After a divorce or any life changing event, we reevaluate . . .our lives, our relationships, our history. While the process is integral to your sanity, it's often uncharted, uncomfortable territory. But I found a hobby that makes the healing a whole lot happier.

Scrapbooking.

Yep. That Martha-Stewart-esque-photo-cut-and-paste pastime. It's a downright fun way to organize and make sense of the feelings and memories in your head.

Pull out that box of photos in the attic. Get some adhesive (glue stick is fine) and scrapbook paper at any local craft store. Put the photos on the paper and write down on the paper what the photos contain and your thoughts and memories of those points in history. In the process of remembering and writing it down, a miraculous thing begins to happen. You begin to heal your thoughts, your heart, your soul.

It's the combination of the photos and the journaling that does it. Writing alone, does not remind you of all the parts of yourself the way contemplating a photo does. Writing and making art around those photos, even the simplest kind of art, is altogether healing. It's more powerful than any psychiatrist's couch.

And ninety-eight percent of scrapbookers are women. Much like the quilting circles of generations ago, scrapbook "crops" are weekly events where women gather to work on their craft while sharing the ups and downs, sorrows and joys of their daily lives. Just gathering in a community of women regularly makes scrapbooking a strengthening experience. Throw in the actual process of "scrapping," and you have the means to heal your life.

I have a saying, "Scrap strong sistah." It means scrapbook your life fearlessly. Uncover and discover yourself. Reclaim those parts of yourself you forgot. Venture backwards to conquer going forward. And make some really good art in the process.

Scrap strong sistah. Scrap strong.