The great thing about a magic tattoo is that it is with you forever to remind you of what you care about, what you believe, and who you are deep inside: courageous, creative, and perfect exactly as you are.
(The other great thing about a magic tattoo is that no one will be poking at you with needles!)
For this project you will need:
Your journal
A pen or pencil for writing
Paper
Assorted markers
Before you head to the tattoo shop, you’ll need to spend some time deciding what you want your tattoo to say.
To help you think up an idea, here are a couple of questions for you to answer in your journal:
1. Imagine that you are feeling really worried about something. What are some things that would help you to feel calm again? Write down a few ideas. For example:
Listen to music
Take a few deep breaths
Talk to a friend
Tell myself I’ll get through it
2. When you are feeling down or worried, what words would be helpful for you to tell yourself? Write down your ideas. For example:
Worries don’t last forever.
I am safe.
I am loved.
I have all the courage I need inside me.
I am okay just as I am.
I got this.
Have you come up with an idea yet? If not, that’s okay! These things take time. Just keep writing down ideas until you have one you love.
Once you have an idea, spend a little more time thinking of different ways to say it. For example, if your idea is about having courage, you could also say that like this:
I am powerful
Brave inside
Unstoppable
Back off, worry!
Are you ready to design your tattoo? Great!
In your journal or on a larger piece of paper, play around with different ways to write the words — bold, fancy, swirly, jagged — until you have a style you like.
Redraw your words on a clean page or sheet of paper. You can use pencil then go over the lines with your markers.
When you’re finished, here’s one more exercise for you:
If you had to say the same thing using only a picture or symbol, what would it be? A mountain? A lion? A lightbulb? A flower?
When you have an idea, draw it in your journal or on a piece of paper. You can choose to add this drawing to your words, or you can keep it as a separate tattoo.
And now, you are ready to take your design to the tattoo shop!
If you are leading a group, have everyone get into a comfortable position and close their eyes. Slowly read the next few steps to your group.
If you are doing this project on your own (great!), you can just read the steps to yourself.
Close your eyes and take a few slow deep breaths.
As you continue to breathe deeply, imagine that you are walking down the sidewalk with your tattoo design in your hand. It’s a beautiful sunny day. The birds are chirping.
As you continue to walk, you pass a clothing store and a toy store, you pass a park where children are playing and a man is throwing a frisbee to his dog.
Finally you come to a shop with tattoos in the window. There are two signs on the door.
One says: Magic tattoos
The other says: Now serving kids
Open the door and walk inside…
A nice woman is there to greet you. She smiles and welcomes you to her tattoo shop.
You say hello and show her your tattoo design.
She nods and leads you to a chair.
As you climb into the chair, the woman explains that this tattoo will be visible only to you…
Now you must pick out a place on your body where you want your tattoo. You also must decide how large you would like it to be.
“Okay, let’s get started,” the tattoo artist says.
Because these are magic tattoos, the tattoo artist simply waves her hand over you and your tattoo is finished…
As you admire your beautiful new tattoo, take a few more deep breaths in through your nose and out your mouth.
When you are ready, open your eyes.
From now on, this tattoo is a part of you — a permanent reminder that you can handle any worry or challenge that comes your way.
Want to add your tattoo to our gallery? Oh please do!
