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

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Lucia

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‘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 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lucia

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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.

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Lucia

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www.luciac.com
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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

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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

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Lucia

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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

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Mary Lou's COVID-19 Story

This blog is a letter I wrote the worldwide community of certified graduates of our training program, Creative Journal Expressive Arts. It features the journey of healing by Mary Lou Gonzalez, one of our certified instructors in Mission, Texas, on the border of Mexico. She is the first person in our community to be confronting COVID-19 and is using our CJEA tools, including work with her non-dominant hand, in her healing process.

Mary Lou’s COVID-19 Story

Dear CJEA Community:

I just spoke to Mary Lou Gonzalez, our CJEA practitioner from Mission, TX. Mary Lou is our first CJEA member to be diagnosed with COVID-19. She was first diagnosed with Bacterial Bronchitis and treated with antibiotics and then tested positive for COVID-19 as well. After a stay in the hospital on some oxygen, she is back home.

Mary Lou wants all of you to know that she is recovering by using CJEA tools every day. Her mother passed away at age 93 during all this and she was unable to go to the funeral because of her condition. So this has been a triple whammy. Two medical conditions and her mom's passing.

I was very inspired to hear how Mary Lou is using all the tools in her tool kit for recovering from all of this.

Here is what she has been doing: She journals (more about the specifics later) using both hands, does body parts movement work with Gabrielle Roth's 5rhthyms music, walks, prays, does a 15-minute meditation from Deepak Chopra, has dropped sugar and flour from her diet (as directed by her doctor), drinks chamomile tea to reduce stress and stay calm, eats soups and nourishing foods, stays off of social media and away from bad news in media generally. She also had to bring her Protective Parent out when other family members looked to her for nurturing and to take on responsibilities when her mother passed. She could not be there for them as she always has been in the past. She had to put herself first and her own recovery. This was a big step and we both agreed, was a great blessing for her. She is putting her Inner Child (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs) first. I've known Mary Lou for years. I have never heard such strength from her. I was there when she quit her old job (during an intensive in Texas) and shared how she asserted herself at that time with the boss. This assertion around COVID-19 was on a whole other level of strength and inner power. I could hear it in her voice when she talked about telling the COVID-19 to "GET OUT OF MY BODY."

For those of you who know Mary Lou, she has been a caregiver for years, in her personal life with family, and in her professional work in mental health as a pain management specialist. She is one of the most compassionate and giving women you will ever meet. And now she is giving all that love and care to herself. She told me the Deepak Chopra meditations really have helped her with that, as they focus on knowing we are enough, we are worthwhile and deserving of love and self-care. And of course, journaling with her Inner Child is helping with that.  

Journaling for COVID-19 Recovery 

Mary Lou kept reiterating to me, "I have to keep up all these practices every day, every day." She said that over and over. Here are some highlights of her journaling:

An Inner Wisdom voice, speaking through her non-dominant hand, has guided her about how God loves her and she is being loved and cared for. That she is enough. That she is recovering and healing. Through her non-dominant hand, her Inner Warrior has been telling the COVID-19 to get out of her body, in no uncertain terms. (This is like the Inner Brat telling the Critic off.)

There is nothing polite or "pleaser" about the Inner Warrior. She is standing up to COVID-19 and setting clear boundaries. That is what I consider a call to her physical immune system to do the same.

This Assertive Warrior voice in us is our psychological immune system kicking in and kicking invaders out. Asserting ourselves against toxins of every kind, including mental toxins of negative thoughts, is our best defense against illness. I've seen cancer patients, like Pat Clark, become victorious over their condition with this simple dialogue.

When I called Mary Lou this morning, I'd been feeling grief over the recent death of a good friend who used to be in our local collage groups, as well as the passing of Hal Stone, who trained me in Voice Dialogue work. Talking to Mary Lou really lifted my spirits. Her use of this work to clear COVID-19 out of her system (as well as fighting the Bacterial Bronchitis), is so inspiring for me. It teaches me, and all of us, how powerful these tools are. They are nothing short of life saving.

As is common with COVID-19 (from what I have read and heard), Mary Lou also had nightmares. Some COVID-19 patients talk about this, either as delirium (which can be caused by high fevers) or as very frightening nightmares. Again, Mary Lou brought her Warrior voice in to deal with these nightmares.

I want to thank Mary Lou for leading the way for all of us on how the combination of journaling, movement, prayer, meditation, and good nutrition in a daily practice can bring about healing from COVID-19. As we know, there is no medical cure for this condition. And there is no vaccine. The antibiotics were given for her other (Bronchitis) condition. And Mary Lou has been told to just stay home. So her kit of CJEA and complementary tools are her "medicine" at this time.

Please keep Mary Lou in your prayers and heart. She is our brave pioneer in CJEA for COVID-19.

Love to all. Be well and stay safe,
Lucia

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www.luciac.com
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The Path of the Firefly

Tatiana Naranjo, our guest blogger, is a candidate for certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts. In keeping with our motto, "You can't take anyone where you have not been yourself," Tatiana keeps a Creative Journal. In her journal pages she works thorough day-to-day problems by drawing and writing using both hands. Here is her contribution to our blog.

The Path of the Firefly 

We are like the fireflies; our true beauty is our inner light. Fireflies in the fields resemble the stars in the sky. 

I have always been fascinated with these beings which seem so insignificant and unattractive in daylight. Only in the deepest, darkest of the night do they reveal their magic. As a child I enjoyed chasing fireflies. I was very inquisitive about these beings which were able to light up without being connected to an artificial source. Their hesitant flight attracted me, and I wanted to grab millions of them to light up my room.

Time passed and with it came many trips, learnings, new experiences, projects, and life landed me in the city. Shortly before graduating as a psychologist, I went to the Amazon. That trip brought one of the most memorable experiences I have had. It was a warm, dark night enveloped by a particularly clear sky in the Amacayacu National Park[1]. Suddenly, a cloud of fireflies resembled the star-populated sky. I had the feeling of floating in the middle of the galaxy. I saw nothing but the fireflies and the stars flickering around me in the heavenly vault.

In my own spiritual quest, the flashback of that magical night often replays. At times I try to give it an explanation, but it is a fleeting memory like the light of the firefly. When I was in times of trouble, when I asked God, the Universe, the Holy Spirit, or my spiritual guide, to give me a light, I then remember these little luminescent beings.

The path to reach this point has been long and productive. I arrived at the creative journals through a process of research, trial, and error. The first time I experienced the healing and therapeutic use of a journal was due to a chronic pain that I had for more than 7 years in my right foot. I refused to take anti-inflammatory painkillers, but every night my last steps were a torture that forced me to give up in tears.

After trying many therapies, exercises, shoe changes and various things, I had a consultation with an orthopedist who offered me two alternatives. The first was to do an Orthodox treatment with medicines or an alternative approach. I chose the second option. According to her calculations with my date of birth, she made a diagram of my body, in which she located each of the Mayan symbols, and told me the significance they had for me. She pointed out emotional difficulties that were related to the symbol. It corresponded with my right foot and its correlation with other points in my body that had also been affected. At the end of the consultation, her prescription was to buy a notebook and keep a diary. She gave me a few guidelines, suggesting that I go to the point in my life where the pain had commenced.

I did my assignment, bought a notebook, started my diary, and after a month, the pain that tormented me so much faded and never came back. I did not contact her again, but my interest in the journaling’s healing effect became an obsession. I read as many books I could find about artistic diaries and journaling; I enrolled in online courses and researched blogs. But I could not find a method, a guide or more information that would enable me to understand how journaling could be a healing element.

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears." 
Zen Proverb

“Every casual encounter is an engagement made beforehand.” 
Jorge Luis Borges

After many years and many readings, one day a book came into my hands. The book was "The Creative Journal" by Lucia Capacchione PhD, ATR, REAT[2], which I devoured in one sitting. To each paragraph, I said to myself, “This is what I was looking for!” By coincidence, I read this book on a flight to Santa Fe, NM. I was going to a conference called “The Gathering of the Creatives.” When I arrived and registered at the conference, I received the program. To my surprise, I found out that Dr. Capacchione was scheduled to give one of the lectures! I felt this urge to attend her lecture, as if it were calling me.

That is how I met Lucia Capacchione and learned about her method. I was astonished that in her books and in her lectures, I found the answers I had long sought for. And so, I enrolled, without even questioning it, in the CJEA[3] training course.

Following the instructions of some of the Creative Journaling exercises and writing with my non-dominant hand, I did the following entries of my journal, in which I found the meaning of the firefly:

We all have the light inside 
and when we shine from within, 
we not only show our beauty, 
but we are also beacons for others 
who in the midst of darkness, 
also seek for a light. 

I have spent many days mulling over this proposal, and it was thanks to my Inner Guide that I identified my purpose. My desire is to bring sparks that will help to ignite the interior light of many more people.

The following are examples of my journaling process that show part of my dialog with my Inner Guide.

 

Hi I'm your Creative Self who lives within you and I come out all the time in life to help you see life and its circumstances in color.

I help you find solutions in all the difficulties in your life.

I help you with a high level of imagination and you can see what you hear and read.

I am the voice that speaks to you when you write, when you paint I am always awake and attentive for you.

My Creative Self is like a seed of light that comes out of my interior and transforms into colors that show the beauty of life and my interior. My Creative Self manifests in everything I do and in the solutions I find in life's challenges.

In the center of my being (my trunk) creativity is the white light that forms my core and is dispersed in different facets of my life, filling all of my being and my world with color and energy.

Tatiana Naranjo
Candidate for Creative Journal Expressive Arts Certification
Tatiana@germovi.com

[1] A national park located along the Amazon River in the Amazonas Department in southern Colombia. 

[2] Lucia Capacchione PhD, ATR, REAT. Best-selling author of 23 books, including: Recovery of Your Inner Child, The Creative Journal and The Power of Your Other Hand. A Registered Art Therapist and pioneer in Expressive Arts Therapies, she conducts workshops and professional certification training in her innovative methods.

[3] A program for certification to teach and coach others using Dr. Capacchione's Creative Journal Expressive Arts Method.

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Lucia

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Journaling Through Crisis: Inner Child Work with Youth

There is a great need for mental health tools for children and teens during this time of global crisis. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic is confusing and traumatic for adults, I think it is even more so for youth. It’s important to give them age appropriate tools for dealing with their feelings and experiences. Our guest blogger, Esther Rappaport, is one of our candidates for certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts Training. Like many of our CJEA practitioners, she is working with youth, sharing time-tested techniques for expressing emotions, releasing stress, and becoming more self-aware.

Journaling Through Crisis: Inner Child Work with Youth

How are you making sure not to get overwhelmed, anxious or depressed during this chaotic time? Everyone is going crazy. Are you, too? What emotions are you feeling? Which parts of you, which subpersonalities are taking charge?

I think everyone is reacting based on their own previous stories, traits and disowned selves.

For example, I am currently working with a teenage client who is really lonely. She doesn't have friends and almost no social life. She attaches herself to her work and her studies all the time. She’ll stay up late and wake up really early to study. Studying is the only place she feels safe and valued.

Now, all of a sudden there is no school. She is at home and has a phone conference for a few hours a day and the rest of the time she is free. This teenager is thrilled. She doesn’t have to deal with the social pressure. She doesn’t have to feel left out. She doesn’t have to deal with rejection.

However, she realizes that most of her classmates aren’t too excited about this arrangement. “They come to school for the social part,” she notes.

So although she’s glad she’s got this extra break, she realizes her void. She realizes it's up to her to change things and have a better life. But how can she do it?

Lucia’s Creative Journal Expressive Arts methods to the rescue! My client is working her way through the Recovery of the Inner Child book and is currently spending a lot of time journaling with her Inner Child. Especially her Lonely Inner Child.

There have been many realizations, painful truths and action steps that have come out of her dialogues. For example, after being rejected and hurt so many times in the past, she no longer wants to put herself out there and try to make friends. She’s afraid she’ll get hurt again. She has also come to realize that she put her self in a vicious cycle. She thinks no one wants to be friends with her, so when she puts her self out there she is expecting them to ignore her and then they really do. Then she’s only more hurt and doesn’t want to try again.

This sweet client of mine is making the most of this opportunity and is learning about herself on a very deep level.

What are you doing to improve your life in this chaotic time?

 

Esther Rappaport
Relationship Photographe
Host of the LifePix Relationships Podcast: https://anchor.fm/lifepix-relationships
Candidate for Certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts 
Email st@lifepixphotography.com

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Lucia

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The Art of Transforming Fearful Mental Images

Our guest blogger is Claire Perkins, an artist, author, and expressive arts coach. During an experience of deep grief, Claire discovered the healing and awakening power of expressive art and journaling, which she now brings to her clients. Trained in the Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) method, Transformational Life Coaching, Active Dreaming and SoulCollage®, she gently guides people to deeper self-awareness, inner healing and awakening with a juicy mix of simple expressive art, dream work and journaling.

Here is what Claire shared with me:

“This pandemic is definitely a challenging time that triggers all kinds of fears. A perfect time for this work in the world. Over the past few days, I have been collaging imagery around my own fears. Today I wrote a blog post that includes two of the SoulCollage® cards that I created - the first expressing virus fears and the second, an "antidote" vision of healthy lungs. I journaled with these cards using both "I am the one who" (a SoulCollage® format for working with cards) and CJEA journaling dialogue with the non-dominant hand. It was a wonderfully transforming activity.

The Art of Transforming Fearful Mental Images
by Claire M. Perkins

When vague inner fears dance around in my heart and mind, I’ve found that giving them visual form through collage is an excellent first step in getting a handle on them. There is something healing in the act of gathering together those disturbing but hazy feelings and turning them into a visual you can hold at arm’s length and address in a more solid and concrete way. It’s cathartic.

This corona virus pandemic has definitely stirred up some fears, so I decided to explore my uneasiness through SoulCollage® and Creative Journaling, including the use of my non-dominant hand (NDH) to allow the images to speak.

The first card I created is a representation of this virus pandemic that I call “Aye! Corona!” In this card, the whole world is wearing a mask (of illness? of fear? of protection?). Those spiky little virus buggers have evil monster faces and sharp teeth – and they are everywhere! The poor beleaguered health worker, like something from a horror movie, looks out through the eyes of the virus.

Allowing the card to speak, here is what emerges from the voices of the virus, the world, and the health worker imagery.

Virus Images

I am one who is coming at you with teeth bared and spikes out. I am one who is everywhere. You can’t hide from me any longer. I am one who has come to make you wake up and pay attention. I will multiply until you start to listen. I am a symptom of a world out of balance. I am a desperate call for change.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) I need you to wake up. I need you to recognize that I am a messenger – that this is bigger than the here and now crisis – that your entire culture needs to make deep, systemic changes if humanity is to survive. Think about the gift of your breath. Your breath is life. It feeds your entire system. It is a balance of gathering in and letting go. But your culture gathers, gathers, gathers and never lets go. The wealthiest of you always wanting more, more, more while so many have not enough. If all you ever did was inhale, you would explode. And your culture is doing just that. It is no accident that I attack the lungs. I am a metaphor, a symbol of breath out of balance, of a world drowning in an excess of greed and complacency, like a balloon about to burst from too much air. It’s time to let go of this need for more, more, more.

World Image 

Help me! I am desperate. I am dying. I can’t breathe. I am one who has been your home, your mother. I am one who has been abused – nearly to the point of no return. You and I are one organism. We will live or die together. It is time to come together. There is still time to heal.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) I need you all to allow time for a reset. I need you all to reexamine your priorities. I need you all to recognize that this is one world, that all of you are interconnected and bound with me. I need you all to make me – your home – a priority. I need you to recognize how out of balance this world has become and to work at bringing balance back. Start with balance in your own life, in your own way of being.

Health Worker Image 

I am one who is here to help, but I am overwhelmed and outnumbered. I am one who must protect myself so that I can help to heal others and the world. I need supplies: gloves, masks, medical equipment, tests and medicines, rooms and beds. I am one who stands on the front lines. If I fall, we all fall.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) Keep their feet to the fire – those in charge. Make them see that in this moment of crisis we need to focus on procuring the necessary equipment and facilities for the storm that’s about to hit. Please, please, please heed the advice to stay home as much as you can, to wash your hands often, to disinfect surfaces. These actions can lower the amount of cases that land in my care.

~~~

Having created a card that expresses my fears and having listened to what it wanted to say to me, I begin to think and feel my way into creating an opposite or antidote card.

 One thing that really stands out to me from what the virus said is the idea of breath – that this is a disease that attacks the lungs. I take a deep breath and feel that my antidote phrase is “healthy lungs.” Yes, there is much more to this crisis – deeper, systemic social construct issues, climate change, greed, etc. But my right-now-fears are centered in the current health crisis. So, “healthy lungs” feels right.

A couple things that really stand out to me visually in the “Aye! Corona!” card are the round, spiky forms of the virus and the predominant pink color. When I look through the fear at just the visual impression, I can’t help but think of a softer form in a similar shape and color. A flower, like a peony or hydrangea. Now I have the clues I need to begin to create my antidote card.

I find several appropriate images and create my new card. The combination of the pink peony and the pink daisy mirror the round shape and pokey spines of the virus, but in a soft, transmuted way. The pink color is echoed in the bronchial pathways of the lungs and it feels healing.

When I look at this new “Healthy Lungs” antidote card, I feel an immediate shift in my energy from fear to peace. Just looking at it automatically triggers several deep breaths and the feeling of peace grows.

Healthy Lungs Image

We are ones who bring you the breath of life and pour that life through your whole system. We are healthy. We are strong. We are ones who, while vulnerable to viruses and pathogens, have worked and will continue to work remarkably well for the vast majority of your life.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) Please keep breathing deeply. It helps to keep us strong and clear and gives us what we need to feed and restore the entire body system. In addition, it lowers your stress and relieves the system of stress hormones, which are detrimental to your health and immune processes. When you feel fear and stress arise, remember to breathe.

Pink Peony Image

I am one who transforms the fear in your head. I am one who softens your thinking. I am one who brings the pink light of healing energy into your entire system. I am one who rests gently around your third eye and crown chakras, opening the way for spiritual wisdom and guidance to help lead you in right action.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) I, too, am fed by deep breathing. I blossom as fear moves aside, and fear moves aside when you inhale peace and exhale worry. Breathe deeply, and when you feel my calm presence – listen. Listen for Divine Guidance. Know that you are safe, protected and guided at all times.

Pink Daisy Image

I am one who projects your energy out into the world. I am your spiritual antennae. Like a halo, I project your inner light – or your inner fear to those around you. Like an antenna, I can also soak up the light or the fears from those around you.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) Be aware of how you are affected by the fears of those around you and the fears peddled on the nightly news. Do not allow yourself to soak up too much of the fear around you. Be aware, too, of what you are projecting out into the world. Try not to feed the fears, but rather to be a light.

~~~

I found this process to be cathartic, calming and healing. If you are looking for a way to transmute your fears about the current pandemic, I encourage you to give this activity a try. Your fears and my fears may take different form. Let your own emotions and intuition guide you as you gather images and make your cards.

While I created my cards digitally with free use source images from Pixabay, you don’t have to do it that way. You can also use magazine images, scissors and glue to make your cards. Or source your images from the internet, print them out, and then use scissors and glue. You can even simply draw a visual representation of your fear and then draw an antidote. The main point is to use imagery to express and then transmute your fear.

I plan to keep my antidote card out where I can see it throughout the duration of this pandemic as an anchor and a reminder to breathe, to tune in to spiritual wisdom and guidance, and to watch out for both incoming and outgoing transmissions of fear.

Claire Perkins
Artist, author, and expressive arts coach
Certified in Creative Journal Expressive Arts
Claire@claireperkins.com
https://claireperkins.com

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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
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