wonderful pair of gloves—one wonderfully
comforting, self-loving something.
- Collage: Collect a stack of at least ten magazines,
which you will allow yourself to freely dismember.
Setting a twenty-minute time limit for yourself, tear
(literally) through the magazines, collecting any
images that reflect your life or interests. Think of this
collage as a form of pictorial autobiography. Include
your past, present, future, and your dreams. It is
okay to include images you simply like. Keep
pulling until you have a good stack of images (at
least twenty). Now take a sheet of newspaper, a
stapler, or some tape or glue, and arrange your
images in a way that pleases you. (This is one of my
students’ favorite exercises.)
- Quickly list five favorite films. Do you see any
common denominators among them? Are they
romances, adventures, period pieces, political
dramas, family epics, thrillers? Do you see traces of
your cinematic themes in your collage?
- Name your favorite topics to read about:
comparative religion, movies, ESP, physics, rags-to-
riches, betrayal, love triangles, scientific
breakthroughs, sports... Are these topics in your
collage?
- Give your collage a place of honor. Even a secret
place of honor is all right—in your closet, in a
drawer, anywhere that is yours. You may want to do
