Part 2 -- Visioning®: manifesting one’s dreams through collage and non-dominant hand journaling

Dialoguing with images allowing the non-dominant hand to write for the image, is a creative path inward to the unconscious and deep inner wisdom and guidance. This approach can be used with Vision Boards or simply by choosing images from magazines or in the environment (paintings, photographs, etc.) and interviewing the image, as Donna does here. 

Part 2 -- Visioning®: manifesting one’s dreams through collage and non-dominant hand journaling
By Donna Sparrow

The whole collage

2.18-19.2021 - Woman with walking stick

Who or what are you?
I am a wise explorer. I have traveled far. I have many stories to share. I can see into people’s hearts.

How do you feel?
I feel their desires. I ache for their longings to be known to them. I love watching them discover that they belong and they can create new horizons. 

Why do you feel this way?
Because I have eagle’s wings and eyes. I see the tiny things that other’s don’t notice. I feel the winds that are there to lift other’s off the ground even before they are ready. 

Do you have a message for me?
You have wings, too. You have owl’s vision. You’ve had to learn how to fly in the dark. You are used to not being seen as you fly and as you feed the young. It’s time to become a daylight flyer. It may be a bit bright and it may be uncomfortable at first, people may even point at you, but that is where the winds are taking you. You haven’t flown in the thermals. They will carry you higher in the daylight than you’ve ever flown before. 

Is there anything else you want to tell me?
Be brave. Make practice flights. Trust the winds. Trust your wings. You can be like me.

2.19.2021 - Bottle with feathers and weeds

Who or what are you?
I am the untaken callings, longings and gifts left forgotten along the path like lost feathers and unnoticed weeds in a vessel of time. We are unnoticed or abandoned due to the lack of passion or resilience. 

How do you feel?
Angry. Unimportant. Like a stillbirth. Never given breath. Never given love. Never given life, wild life.

Why do you feel this way?
Because I am the original. Other voices have painted over me and tried to hide my fierce reality. My offerings threaten the culture as it is, but I won’t be ignored. I will be found. I will be remembered. 

Do you have a message for me?
They tried to literally abort you. Since that didn’t work they tried to verbally abort the gifts that wanted to be born. The vessel of time is eternal. It is not too late. You have collected feathers like garlands of amazing callings. They are a charm bracelet of offerings yet to be given. You carry them. You wear them. Now it’s time to share them. Breathe into them. They are waiting. Breathe. 

Do you have anything more to tell me?
I do. But not today.

2.20.2021 - Small earth-loom weaving

Who or what are you?
I am a tapestry of life. All the things woven in. The things you expect to be there and the things you don’t. I am nature at its finest, surprises and the solid ground beneath. 

How do you feel?
I feel alive. I am tightly woven with spaces for things to be added. I am open for change always. I was created on an earth loom and the earth is always on tilt and moving. 

Do you have a message for me?
Be like me with your dreams. Know how hard to pull without ruining the warp…they are the lines that give you direction. But don’t be afraid to add the unusual…even if it’s a bit wild and may have holes in it. Sometimes a weaving doesn’t have a lot of color because it was woven in the barren colors of winter. Don’t reject the quiet season of winter. The colors are just waiting. You may think the tapestry is complete, but it is like life…ull of humor and adventure. 

Is there anything else you want to tell me?
Always leave the spaces. You will be glad you did.

2.20.21 - The word “Sanctuary”

Who or what are you?
I am the sacred place of belonging.
I am safety.
I am boundaries.
I am peace.
I am integrity.
I will never leave you.
I’ve got you. 

How do you feel?
Wild. Free. Solid. 

Why do you feel that way?
I am made out of wind and stars and the dust of before you, that’s why you can lean in. 

Do you have a message for me?
You can dream, there is sanctuary. You can create, there is sanctuary. Just begin and begin again, there is sanctuary. 

Is there anything else you want to tell me?
Show others how to find me.

2.21.2021 - Women at a table outside

 Who or what are you?
I am the spirit of gathering. I create portals for people to go within and to connect with each other. 

How do you feel?
I feel hopeful. 

Why do you feel that way?
When I sense resistance I bring patient courage. I bring memory of memories locked away waiting for the sound of the key turning. I carry smelling salts. 

Do you have a message for me?
I am handing you the smelling salts. Wake them up. Help restore them to their authentic selves. Let them remember who they were before the chisel of culture warped their gifts. Help them to read what is inscribed on their hearts. Use art to awaken their souls. Teach them how to play. Play is a spiritual discipline. 

Do you have anything else to tell me?
Don’t forget to play yourself. Dance in your kitchen and buy yourself flowers.

2.21.2021 - Nature mandala

Who or what are you?
I am source. I am the space between your heartbeats. I am inspiration. I am the creative river. 

How do you feel?
Alive. 

Why do you feel that way?
It’s what I am. 

Do you have a message for me?
Connect to me in the stillness, the solitude and in the beauty of nature as you often do, but open your eyes and ears to find me in the chaos and loud places that you avoid. I am there too. Seek beauty in all places. Bring the strength of the quiet within you into the new territories before you. I will show you new creative ways to do things. I will inspire new ways to do the things you’ve always done. I bring the light and the solid force of revelation to your gatherings. I will bring the people as it is me they’ve come to find in themselves. You just set the table. I’ll pull up my own chair.

2.22.2021 - Girl with feather

Who or what are you?
I am the spirit of inspiration. I am the muse. 

How do you feel?
Wild. Light. Free. 

Why do you feel that way?
I am not captured by photos, art or words, though I often touch them. I drift like dandelion seeds on the wind. I move by my own desires and moods. 

Do you have a message for me?
I am loved by many, but faithful to few. If you want me to visit, you must be idle and playful as well as show up to your work regularly. 

Is there anything else you want me to know?

I love to be a surprise so don’t wait for me…just get to it knowing I’ll visit someday.

2.22.2021 - Mountain Range with one Tree

Who or what are you?
I am ageless wisdom. I am love. 

How do you feel?
Rooted and grounded. 

Why do you feel that way?
Because love is what remains when all other things are gone. 

Do you have a message for me?
Your dream of retreats is rooted in love. Love of people. Love of nature. Love of art. These are what gives you the wisdom to create. When you get stuck without ideas, think less and let your heart feel how much you love the people. That will ground you and let you fly above the mountain tops. Love. Love is your main resource. 

Is there anything else you want me to know?
Love never fails.

2.23.21 - The word “Workshop”

Who or what are you?
The magic space to find insight into your questions and beliefs. The magic space where all questions are welcomed. 

How do you feel?
Vast and Wide. 

Why do you feel that way?
Because hospitality expands. 

Do you have a message for me?
Beliefs are to be held lightly. Life has a way of reshaping and repainting them. Let the color filled questions rise up like balloons filled with helium. Float above. Change your view. That’s where creativity dwells. Follow the sounds and sights of new territory. Risk the unknown path. 

Is there anything else you want to tell me?
Trust your gut. Learn to leap. You are unquenchable. You are flowing with fun new ways to express your curiosity. Open the flood gates and ride the wave of creativity and express your raw authentic self. Hold my hand and get ready. Bring your spirit of imperfection and messy beginnings. Remember to trust me. I will be faithful to make it interesting. We will blow your dreams wide open.

2.28.21 - Basket of sewing things with the word “make”

Who or what are you?
I am the basket of options. There are many ways to make things. You can feel pushed to make something a certain way by your Inner Critic. But I am here to offer you a lot of new and different and heartfelt ways to create. I am options. 

How do you feel?
I feel positive. I feel empowered. I feel free. 

Why do you feel that way?
It’s what I am. 

Do you have a message for me?
I have brought you the resources to have options as big as a path to the moon. Have fun. Play. Seriously…PLAY! Listen to your heart. Everything you need is in the basket. It’s all yours.

2.28.21 - Logs with weeds stuck in them on a table.

Who or what are you?
I am nature re-imagined. I am beauty from outside, brought inside. 

How do you feel?
Generous. Seen. Appreciated. 

Why do you feel that way?
I get to be creative and rethink, reflect and break out of old perspectives. 

Do you have a message for me?
Be wild. Be untamed when you see me. Be like a child. Let’s have fun and make beauty. Let’s get messy. 

Do you have anything else to tell me?
Keep paying attention.

3.1.21 - Art Supplies

Who or what are you?
I am color. I am the sensations on your eye that reflects light. I am intimately unique to every human. I love this about me. It’s all about the eye and the light. I play in the light. 

How do you feel?
Changeable. 

Why do you feel that way?
I am invisible like magic and wind...I move...I play. 

Do you have a message for me?
Play in the light. Play in the fog, the shadows, the dark. Let your eyes love the colors. Love the sensations of change. Don’t be afraid of change. Your roots are like the Ents, you are like a tree that moves and takes their roots with you. Change is full of colors and newness. They help you be creative. It’s the change that helps you see. Embrace the new colors. Embrace the magic. Play with the light as I do. Let the colors fill you up. 

Do you have anything else to say?
Not now.

3.1.21 - The words “Nurturing Creativity”

Who or what are you?
The way. The path. The map with no names. I am the vision you follow by the will of your heart. 

How do you feel?
Strong. 

Why do you feel that way?
Because I’m a survivor. 

Do you have a message for me?
You are a survivor, too. We’ve held hands for years. Now we can get married. Just say yes. 

Do you have anything else to tell me?
No, but I have lots to show you.

3.2.21 - Clothespins wrapped in colored yarn

Who or what are you?
I am the will to hold fast to the colors, the light, the daily everyday simple joys. 

How do you feel?
Useful. Important. 

Why do you feel that way?
Nothing gets done without me. 

Do you have a message for me?
Wishing and dreaming are the ways to begin. I am the way to take action and to hold on when things get hard. I am in you holding you. You can’t lose me. I’ve wrapped my colors around your heart. Relax and breathe. 

Is there anything else you want to tell me?
Together your dreams will come true. Trust me. Let’s get to work.

Donna Sparrow, Candidate for CJEA Certification
donna.sparrow777@gmail.com

------

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.

www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

Part 1 -- Visioning®: manifesting one’s dreams through collage and non-dominant hand journaling

Our guest blogger, Donna Sparrow is a candidate for certification in our Creative Journal Expressive Arts Certification Program for professionals. My Visioning® method, based on my book of the same name, has been a source of creative and life expression for Donna. As outlined in the book, she has created collages and then done the journal assignments that include writing with her non-dominant hand for gaining insights into the images. Due to the length of Donna's sharing, I've formatted it into two separate posts: Part 1 and Part 2.

Part 1 -- Visioning®: manifesting one’s dreams through collage and non-dominant hand journaling
By Donna Sparrow

I’ve made many collages over the years that never become more than wishful thinking. Using Lucia’s method in her Visioning book has taken me deeper than I’ve ever gone before by engaging my right brain through my non-dominant hand. I was constantly surprised and sometimes shocked by what my images had to say about themselves…being portals and options and love. Many seemed to express themes of play and not being afraid of change. I know those are things I especially need to be encouraged in. I grew up in an abusive home where I didn’t play. I hid and survived. I lived in fear and the tiniest failure had harsh consequences.

Having my non-dominant hand tell me that my dream is rooted in love and that love never fails…seriously? My non-dominant hand told me to listen to my heart and to play…to dance in my kitchen and buy myself flowers. Who says these kinds of things! My Inner Child does. Telling me that I have the will to make these things take action, but that it’s holding me. So my Protective Parent steps up. The other tools of CJEA reveal themselves as I learn the skills of expressive arts. The Inner Family Model breaks through even when I’m not focusing on it.

I had to laugh when I asked the image “do you have anything else you want to tell me” and the answer was “no, but I have a lot to show you.” How is that going to work? I guess I will find out.

This is a wild, new ride for me. I have a sense that this vision collage will actually cause things to come into my life. I am committed to engage with it every day. Half of my collage is the display on my phone. That’s a lot of looking at it without much effort. I will change to the other half every month to see whole vision. I’ve committed to go deeper by investing in ongoing journaling.

My next steps are following what Lucia calls The Story Inside The Collage. On pages 136 and 137 in the Visioning book you answer questions by projecting yourself living out your vision. I love the questions about how has your life changed and how have you changed. These questions are designed to move me into embodying my future in the now. My ex-husband used to do fancy skydiving moves with a team of people. He was amazing at it. When I asked why it seemed so easy for him he told me it was because he would visualize it over and over in his imagination. There is magic in Visioning®.

Here is an image of the whole collage I did recently. In Part 2, there are cropped images from this collage to show, and dialogues to share. It’s more fun to do your own, but what I share will give you a sense of what it can be like.



Donna Sparrow, Candidate for CJEA Certification
donna.sparrow777@gmail.com

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

 

Clay Play and Dialoguing with Both Hands

Our guest blogger is Leah Pinck, a Life Coach and candidate for certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts (class of 2022). This is an excellent example of a CJEA intermodal process in which art exploration in any medium is followed with two-handed dialogues for gaining deeper insight through words. 

Clay Play and Dialoguing with Both Hands
by Leah Pinck

For this work, I used a combination of clay work and journaling based on The Art of Emotional Healing and dialoguing from The Power of Your Other Hand. I experienced the clay play, and then journaled about it. After that, I felt like the piece had more to say so I dialogued with it using my dominant hand to ask my questions, and my non-dominant hand to answer for it. It was really interesting to see what came up. 

The basis of working with clay to access what we are feeling comes from Lucia Capacchione’s book The Art of Emotional Healing (pg. 114). This work consists of using clay, preferably the air-dry kind that does not need a kiln for it to dry properly. (It is easily found in art supply stores like Michaels.)

Usually it is best to go into the session without any preconceived notions of what the clay will express. However, for me, when I started the work, I had an intuition that I had some pent up anger that was just under the surface and would want to come out. 

I started by focusing on my breathing. There is a prompt to think about the ocean’s tide coming up thru your feet. Energy of the world coming in and out, up thru my feet, as I breathe in and out. When the tide comes in as a breath, and then goes out, it takes all the stress out of my body. I could imagine that and felt the tension release and my muscles were able to relax. 

As I continued to breathe, I held the piece of clay (that I had cut from a brick of air-dry white clay) in my hands. As I held the clay, I focused on observing it, feeling the weight, the temperature, and the dampness of it. I did not feel connected to it, so I moved on to the next step. 

I put the clay down on the table, and put my hands in a bowl of warm water that I had next to me. The water felt nice after holding the cool clay. I tried to become more receptive to what was in front of me and explored the piece with my eyes closed. I was only supposed to feel what was there, without changing anything, but I found it very challenging not to adjust or “fix” it. Kind of like me in life — having a hard time with letting things “Be.” I prefer to fix things, even if they’re not mine to fix, so this was a really good exercise for me. 

I kept my eyes closed and continued, but this time I was actively exploring it. I got to smoosh it, and knead it, rip it apart and put it together again, and in general just played with it. Kind of like with a stress ball, but messier. And more fun! 

I had put on some music in the background, but at this point it was disturbing my focus on connecting with the clay, so I turned it off and took a sigh of relief. 

As I worked the chunk of clay, I noticed that it felt too big. I didn’t know where that message was coming from, but I went with it and took off a piece and put it to the side. I continued working it, and that feeling came up 3 more times, and each time I took off some more (see figure #1). Then it felt like it needed to be bigger, so I added back a small piece. Once it was being worked in, it didn’t feel right, so I took it off and it felt better. This was the first time I had experienced “listening” to an inanimate object. It did feel a bit strange, but it got my curiosity going to see where it would take me.

Figure 1

Now I shifted into the part of the activity called “creating the self.” This is accomplished by saying or thinking to yourself: “This clay is me and I am creating myself. I am always the same yet constantly changing.” This is from page 114 in The Art of Emotional Healing by Lucia Capacchione. 

I focused on feelings that were coming up and worked it out in the clay. The clay started out being hard to work with. It softened up as I worked, until it was so soft and thin it was breaking. The feeling that came up with it was that I am spreading myself too thin. It felt so pliable, but without boundaries. So I had to reinforce it by folding it over on itself. It needed its boundaries strengthened, just like in my emotional life. 

I whacked the clay on the table really hard, so it sprayed me and the table with small splatters of clay. This was my underlying feeling of anger coming out. It felt good, but I felt guilty for throwing the clay. I remembered what Lucia had said during a recent training, that the clay doesn’t get hurt — no matter what we do to it. So I ended up throwing it a few more times; it felt good, but still somehow wrong. I don’t like feeling angry in general, but I allowed the feeling to come out as well. Oh well, I have to acknowledge to myself that the old anger I feel is still here, and I will attempt to see it, sit with it and let it Be, until it works its way through me and then out. 

At that point I started to sense a direction the clay wanted to be taken in. (yes, it still sounds strange to me, but that was the experience). Still with my eyes closed, I sensed there needed to be a ball, which would be surrounded by a flat surface. That felt like my core talking. However, it didn’t feel safe. It felt like it needed protection, so I folded the flat pieces up and around the center. To envelop it in safety until I felt it was finished (anger does not feel safe to me). 

It was uncomfortable to express my anger, but the piece was interesting and felt like it needed more dialogue. So I had a right hand/left hand conversation with it (see figure #2).

Figure 2

My dominant hand (DH): Who or what are you? 

My non-dominant hand (NDH): Your heart 

DH: How do you feel? 

NDH: Vulnerable 

DH: Why or what makes you feel that way? 

NDH: I’m too spread out. Something can get in w/out my permission. I thought it would be safe to let my heart be seen, even just a bit. Now that I look at it, it feels too open and scary. 

DH: Thank you for sharing that with me. What do you need from me? (to feel safer) 

NDH: Keep me hidden away to keep me safe. 

DH: Is it ok with you if I share a picture of you with others to show them how valuable this work is? 

NDH: Yes. But you can’t let a/o (anyone) else hold me. That would be too scary. 

DH: Thank you for that and I will take good care of you! 

 

After that I journaled some more to process what had come up. 

This was an interesting insight for me. I see that I was actually able to be a bit more open, at least with myself. 

The clay piece I made is a very small one. I think that because that is all my heart wanted to open up it only allowed a small bit to be seen. As I compare this to the first one I did a few weeks ago (image on right, figure 3), I can see that even though it is smaller, it is not as solid and inflexible as the first one was. It also has a bigger space that opens into the center, which is my heart (see figures 3, 4 and 5).

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

I take this as a sign of my continuing growth one little step at a time. I discovered that I can open the protection around my heart, so that I can see what’s hiding, protected inside, just a bit more. Doing the clay work was an eye-opener for me. But then when I added in the R/L hand dialoguing and journaling, it brought me much more insight than if I had just worked with the clay. All in all, this is an awesome, tactile, 3-dimensional way to work through feelings.

Now I am off to put that little clay piece of my heart away in a safe place. 

Leah Pinck
leahpinck@gmail.com
Certified Life Coach, Candidate for CJEA Certification 2022

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

Art in troubled times

Our guest blogger is my artist friend Tucker, whose non-dominant hand expresses so much feeling and insight through drawing and other media. Expressing through his non-dominant hand, here is Tucker's response to life in the time of COVID-19.

Art in troubled times
by w. tucker 

I try to work every day and when I am not able to get into the studio, I work on these watercolor postcards to do the collage work. As with all of my work, these pieces are titled after the work is complete. 

at a loss (troubled times) 

This piece spoke to me of so many things – how the COVID-19 has affected us all and affected us all in similar and different ways. How our country is and isn’t dealing with the issue of race and equality. It spoke as well about the choice, as simply as we can make it, to stand and face these things – to look, to listen and to really communicate. 

red bird just above chaos 

My work tends to be an exploration of self and what is happening around me. There are times when the work seems fairly autobiographical and this piece I feel comes quite literally out of the chaos of 2020. It was not literal when I put it on paper – as I’ve mentioned before I don’t have an idea in my head or plan out the work before I start working. However, for me it does have a direct connection to the turmoil we’ve faced. And in what feels like a hopeful or even purposeful aspect of the peace, it might connect to what things we do to pull ourselves above or out of the chaos – meditation, breathing, swimming, prayer...

w. tucker
wtucker-art.com
w. tucker @ tumblr

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

‘Tis the Season for Holiday Eating

Marlena Tanner is a Dietitian and certified CJEA Practitioner with a practice on California's Central Coast. She applies my methods in the treatment of eating disorders. Because holidays are a repeated phenomenon with their own rituals and traditions, each one has memories attached to it. These memories go back to early childhood. Our emotional and instinctual Inner Child is easily triggered during the holidays, especially when comparing today's COVID-19 reality with celebrating past holiday seasons. Marlena has some sage advice about "holiday eating," which can become a problem for anyone. 

‘Tis the Season for Holiday Eating
by Marlena Tanner 

‘Tis the season for merriment, joy, and yes, holiday eating. In effect, it is also for many the season of guilt. Even those who do not struggle with eating issues can get entangled in guilt-ridden overeating, a loss of control, and body shame. This is then followed by the well-known New Year’s pattern of dieting. Let’s explore our eating over the holidays a little more and dig deeper into what we are really looking for in the food. Perhaps this will raise your awareness just enough to create a new pattern of behavior this holiday season.

It starts around Halloween with candy, followed by Thanksgiving, holiday cookies and finally more Holiday meals. In today’s health-conscious (health-obsessed) culture, this time can be met with dread. Rather than embracing the traditions with excitement, some of us begin to fear that we are doing something terribly wrong by engaging in this season of eating. It’s not black or white. We do not have to give the proverbial middle finger to the diet industry by gorging ourselves, and we do not need to abstain to take some moral high ground. We can partake with intention and mindfulness. We can listen to our bodies and our hearts. Yet, even with the best intentions, we sometimes find ourselves out of control. We find that we can’t always stop eating when we start. Sometimes, it feels bigger than us. 

It is useful to remember the most common reason for losing control around food is actually deprivation. Whether it be physical deprivation from inadequate intake (such as dieting) or psychological deprivation from the foods you don’t allow yourself (such as dieting), deprivation almost always leads to a loss or perceived loss of control at some point. Holiday food of course also carries meaning and memories and it’s particularly special because you rarely have it. All of these reasons can make it harder to stop when your body is full. 

Emotional eating and overeating isn’t inherently bad and is actually a part of normal eating. We celebrate, we come together, and we share not only food, but feelings. But when our eating hurts us over and over again it’s helpful to get really clear about what the food is providing for us. In these moments, we can utilize Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) prompts. 

Grab some unlined paper or an 11 x 14 sketchbook, a few thick markers in different colors and come join me! 

Using your non-dominant hand (NDH) draw out the feeling that is overtaking you in a moment of non-physical hunger. Maybe the cookies keep calling your name even though you are beginning to get a stomachache. Maybe you are in the midst of a late-night leftovers plate. Start by drawing the feeling/hunger. It could simply be colors or scribbles. Or it could be a personification of the feelings and thoughts. It could also be a simple outline of your body and where in your body you feel the urge or craving. 

Using the non-dominant hand helps access emotions that are stuffed away in the limbic system. This part of the brain is not directly available to the left, logical side of the brain. Holidays inevitably bring up memories and bodily feelings (the Inner Child) connected to previous holidays, sometimes going all the way back to early childhood. That is why it can be such an emotional time. 

Here are some examples: 

Next, ask the following four healing questions, writing them down with your dominant hand: 

1) What are you? 

2) How do you feel? 

3) What makes you feel that way? 

4) What do you need? 

Use your NDH to answer each question. If you are still unsure what you are truly hungry for, ask “what else do you have to teach me?” Or “how can I help you?” 

You can take this simple activity further depending on what answers you get. Let’s say that like this example, you are called to rest and practice self-love and acceptance. How might that look? Draw another image of you doing exactly that and write a letter with your dominant hand this time, promising yourself that you will do just that. If you are unsure on how to do so, you can switch hands again and ask for more guidance on how this will happen. For example, “how do I practice self-love and acceptance?” “How do I get more rest?” 

This simple activity can be done at any time you feel overwhelmed by an emotion. Scribble it out, turn to the four healing questions and journal with your non-dominant hand. You may be surprised what you find. Our cravings and our hungers have the potential to hold great meaning. Solve the symptoms like a puzzle so that you may be more present with your loved ones, and with yourself. And for goodness sakes, enjoy, really truly enjoy, that wonderful food! Guilt and shame do not deserve a place at the table. 

Happy Holidays! 

Marlena Tanner, RDN, CEDRD-S, CJEA
Morro Bay, CA
www.marlenatanner.com 

 

 

 

 

 

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

If You Can Hold a Crayon

Never has there been a greater need for this method in working with youth. Life in a country struggling with COVID-19 is proving to be an emotional pressure-cooker for children and teens adapting to new ways of learning in and out of school, and a sea-change in their social lives. Our guest bloggers are Dr. Marsha Nelson, Co-Founder and Field Supervisor of Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) Certification Training and Sarah Chaya Kost, LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) and candidate for CJEA certification. Dr. Nelson discusses her extensive research with CJEA methods in schools in south Texas. Sarah Chaya shares what she learned from working with her sister as part of a case study in the CJEA Training.  

If You Can Hold a Crayon
By Marsha Nelson, PhD and Chaya Sarah Kost, LPC

Doodle drawings are the simplest of all the CJEA techniques and are accessible to anyone old enough to hold a writing utensil. It is used in CJEA to help clients become comfortable using their non-dominant hands, and to release pent up emotions. There is little planning that is required for such an activity, and there is no expectation of how a doodle drawing should turn out. In CJEA, art is viewed as being process oriented because we are focusing on emotional release. The doodling prompt is easy, simple and effective in eliciting an emotional release response in adults and children.

In August 2003, the Creative Journal project was implemented into the Mission CISD in Mission, Texas under the direction of Aurora Anaya-Dyer, Twenty First Century Grant Coordinator and her husband, Jackie Dyer, Superintendent of the Mission CISD.

Dr. Lucia Capacchione and I, Dr. Marsha Nelson, founded the Creative Journal project which brought Creative Journaling, using blank journals with drawing and writing prompts on every other page to the students of this south Texas border town.

Implementing the Creative Journals minimally 3 times per week for 15 minutes a day helped the participants to increase their social and emotional awareness. Test scores rose, fewer absenteeism and tardiness were just some of the Creative Journal program benefits. These blank journals were never corrected or read by anyone other than the participant. Group sharing was optional. Teachers journaled along with the students. The journals were kept in a locked cabinet between use.

In 2014, the Creative Journal project became Creative Journal 4 Schools (CJ4Schools) under Project Insight, a 501 (c ) (3), and moved to Edinburg CISD to work with students and teachers in Jefferson Elementary.

Creative Journaling is a process which can encourage a child to begin talking about their feelings and in turn learn about how others are feeling as well. Especially during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, children are hungry to express themselves.

Fast forward, 2020, a Creative Journal Expressive Arts Candidate for Certification, Chaya Sarah Kost, LPC of Chicago, IL began working with her 7-year-old sister using the Creative Journal method as her CJEA Certification Training program case study. She too found how powerful the simple scribbling on paper activity can be for a child.

Over the course of six months, I (Chaya Sarah Kost) had the opportunity of teaching my seven old sister the CJEA method. The first activity that I taught her was doodling on paper. I came into the session confident that it would be an easy session and that her inner critic would not rear its ugly head. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. Not only was the activity not easily understandable for her, but it also sparked her inner critic into action right away.  

My sister had a hard time understanding the doodling activity at first because she was used to doing art in a structured way at school. I think that the simplicity of expressing herself freely with no limitations confused her, because it was so different from anything she had known. In addition, she had an internal conflict with her inner critic who kept telling her that “it had to be perfect” and that she “messed up.” How sad it is that a seven year old child is already viewing her artwork as imperfect because of the subliminal messages she has been taught by her previous art exposure. Thankfully, during that session I kept repeating that it was a judgment free zone and that she could not doodle incorrectly. She ended up loving her doodles and did not want it to end.

Throughout the six months that I worked with my sister, we often returned to the doodling activity when she wanted to relax, or I wanted to refocus her if she got distracted or upset. If she was upset, I would say, "think of your frustration and use the crayons to scribble it out on the paper, then let me know when you are finished." I taught her that as soon as she feels that she got the feeling out, she could stop doodling and we would either close for the session or resume the current activity. Sometimes it took my sister five minutes and other times it was only 30 seconds. Once she channeled the feeling onto the page, I automatically saw a shift in her demeanor. Each time she used the scribbling technique, it amazed me at how quickly she would regain composure. It became a “get happy quick technique” that she thoroughly enjoyed.

Working with my sister made me realize how product oriented the school systems are. In schools, oftentimes the art projects that gain classmates’ and the teacher’s praise are the ones that are the copycat model of the teacher’s, while the child who made his or her own creation is frowned upon. I am not here to blame or point fingers at schools, because I do understand that schools need to rank children and give them grades. On the other hand, we cannot turn a blind eye to the damaging subliminal messaging that a truly creative child receives if he or she does not produce a picture-perfect copy of the teacher's project. Everyone wants to be praised and succeed in school. However, not everyone is born to create copycat art.

As an LPC, I believe that the doodling technique could greatly benefit schools across the globe if implemented into their art curriculum's to help children experience freedom of expression and learn an effective emotional release technique. It seems that most schools view scribbling as childish, and art as needing to be product oriented. I bet that if the schools really knew the power of CJEA and how it can assist in their students’ emotional well-being they would run to get all their students markers, crayons and journals. Until then, we can do our part to make a difference in the lives of their students by sharing the techniques to school children, one precious soul at a time.

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

The power of CJEA to help with stress and anxiety in teenagers

Many parents are looking for ways to guide teenagers through stress in times of COVID-19. Margaret Smith, our guest blogger has been doing just that with her kids. A candidate for certification in the Creative Journal Expressive Arts certification training, Margaret had no idea what was ahead when she entered the program in October 2019. She has risen to the occasion by applying the methods with her own family members. She is helping them adjust to the "new normal" at a stage in life - transitioning to adulthood - when everything is already changing rapidly. Throwing a pandemic into the mix has been a huge curve ball, but one that Margaret is coping with creatively.

The power of CJEA to help with stress and anxiety in teenagers
by Margaret Smith

I have 4 children in their older teenage years and 3 of them are away at college this fall. The pressures of college coursework, making new friends and adjusting to a new and different social scene during the time of Covid-19 has been especially hard. My twins are freshmen at the University of Notre Dame and adjusting to college life was exciting and scary at the same time, as it always is for new college students. However in 2020 new college students across the country are also dealing with strict rules, possible quarantine, masks – which make it hard when meeting and trying to remember new friends – and the worry of getting in trouble or getting sick with Covid-19. 

My 18-year-old daughter has called and texted me a few times with worries and the feeling of anxiety or feelings she describes as “feeling empty.” Talking through her worries has helped and so has encouraging her to scribble her stress away. One of the most popular Creative Journal Expressive Arts activities developed Dr. Lucia Capacchione is scribbling or drawing your stress away. This activity is like yoga for your brain and emotions. Using a colorful marker in each hand, you scribble lines with your dominant hand, then scribble with the other hand (your non-dominant hand). Then using both hands together at the same time, scribble lines and let your hands run free over your paper. In this simple easy-to-do practice, you will be engaging both sides of your brain. Drawing is a form of mindful meditation and this practice will calm you. It has been a wonderful way for my daughter to de-stress and relieve the anxiety she has been feeling. 

Another exercise that has been helpful for all my children is the practice of drawing a mandala – a circle with pie shaped sections. I asked my kids to fill in the pie shaped sections with all the things that support them – people, places, things. This practice is a wonderful reminder for them that in times of stress and anxiety they can look at their mandala and be reminded of the many areas of their life they can turn to for support. Whether it’s a sibling or friend, petting the dog, taking a walk to sit under their favorite tree, or doing the form of exercise that makes them feel better. We all have many support systems in our life and sometimes the act of reminding ourselves with a mandala picture can be incredibly helpful. 

Margaret Smith
CJEA Candidate for Certification
margaretrsmith@me.com 

The scribbling exercises and many more prompts for de-stressing appear in this book.

 

The mandala activity appears in this book, along with many prompts for body awareness and emotional clearing.

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

The Use of Humor in Confronting One's Inner Critic

Stephanie Houser, a certified CJEA practitioner, shares a delightfully creative journal process she did while confronting her Inner Critic. Using art and writing, she brought humor to the experience, and broke through a block she had. This approach to negative self-talk, using humor, is one I have witnessed over the years as being highly effective. Here is Stephanie's story.

The Use of Humor in Confronting One's Inner Critic
by Stephanie Houser

I wanted to tell you about a recent experience I had with my Inner Critic that really helped me to get past it in order to start writing and drawing again. 

I was drawing a picture of my Inner Critic and my non-dominant hand started drawing funny things over it - a flowered hat with a big bow, purple hair, and as I'm drawing I hear these other voices chiming in, "Give him blue eye-shadow," "Put curlers in his hair," and as I'm adding each thing to the drawing it becomes more and more funny to me. As I put the final touch on the face - a pair of cats-eye glasses - I just started laughing. It was such a wonderful way for me to negate the critic's power. 

Then my non-dominant hand wrote "You're Ridikulus! You have no power over me!" at the bottom of the picture and I made the connection to the boggart banishing in Harry Potter. In the Harry Potter series of books, there is an entity in it called a boggart and that entity is a shape-shifter that takes the form of it's observers worst fear. The way to defend against a boggart is a spell called Riddikulus: you make the creature into a figure of fun with your imagination so that fear can be dispelled with amusement. If the caster is able to laugh at the boggart, it will disappear. I found a picture from the Harry Potter movie that looked so similar to my drawing, too. 

I wanted to share my experience since I have been either writing or drawing ever day since I did this. I thought it might be helpful for others to try it this way.

Stephanie Houser, Certified CJEA Instructor
Groups and Individuals
Central Coast, California
shouser@charter.net

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

Coping Creatively with COVID-19

Our guest blogger is Betty Rosen, from southern California, a gifted artist, teacher and candidate for certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts. Like all of us, her life has been impacted by COVID-19. In moments of crisis and stress, she has turned to drawing and writing with the non-dominant hand to receive guidance from her own inner wisdom.

Coping Creatively with COVID-19
by Betty Rosen

I’ve kept some kind of a journal since I was in my teens, writing on colored lined paper to match my moods, sitting in my yellow bean bag chair, headphones on, music blaring. I used leather bound books of the 70’s, often gifts from my Dad. Then I found larger black Art Journals where I pasted ticket stubs, and collaged images of beautiful places I’d hoped to visit, and scribbled out heartbreaks. Later IBM Selectric typewriters were also a fave, and then computers entered our lives. I would journal, eyes closed, tears streaming, getting it all out on paper.

In the early 1980’s I was in a Women’s Studies major at San Francisco State University (SFSU). They actually offered a Creative Journaling class. I’d known other women who had kept journals. Our books held not only secrets and frustrations, but also daily appointments & phone numbers, visions for our future, and designs for a more welcoming society. The creativity and beauty I glimpsed in those journals inspired me to curate a Journal Exhibit: “Sharing Intimacy.” Ten of us took the actual pages out of our journals and mounted them in an exhibition case in the cafeteria at SFSU.

Fast forward through two careers in the Entertainment Business and living in Nashville, Tennessee. I knew I felt another calling. Finding Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, my friend Matt Lindsey and I committed to work this method. Those “morning pages,” pouring out 3 pages of blah, blah, blah daily did the trick for a time. Other exercises in Cameron’s book helped me carve out the time to become an artist and change careers.

My third career has been that of a mosaic artist, art advocate, and teaching artist. Yet it wasn’t until I found Lucia and the non-dominant hand journaling that I can say now I am fully satisfied. I was exposed to her work at a professional development conference on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. I heard about her Creative Journal Expressive Arts Certification Training (CJEA) just when I was looking for something to augment my work. I wanted something that could enhance and legitimize what I knew intrinsically, experientially: that art-making heals us all.

The CJEA practice is so immediate, so instant, so accessible. My clients, my friends, my family, and I all richly benefit from these processes and experiences. It’s so simple. And I’ve learned from twenty years as a self-taught artist that simple, well, simple is hard. An art practice, for me, is like making a reduction in cooking: distilling ideas, shapes, images, down to lines and patterns.

In 2016 I moved in with my Mom (who is now 84 years old) in a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. I thought it would be a pause while I righted myself during an amicable divorce. It didn’t take long to realize that it was better for my Mom to have someone living with her at this stage in her life. She’d lived there alone since her divorce 26 years ago. It’s a beautiful courtyard building, in classic 1910’s southern California Spanish architectural style, with a terrace and 360 degree view of the city. A building that old has problems and we’ve been trying to solve a water leak for the past few years. More on that later.

I started my CJEA Program with Lucia and ten other candidates in October 2019 near San Luis Obispo, California on the central coast. We were scheduled to meet there again in October 2020 to take our last in-person intensive, graduate, and become certified. But COVID-19 had other plans for us and for our planet. We will now complete the program online in an extended version, graduating in May 2021.

When COVID-19 hit the USA, I took all the precautions recommended by medical experts. I had to repeatedly tell my Mom, who is now suffering from short-term memory loss, that life had changed. With roles reversed, I did what all of us have tried to do protecting ourselves and our most vulnerable loved ones. And then on April 12th, while I was at my art studio a block away, I was alerted that there were workers in the apartment. Unannounced. Without masks. I panicked.

I sequestered my Mom in the apartment and stayed in my studio for three days. That breach of security, of potential contamination, on top of an already stressful life being a caregiver for my Mom, juggling three part-time jobs from Long Beach to Skid Row, and studying to be certified in CJEA methods, sent me over the edge. Fortunately, because of Lucia’s work, I knew exactly what to do.

I turned to Lucia’s book, Drawing Your Stress Away, her draw-it-yourself coloring book, and scribbled it out. Those pages follow:



Sadness & Confusion & Resolve 

With my dominant hand, I wrote all the negative thoughts about why I shouldn’t or couldn’t take action. Often this is where my past pre-CJEA journaling would end. It’d be a safety valve. A vent. But then I’d invite the world to walk all over me or blame myself for events beyond my control.



RE: HOA/ WATER

I'm too high maintenance
Jews always sue
Jews want good deals
Jews want things for free
I should just trust men to handle things
Virus isn't deadly.
I'm overreacting
$ doesn't fix anything
I expect too much
It's too much effort
Nothing will come of it
I will piss people off.
Someone will get fired.
White privilege wants too much. 

This time, with the non-dominant hand writing in green, I wrote from my inner wisdom, the truth within me. The messages from my inner wisdom/non-dominant hand offered immediate relief. This gave me the courage and guidance to take the necessary next steps. The results amaze me each and every time I do this process, and when I witness others do it.



I want my home to be safe

• Mom protected
• Respect in business practices for safety
• honest communication
• time back
• less stress
• water not coming into apt.
• Kim respected (Kim is landlady)
  

I am professional.
I value my & others work
I am a smart capable woman
I am reacting appropriately to this deadly situation.
I am not responsible if someone is fired
I expect what's safe & fair
I'm educated and compassionate
What others think of me is none of my business
Money has value, it would make life easier.

Lucia has said, many times since COVID-19, that her whole life has prepared her for this moment. Now more than ever we all need to boost our immune systems, relieve stress, and nurture ourselves and each other. I'm grateful for access to technology that keeps us connected while we reinvent our lives and shelter in place. I’m exceptionally grateful for the richness of this CJEA work, and look forward to continuing using the method and offering it to others.

Betty Rosen
Practitioner Candidate, graduating CJEA May 2021
Betty is a mosaic artist, community builder, and arts advocate.
www.mosaicalchemy.com

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.

www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

What I Learned About Myself During Quarantine

In 1997, Dr. Marsha Nelson and I founded the Creative Journal Expressive Arts Certification Training for professionals wanting to use my methods in education, medical and mental health work, corporate development, and more. We now have a community of 80 active professionals worldwide who are sharing the work in many languages. Our guest blogger is José Garcia, a gifted healer who is currently in training and is a candidate for certification. His training began in October of 2019 and one of our requirements is regular journaling using my books. Most of the journal prompts include drawing and/or writing with the non-dominant hand. As you will see, dealing with life in the time of COIVD-19 has intensified and deepened his experience of the work.

What I Learned About Myself During Quarantine

by José Garcia

I have known about Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) for a very long time, approximately 20 years plus. About a year ago last spring 2019, I mentioned to my friend, Marsha Nelson, that I was ready to take the Intensive Week of CJEA in October 2019. I felt it was the right time to commit.

As to my recollection of myself as a child, I have always been very intuitive. And I have been aware of self-help. It has been my motto most of my life. I have read and studied psychology books throughout my life. I have read all kinds of self-help books. And I have talked to people from all walks of life. By nature I am a people person.

I had an opportunity to go to a private college, but I never received a degree. I did have the life and work experience to qualify for the program. Doing CJEA gave me the idea to get this certification as an alternative to a degree in psychology. Little did I know what was to come early in the year 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic swept the world. It changed my way of life. The state of California required us to shelter at home with this pandemic. That changed everything for me. I had to reset my life for a big change in my schedule.

As I was doing my journaling, I asked how the coronavirus would affect me. I took this opportunity to evaluate myself. What did I want to accomplish while being in quarantine? I needed to take advantage of knowing myself better with the CJEA program and discover how to achieve my goals for the future.

I have learned so much through all the reading and assignments and exercises after all these months in quarantine. I have noticed my growth in self-discipline and also in my development of good studying habits. Education has always been important to me.

Without all the books from Lucia Capacchione, PhD, ATR, REAT, I would not have been able to accomplish my dreams and goals for my future life. Being familiar with Lucia's work, I came to realize that Lucia and Marsha have created something special with this CJEA program. All the studies and research Lucia has done have been very effective and one-of-a-kind methods. In my own words, journaling with both the dominant and non-dominant hands is a powerful tool for the art of healing.

This is what the coronavirus and the CJEA program have done for me: They have given me the pleasure and opportunity to get what I call my Degree in Education that I never received from college.

José Garcia

Jose12toez@gmail.com

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

Awareness through Conversations with a Collage

Jack Jimenez is a candidate for certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts Method training for professionals. In this post as guest blogger, he shares some powerful journaling he did using collage and Whole-Brain Two-Handed Method dialogues. He gained deep insights into himself, his past, old patterns he has shed and the presence of his Inner Child today. This process of conversing with a collage is a wonderful way to recycle old magazines into vehicles for greater awareness and personal growth.

Awareness through Conversations with a Collage
by Jack Jimenez

I was recently working on an exercise from Lucia Capacchione's book The Art of Emotional Healing regarding expressing your feelings and specifically about Anger - Let It Rip. It's on page 89. I was to do a collage. I found it very interesting that so much in magazines is positive. It is clear that anything perceived as negative and with messy feelings like anger are not covered nearly as much. In addition it seems that male anger/aggression is more socially acceptable than that for females.


I have had a long and painful association with anger. In fact I think the term rage would be more appropriate. I came from a hostile and unsafe alcoholic household. Anger was a common and acceptable form of expression in the home. As I ventured out into the world I learned that I really had to keep it in check to safeguard my people pleasing and caretaking. I tried to contain it as much as possible and would be embarrassed when it exploded out of me.

My work through Creative Journal Expressive Arts surprised me and I came away with a different view of my relationship and how it served me growing up.

I did my collage about anger and then did a dialogue about it. It went as follows:

Dominant hand (DH): How do I feel now?

Non-dominant hand (NDH): Awareness again how much I was impacted by my family of origin issues. It is so driven by fear. I learned survival behavior. I am no longer that child and have so many tools that I don't need anger like I did for so long and how much it saved me when I needed it most!

Jack Jimenez
Life Coach, Grief Recovery Specialist, and Candidate for Certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts
oldrthndrt@msn.com
Southern California

-----

Lucia

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.
 
www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com

Mary Lou’s COVID-19 Story – Part 2

Our last blog featured Mary Lou Gonzalez, a certified practitioner of my Creative Journal Expressive Arts Methods (CJEA), and a Pain Management Specialist at Buentello Wellness in McAllen, Texas, on the border of Mexico. I told the story of how Mary Lou has been using my CJEA methods on herself for healing from COVID-19. 

Since Mary Lou was diagnosed with the virus and hospitalized on June 26th, the area where she lives – the Rio Grande Valley, south Texas, on the border near the Gulf of Mexico – has seen cases of COVID-19 spike. Hospitals are filled to over-flowing and patients have had to be flown out of the area or sent home to die. I had been watching news about “the Valley” closely because I have a deep connection to this region of the country. For 25 years I had led public workshops in the area hosted by Dr. Marsha Nelson, co-founder and training supervisor of CJEA. For ten years, we offered my training program intensives in Mission, Texas, where Mary Lou lives. Like Mary Lou, many professionals from the Rio Grande Valley have become certified CJEA practitioners. Dr. Nelson and her CJEA team brought Creative Journal methods to post 9-11 traumatized families, cancer patients, veterans, active military, medical professionals, law enforcement personnel, under-served children in summer camp, and students K - 12 in schools, including the Mission School District. We’ve done research into the benefits of the Creative Journal in the Edinburg Schools (K-6) in partnership with the University of Texas. 

The Rio Grande Valley, about 98% Latinx, is known for being a deeply family-based culture, often with three or more generations living together or in close proximity. There is also a high level of poverty in the region, which usually comes with less access to medical care, health challenges, more crowded living conditions, and unemployment. COVID-19 was already hitting similar communities across the nation. The pandemic has raged through Mary Lou’s area, attacking all generations, including children of all ages. 

Last week, Mary Lou called me with an update. She was still recovering at home and had seen a new physician (after her former doctor reported his services were no longer covered by her insurance). The new doctor, who was covered under her policy, had administered more tests. Much to everyone’s surprise, her tests showed no COVID-19, and no anti-bodies for the virus. It was as if she’d never had it. What is more, the doctor took her off of glucose balancing medication she had been on before the COVID-19 diagnosis, saying she never had diabetes so didn’t need these drugs. He lowered the dosage of her thyroid, which she’d been on for years. Mary Lou is 61, and the doctor reported that her lab tests indicated a level of health much younger than a person her age. Considering that she was hospitalized as recently as late June for both bacterial Bronchitis and COVID-19, and grieving the death of her 92 year old mother (who died while Mary Lou was in the hospital), the physician’s assessment of her general health is even more impressive and, quite frankly, miraculous.

Her new doctor wanted to know what she was doing. She told him about advice she’d been given at the hospital. She’d followed nutritional guidelines, was taking vitamins, and sleeping on her side or stomach for better breathing. She also told him about the other things she was doing: Creative Journaling, movement, meditation, affirmations, and prayer. The doctor told her: “Keep doing whatever you are doing. It is working!” 

Mary Lou told me that she continues writing journal dialogues with her Inner Child, who speaks through her non-dominant hand. She lives alone and feels free to have spoken conversations out loud with her Inner Child, as well. Some of the messages from her Inner Child have been: Move from fear to love. Be more patient. Put yourself first. Say No to others. 

Mary Lou reiterated that saying “No” to demands from family members has continued to be a big thing for her. She uses my Inner Family method for bringing in her Protective Parent (who sets boundaries on behalf of the Inner Child’s needs). This was especially important when Mary Lou was in the hospital and could not be part of burial arrangements for her mother. She had to say No in a situation where she would normally have jumped in and taken on lots of responsibilities. Instead, other family members had to step up and take over for her. She also had to assert herself when informed she could not rent an oxygen device upon release from the hospital. She needed oxygen when she went home on July 2. The only option was to purchase one. So she insisted on doing so, even though it was expensive. Her Protective Parent took a strong stand and got her what she needed. 

Of course, Mary Lou is sheltering at home. She limits her phone conversation time if she finds it is draining her. She continues to limit exposure to bad news on media in order to preserve a positive outlook. The Protective Parent within also helps Mary Lou set limits on her Critical Parent, who will try to criticize her and blame her for any number of things. Knowing how to put up a protective shield, she tells it to: Be Quiet! 

From Deepak Chopra recorded meditations on her phone, Mary Lou learns positive affirmations that keep her mind healthy. In this way, the Nurturing Parent Within is feeding her Inner Child with good food for thought. We agreed that nourishment and self-care is not limited to the body. It must include the spirit, mind and emotions as well. Keeping a positive mental attitude is critical when dealing with illness. Without healthy mind food, it is easy to slip into depression, stop eating, stop moving, and give up. Along those lines, she told me she had been told to keep eating and keep moving by medical professionals. And she knew from her CJEA training that she needed to attend to her emotional and mental life as well. Through all of this, and in the face of thousands struggling with COVID-19 in her area, Mary Lou told me she never thought she was going to die. Yes, when she returned home from the hospital, she did have anxiety, she cried, she had nightmares (common occurrence with COVID-19), but deep in her heart she knew she would make it.

Some of Mary Lou’s favorite resources have been drawing and moving to Bobby McFerrin’s Medicine Music, and music created by Gabrielle Roth for doing 5rhythms spontaneous movement (Initiation, Endless Wave). She also reads and contemplates a beautifully uplifting book of words and images I recommend to our CJEA community, Living Life in Full Bloom (by Elizabeth Murray). 

Mary Lou uses my “Picture of Health” process (mapping and dialoging with body parts using both hands) and creates health mandala’s (both of which are featured in my book, Hello, This is Your Body Talking). She does Healthy Lifestyle collages (from my book Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams). 

Mary Lou also recites the Rosary, prays for herself, others and the world, and expresses gratitude to God, the angels, and Our Lady of Fatima. 

I reminded Mary Lou that the CJEA methods she is using grew out of my struggle in 1973 with a lupus-like illness that has no cure. We talked about the great gift that this bout with illness has given Mary Lou. A courageous and dedicated woman, Mary Lou has found deeper powers of healing from having to “walk the talk” while recovering from COVID-19. The end result is that she is finding more vibrant health through her daily practices of good nutrition, self-care, movement, art, journaling, meditation, and prayer.

Love to all. Be well and stay safe,
Lucia

-----

Let us know what you think of this post in the comments below. Follow us and be updated by email when new blog posts are published.  

www.luciac.com
www.visioningcoach.org
Order The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari Press 2019) at Amazon.com