Where Your Mojo is Hiding

This post is part of Light Your Fire, an August 2013 blog series to help you get unstuck and ignite your passion for scrapbooking. For even more fire-starting, download our free membership sampler.

One must work and dare if one really wants to live. – Vincent Van Gogh

They say that anything meaningful in life is hard. Because it is so intimately tied to the stories we live each day, scrapbooking can sometimes feel like yet another chore on the list. We love the photos, the words, the products and projects, but like many other have-to’s and want-to’s, it takes time and energy. We create an inner monologue full of excuses for not scrapping at all or just going through the motions. We think we’ve lost our mojo and might never get it back.

Whether you’ve had trouble with making progress or you feel that creative spark is missing from your pages, you might be interested in this little secret. Just because memory keeping can challenge you to your deepest core, it doesn’t have to be a struggle. Finding the joy in scrapbooking, like anything meaningful in your life, requires a subtle change in perspective. Your mojo has not run off to Tahiti. Your mojo is simply waiting for you to find it.

Your mojo is inside of you.

Definition of Mojo
You might be surprised to learn the historical context of the term “mojo”. It is traditionally a small cloth bag kept close to one’s side, filled with various ingredients and serving as a charm to bring only good magic. In a more modern sense, it has come to mean personal magnetism (think Austin Powers). Thus when we speak of losing “scrapbooking mojo”, it’s as though we’ve lost that good luck charm and the magnestism between ourselves and our supplies has waned.

How to go with your own unique scrapbooking flow to get unstuck

The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started. – Norman Cousins

Before you run off and say “well that’s a bunch of kumbaya BS Jennifer”, please bear with me. Every single day is a little different from the last. A million factors go into whether your hair is shiny, the kids are behaving and you feel like scrapbooking. Like you, I’ve had days (or weeks) where the thought of being creative made my stomach turn. So what is the trick?

The real secret is in understanding that your mojo is a state of flow. Have you ever totally zenned out peeling potatoes? Or lost track of time making a budget spreadsheet? Or suddenly craved to weed the garden or paint the bedroom? In any given moment, we are ultimately primed to enter a state of flow for many activities and totally not for others. Those are mojo moments!

You always have mojo, it just might not be for what you expected. Instead of focusing on what isn’t working, you can channel your energies into other avenues. Here is an example:

Mindy finally has 2 hours to herself. She’s been looking forward to this time all week and has been scrambling to finish household duties to really enjoy the “me time”. Mindy sits down to scrapbook and nothing is coming together.

Instead of giving up in frustration and reaching for the remote and some chocolate,  Mindy can grab hold of an amazing opportunity. Mindy has 2 hours marked for memory keeping and enthusiasm to really dig in – but that doesn’t mean she has to make a page right-this-moment. She needs to consider other tasks that will help her feel like progress is happening. She can organize photos from the previous weekend or spend time journaling about favorite memories.

The key is to recognize what you are primed for and to jump on that bandwagon without fear. Dare to run after your mojo!

How to leverage bursts of mojo into finished scrapbook projects

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. – Anatole France

To get the most out of everyday mojo, you must first recognize what kind of energy is filling you up. More practically, you must identify whether your left (analytical) or right (creative) brain is dominating your moment. What kinds of tasks are coming easiest to you? Balancing the checkbook or cooking dinner?

The entire memory keeping process offers tasks that will let you follow your mojo. You just have to go with it! Are you feeling unsettled and craving order and security? You might find your flow comes easier in organizing or editing projects. Do you need to feel release of burden or mental weight? Journaling might be your solution. Are you bursting with energy and seeing the world in hypercolor? You are likely ready to jump right in to artwork.

You have all the mojo you will ever need right inside of you. The key is to follow where it takes you and feel confident that the path will take you from ideas to finished projects. You just have to go with the flow and enjoy the scenic view along the way.

Homework

Your brain needs training to understand how to reach for a flow state instead of fight it. Exercise these reflexes by creating a simple list of “I Can” statements you can refer to. You can start by filling in the blanks if that helps!

• When I feel creative, I can… {assemble kits, design a page…}
• When I feel in need of order, I can… {organize my supplies, arrange my albums…}
• When I feel introspective, I can… {work in my journal, look through memorabilia…}
• When I feel artsy, I can… {make a mini book cover, try digital art journaling…}
• When I feel the need to control, I can… {edit photos, outline the structure of an album…}