The Art Project

Creating art makes our souls sing. It is how we communicate on a soul level. As children, we knew this instinctively and would draw and color on paper, on walls, in the dirt—anyplace we could imagine. At some point in time, most of us lose our connections to art, unless we happen to be blessed with natural artistic talent. This lost connection usually starts around the time we begin to worry what other people think. We are worried that our art projects aren't good enough, don't measure up to our friends who have natural talent, or aren't pleasing to our parents or someone else important in our world. When we decide we will never be Michelangelo, we drop art like a hot pan, and unless we have children we have to help with an art project, art becomes something we look at when we visit a museum.

This week, give yourself permission to create art. If you think you aren't any good, give yourself permission to create bad art. By art, I mean pencils, crayons, markers, oils, acrylics, watercolors or another kind of medium you put on canvas or paper.

You can freehand, but you don't have to. If you want to go to the dollar store and get a coloring book and a box of crayons, that works as well as anything. (Treat yourself to the biggest box of crayons, so you have lots of color choices.) Mandalas are great to color, and you can print a number of different designs off the Internet.

Try to spend thirty minutes each day on your art project. If you have to work on it while you are on a phone call or doing something else, do so, but if you can, allow yourself the luxury of thirty minutes daily to play and concentrate on the art without any distractions.

If you have children, they may want to participate, and this is fine. Just make sure they do their own separate project while you do yours.

You can spend the week working on one big project or complete one smaller project each day. It's up to you!

Give yourself freedom to create and step outside conventional boundaries. Think of yourself as an abstract artist, and allow yourself to create something other than the real world your eyes see. If you decide that today the sun should be green and the grass yellow, allow that to be okay. Don't worry what anyone else thinks. You can do anything you want with your project when it is complete, and you never have to show anyone else. Or it can be a piece of art you decide to frame and place centrally in your home.

The important goal is to connect with your soul, to put on paper what you feel, and to allow your emotions and creative spirit freedom of expression.

The Phone Call

Each day this week, call someone you care about. It can be an acquaintance, family member, former coworker you haven't seen in a while, mentor, teacher, or anyone who has had a positive impact on your life. It does not have to be a long conversation or a conversation at all if you get voicemail.

Before you make the call, sit quietly for a moment and reflect on what this person means to you. Plan ahead what you will say if you get their voicemail. It can be a simple message just to let them know you were thinking of them, and you can ask them to call you back or not—whatever feels right to you.

If you get them on the phone, tell them you were thinking about them and wanted to touch base, hear their voice, let them know they are loved—whatever is important to you that they know. Speak from your heart, and give them the gift of knowing they are important in your life. Where you take the conversation from there is up to you, but here are some things to consider:

• Tell them how they impacted your life in a positive way.

• Share the event or memory that brought them to your mind if it is a positive one. (Obviously, a death of a loved one would not be a thing you want to bring up in a call designed to make you feel happier.)

• Make a date for lunch or to have coffee if you want to see them.

• Offer your love and support if they need it, or even if they don't. It's always comforting to give someone permission to call you if they need help or an emotional boost.

It is easy to cop out and do this with a text message, but make the effort to call. Texting isn't a substitute for hearing a loved one's voice. The call is like a handwritten thank-you note. It says you care enough to put extra effort into your relationship.

Of all the Joy Charges, this is the one my test group said had the most impact on them. It can easily be done every day. There is no reason anyone cannot find five minutes to make a phone call. It is a Joy Charge for you and for the person you call. In some cases, my testers hesitated to make the call because they felt guilty they hadn't called before. This is a little silly; if you...