with less kindness than I would offer a stranger. But awareness is the first step. And creativity—the gentle act of making space for ourselves—is one of the simplest, most beautiful ways to come back.
Creativity as an Act of Self-Love
Creativity is not a luxury. It’s a core practice of caring for your inner life.
When you create, whether it’s painting, journaling, singing, or crafting, you unite mind and body, calm your nervous system, and reconnect to the part of you that still believes in joy.
You remind yourself, I matter. My feelings matter. My dreams matter.
Building Confidence, Releasing Self-Doubt
Every time you make a mark, choose a colour, or write a word, you practice trusting yourself.
Creativity also brings self-doubt into the light. When judgment or comparison creeps in, meet it with curiosity. Compassion is a stronger fuel for creativity than criticism ever will be.
Give yourself permission to create imperfectly. Give yourself permission to begin.
Playing with tea bag, own collage paper and oil pastels
Self-Acceptance Through Art
Creative spaces allow us to be messy, emotional, bold, uncertain—and loved through all of it. Your journal can be your quiet sanctuary. Your canvas can be your mirror. Your art can be a conversation with your truest self.
You are not broken. You are becoming.
Small Rituals of Self-Respect
Try this gentle ritual this week:
Morning Pages of Self-Love:
List 5 things you're grateful for (even tiny things).
List 5 small acts of kindness you will give yourself today (drink water, step into the sun, pause to breathe, go for a massage).
Creative Play:
Set a timer for 15 minutes.
Use whatever medium you like—colours, paper scraps, found objects—and create without any pressure to make it “good.”
Each small act of creation is a small act of self-respect.
Literature Thought
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”​ — Buddha
Art is not just about beauty. It’s about remembering you are already enough.
Closing Words
This week, I hope you treat yourself as someone worthy of care. I hope you let your journal, your brushes, and your hands speak softly back to you.
Creativity is not about being impressive. It’s about being true. And true things are always beautiful.
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Cheering on You, ​Beáta​ 🎨 Art is the spicy cure for your soul
Visiting Benedictine Abbey on the day of the Pope’s funeral.​ The prayers were so beautiful, deeply moving.
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