There are people that come into our lives that help us to grow and develop
in ways that we may have forgotten were there for us, Paula Swenson
is one of those people for me.
She is a sterling example of care, fun, creativity and support all rolled up in a
precious package for anyone who wishes, to open up. Enjoy her beautiful story...
(Take the opportunity to download her ebook it's marvelous!)
Creativity as Self Care in times of Extreme Need
Last year I wrote an eBook titled Care and Feeding of the Creative Self.
Just a few months after I first shared it, I found myself in the peculiar
position of desperately needing to take my own advice.
I was trying to establish a new household in a new country; my husband
was unexpectedly hospitalized and ultimately passed away, and throughout it all
I could feel my Creative Self crying out to me not to abandon it.
What I quickly realized was that not only did my Creative Self need to
be cared for, but also in that caring came healing which I so clearly
needed. I understand now, in a way I never did before, that it is truly cyclical.
Creativity is a balm for pain, just as pain can trigger a need to create. During the painful weeks of Steve’s illness and decline I found a calm and refuge in Zen & Ink drawing meditations.
in ways that we may have forgotten were there for us, Paula Swenson
is one of those people for me.
She is a sterling example of care, fun, creativity and support all rolled up in a
precious package for anyone who wishes, to open up. Enjoy her beautiful story...
(Take the opportunity to download her ebook it's marvelous!)
Creativity as Self Care in times of Extreme Need
Last year I wrote an eBook titled Care and Feeding of the Creative Self.
Just a few months after I first shared it, I found myself in the peculiar
position of desperately needing to take my own advice.
I was trying to establish a new household in a new country; my husband
was unexpectedly hospitalized and ultimately passed away, and throughout it all
I could feel my Creative Self crying out to me not to abandon it.
What I quickly realized was that not only did my Creative Self need to
be cared for, but also in that caring came healing which I so clearly
needed. I understand now, in a way I never did before, that it is truly cyclical.
Creativity is a balm for pain, just as pain can trigger a need to create. During the painful weeks of Steve’s illness and decline I found a calm and refuge in Zen & Ink drawing meditations.
With a pocketable notebook and a waterproof-ink pen, I was able to
shift my mind out of the frantic cycle of worry and stress that threatened to
engulf me. I was able to focus on something tangible, something creative, and in
so doing create a calm, ordered space in my mind.
That calm and order allowed me to approach the horrifying challenges in
something closer to a state of balance.
In the month Steve was hospitalized I created scores of these drawings,
while he slept, while he was having tests, while he was in surgery.
In the months since his death I have found great peace in the orderly
repetition of cutting colored paper to mount them and sending them off to
people who have contributed to the fund for his medical expenses. It has been a
part of my own grieving and healing process to share the healing meditations I
drew during his illness.
shift my mind out of the frantic cycle of worry and stress that threatened to
engulf me. I was able to focus on something tangible, something creative, and in
so doing create a calm, ordered space in my mind.
That calm and order allowed me to approach the horrifying challenges in
something closer to a state of balance.
In the month Steve was hospitalized I created scores of these drawings,
while he slept, while he was having tests, while he was in surgery.
In the months since his death I have found great peace in the orderly
repetition of cutting colored paper to mount them and sending them off to
people who have contributed to the fund for his medical expenses. It has been a
part of my own grieving and healing process to share the healing meditations I
drew during his illness.
As the numbness and shock began to recede I frequently found myself
unable to put anything at all into words, much less my feelings.
As I sat one day, with a cup of tea, gazing out at the patterns of light
and shadow in the valley my studio overlooks, I realized that I was
unconsciously processing my grief through images.
I understood that what I could not put into words, I could possibly
express in art.
I started to play loosely with some ideas, working on a small piece of nubbly
silk, using random materials that caught my eye. I thought I was making a ‘sketch’-a
prototype for a larger piece of work. Somewhere in the process I became aware that this WAS the work, and that it was just the first piece in a series that might express not only my grief and recovery process but something larger and more universal about love and
loss.
unable to put anything at all into words, much less my feelings.
As I sat one day, with a cup of tea, gazing out at the patterns of light
and shadow in the valley my studio overlooks, I realized that I was
unconsciously processing my grief through images.
I understood that what I could not put into words, I could possibly
express in art.
I started to play loosely with some ideas, working on a small piece of nubbly
silk, using random materials that caught my eye. I thought I was making a ‘sketch’-a
prototype for a larger piece of work. Somewhere in the process I became aware that this WAS the work, and that it was just the first piece in a series that might express not only my grief and recovery process but something larger and more universal about love and
loss.
Oso Blue: without you Paula Swenson 2013
The series Hearts:Broken:Open continues to evolve, to grow of its own volition and as it grows it absorbs some of my pain.
The Winter of Our Discontent Paula Swenson 2013
Years ago I encountered a quote ~The only antidote to destruction is
creation ~ until this point in my life I had always seen that as an external
battle: to put creativity into the world to balance the destruction of war, of
prejudice, or injustice. Now as I work, I realize that I am using my creativity
to rebuild my destroyed identity, my sense of self that had been shredded by the
unexpected loss of my best friend and anchor, my calm port, my
home.
Years ago, when there was government and corporate funding for such
things, I worked with hospitalized veterans, with folks in Senior Centers, with
traumatized children to bring about healing through art.
I look back on that work with pride and a new understanding.
I realize now that the smiles evoked by their own creative expression
probably contained as much relief as joy.
While I had embraced using creative tools for myself and others in the
past, using Creativity as a tool for my own self-care in this extreme
circumstance has allowed me to understand on a whole new level how powerful and
elemental the urge to create really is.
Paula Swenson can be found at
Website: http://creativespirals.com
* Link for download of eBook
https://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15Qk05dEN6NFB2bk1UQw
creation ~ until this point in my life I had always seen that as an external
battle: to put creativity into the world to balance the destruction of war, of
prejudice, or injustice. Now as I work, I realize that I am using my creativity
to rebuild my destroyed identity, my sense of self that had been shredded by the
unexpected loss of my best friend and anchor, my calm port, my
home.
Years ago, when there was government and corporate funding for such
things, I worked with hospitalized veterans, with folks in Senior Centers, with
traumatized children to bring about healing through art.
I look back on that work with pride and a new understanding.
I realize now that the smiles evoked by their own creative expression
probably contained as much relief as joy.
While I had embraced using creative tools for myself and others in the
past, using Creativity as a tool for my own self-care in this extreme
circumstance has allowed me to understand on a whole new level how powerful and
elemental the urge to create really is.
Paula Swenson can be found at
Website: http://creativespirals.com
* Link for download of eBook
https://www.yousendit.com/download/UW15Qk05dEN6NFB2bk1UQw