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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Healing Collage: Two-Handed Dialogues with Images for Healing

Our guest blogger, Kathy Lee Bryant, was a Minister when she trained as a practitioner in my Creative Journal Expressive Arts Method. She was later certified as a Visioning® coach, teaching my Whole-Brain, Two-Handed dialogue Method of creating a collage and interviewing the images. I resonated deeply with Kathy’s journey through knee surgery, because I used these techniques while going through two hip replacements seven years apart. Written conversations with bones, athletic bodies and dancers moving freely helped me to a new reality in my 70s: a state of pain-free, flexible movement I hadn’t enjoyed for a several years. Here is Kathy Lee’s tale of healing.

Healing Collage: Two-Handed Dialogues with Images for Healing 

I created this collage as a journal entry prior to total knee replacement. The desired outcome for the collage was successful surgery and physical therapy. I first interviewed the seven images seeking information and wisdom for the healing needed for this surgery. I am now three weeks out of surgery which went very well and am progressing well in physical therapy.

Interview with the Collage Images

Using the non-dominant hand to answer the dominant hand’s questions.


Strange Face on upper left of collage.

Who or what are you? Do you have a name?

I am Discombobbled.

What are you feeling, Discombobbled?

Frustration and fear. Nothing seems to work out lately-the eyes, the chair, mattress, computer-some costly mistakes and frustration. How am I feeling about the knee? Fear about the knee? Will it work? Will I get an infection, will I be able to move freely and well, will be able to move freely enough to find new adventures with friends.? These fears are welling up and it is not helpful.

What wisdom do you have for me?

Trust that below that fear and frustration is a calm wisdom that will make things happen. Trust your Doc, he is good-one of the best. Trust the therapists, they will get you there. You won’t be in this state forever.

What do you need from me?

Breathe, stand firm. Believe all will be well. Scribble, scream, sing- let it go but not with Don—then breathe in - stop worrying - fret not, I am with you.


Woman in center holding the younger inner child

Who are you?

I am woman - the one who creates. See in my hands I hold a new you—what you are going to become.

How do you feel?

Powerful - the creator. I am the inner wisdom and peace you are hoping to be—all is well when you tap into my inner creative power.

What wisdom do you have for me?

Breathe deeply until you tap into this power that heals, brings peace and confidence. The healing is most important.

What do you need from me?

Seek your greater power - divine healing of body and soul. Sing tomorrow knowing that the Holy One, is within. As you allow this Holy One in healing creative power through you and out of you.


Little Girl with balloon - lower left

Who are you little girl? What is your name?

I am sweetheart—your inner child. I am trying to get you to let me soar – like the balloon – releasing the heart to soar.

Feelings, my sweetheart?

I am happy, light hearted - get in touch with me! Lighten up. Play, laugh, enjoy. Let go.

Your wisdom?

I just gave it - get in touch with me.

What do you need from me?

Let go, trust what brings joy. Lighten up, you will heal.


Flying Person with glasses mask

Who are you?

I am soaring. I am the future you. Moving freely –something you long for.

What are you feeling?

Light, agile, able to go wherever you want.

Do you have any wisdom for me?

Let the little child lead you. Don’t look at what is disaster but remember the work you do will make you a new person-able to go and do.

What do you need from me?

Trust that through the dark will come light. Limp to leap, hopelessness to joy, fogginess to clarity.


Two Skeletons

Who are the both of you?

Left - I am the crocked achy bones.
Right - I am the smooth operator.

How do you feel?

Left—stiff, stuck, creaking, tired
Right—Smooth, straight, leveled -energized

What wisdom do you have?

To move from feeling like the left skeleton to moving like the right bones, it takes time and work to get there. Do your part, Doc will do his.

Is there anything else you need from me?

Think positive, envision new energy and functional movement even through the pain. You will get results. Pay attention when you need different therapies.


Oh, The Places We Will Go book cover top

What are you?

A top made from Dr. Seuss book - Oh, the Places we will go.

How do you feel?

Wee! Moving freely across the floor, joyful, excited.

What wisdom do you have for me?

The top spins by pushing the handle up and down and letting it go, spinning in freedom. Where it goes depends on how you push down the handle. Think about how the handle needs to be pushed down to bring about the movement you desire.

What do you need from me?

Do your pushing. What are the questions you need answered in order for the handle to be pushed down so that the freedom you desire will come true. What info do you need to make good decisions from the docs, the nurses and the physical therapists. Keep pushing and then let go.  


Dancing Lady

Who are you?

I am a floating flexible woman.

How do you feel?

Amazingly free.

Do you have any wisdom for me?

You will be able to move again in a way that looks effortless but there is so much work behind the scenes to make it happen. Do the work and you will get to a place you want to be. Remember it is through the pain of the therapy that got you there.

Anything else you need from me?

Be persistent –you will need it in order to get through the work that is needed. You will move with grace, dancing with joy.  


Image Writing

I made a list of the images and the words used on the collage and put the collage in front of me. The following writing emerged describing the meaning of this collage.

Oh the places we will go, when envisioning a better tomorrow. 
Trusting those with skills, giving allegiance to the tasks ahead- 
Gives way to moving like a little child who follows the wonder and awe of a heart released, 
Moving freely through life--soaring to new heights. 
Like a woman holding the image of a child ready to embrace a new world, 
You are no longer discombobbled by the problems that weigh you down. 
Lighten up, let go, release the tensions and fears--healing emerges. 
No longer a skeleton with creaky joints, but bones connected moving freely, dancing through life.

Seeing clearly with eyes wide open, no longer vailed or masked— 
A winner emerges in hope, birthed from new life envisioned. 
Oh the places we will go.

Kathy Bryant
email pastorklb@gmail.com
phone/text 620-352-0073
Consulting, Visioning Coaching for groups, non-profits, churches and individuals

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Lucia

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www.luciac.com
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Thank G-D I Trusted My Gut

Most people understand that emotions live in the body (Butterflies in my stomach. Red with rage. That situation is nauseating.) There are many blog posts here that clearly demonstrate the role of emotions and our mental state in physical health. However, we don’t always realize that our body's  physical reactions and its symptoms also contain our intuition and deepest well of knowing. Our guest blogger, Chaya Sarah Kost, a Candidate for Certification in the Creative Journal Expressive Arts Method, listened to intuition as it spoke in bodily pain which was voiced through her non-dominant hand. She came to see that we ignore intuition at our own peril. Fortunately, our non-dominant hand can put the wisdom of our own intuition into writing so there is no mistaking it. When you read her amazing story you will understand, as she did, how important that “still small voice within” really is.  

Thank G-D I Trusted My Gut

Allow me to take you back in time, to a time and place before the pandemonium of COVID-19 hit U.S. soil. Travel with me to a month where no one wore a mask in public, to an hour when going to the grocery store did not kick-start an adrenaline rush. Times were different, people were not prepared for what was about to come. Try as you must, to remember a time when there were only a few cases of COVID-19 in America. That my friends, is where my story begins.

Looking back, I cannot believe that it took a stomach-ache and a few sleepless nights for me to pay attention to my body and heed my stomach’s warning. On the outside, everything seemed great. I was looking forward to making a 10-day trip to Israel, in March, while chaperoning a self-sufficient teenage girl to and from Israel. My responsibilities were to include sitting near her on the airplane, ensuring we made our connecting flight in Switzerland, escorting her to her place of residence upon our arrival, and then complete the process in reverse on the day of our return trip. In addition, half of my ticket would be covered by the father of the teenager I was chaperoning, as compensation for my time. The timing and price were perfect for me. A part of me was elated to enjoy a paid week off from work to tour the land as I wished, as well as pray at the holy sites of my choice and meet up with some dearly missed friends. It was a wonderful opportunity and I felt like the lucky recipient of an unexpected partially paid for trip to Israel. However, my body was reacting in the form of stomach aches in my anticipation of the upcoming trip. The week that my plans were about to be finalized, my stomach started hurting and I began losing sleep. I knew that my body was trying to send me a message, but I could not figure out what my body was trying to convey.

Therefore, on February 23rd, I went to my Journal to find out what was going on inside of me. I used the exercise Body Talks in Lucia’s book The Power of Your Other Hand (p. 103-104) to dialogue with my body. The drawing of my body included my upset stomach and the conversation was between my Vulnerable Child and my Protective Parent. To my surprise this is what my dialogue revealed to me before the American and Israeli pandemonium of COVID-19.

 

Journal Entry on February 23, 2020

Protective Parent: . . . I hear you; you are safe now so try to relax through this conversation, please tell me more.

Vulnerable Child: I am scared of the Coronavirus that is rampant all over the world and also in Israel. I fear my upset stomach. I do not know what to do, should I take the trip to Israel or not?

Protective Parent: What would put you at ease the most?

Vulnerable Child: Not to go to Israel and stay in Chicago. But I am scared to say no to this trip. Protective Parent, can I ask you a question?

Protective Parent: Sure, what is it?

Vulnerable Child: Are you strong enough to take me to Israel?

Protective Parent: I am not 100 percent sure, that worries me, I wish I could say yes my child.

Vulnerable Childe: K, well thanks for being honest.

Protective Parent: No problem, so what should we do?

Vulnerable Child: Probably not go to Israel alone until you are ready to take care of me and the other “kids” (my internal children).

After this dialogue, it was clear to me that I should not take the trip to Israel. However, on February 23, 2020, America and Israel were not speaking of shutting down cities, so I was still wondering why Coronavirus was the cause of my fear. My denial went so far as to think that people would laugh at me if I claimed that I was fearful of the virus, because most people did not yet realize how dangerous it was. Additionally, I was insulted by my Protective Parent for saying that it was not strong enough to take me to Israel. Five years prior, I had spent nine months in Israel on my own. As far as I was concerned, 10 days in Israel would be a breeze.

Nonetheless, I chose to tell the father of the teenager that I would not be able to make the trip with his daughter. I offered the father my sincerest apologies because I knew that he was about to book the tickets. Surprisingly, the father took my answer well and calmly said “do not worry, it is all meant to be.” To my surprise, the same day that I told the father that I cannot chaperone his daughter, Israel came out with a Statement from the Government claiming that they strongly discourage any non- essential travel to Israel. Yet, I was still not convinced that Coronavirus was a worthwhile fear.

It was not until March 15th that I began to understand the truth and insight that my vulnerable child and protective parent held. March 15th was not only the day that my state of residence, Illinois, was on a strict shelter in place order. It was also the day that I would have been scheduled to leave Chicago and travel to Israel had I decided to make the trip. It was then that I began to digest what my journaling revealed, but even then, I was not prepared for the rapid worldwide changes due to COVID-19. As each day brought new restrictions, and uncertainties I began to understand what would have happened if I had ignored my inner wisdom. If I had taken the trip to Israel, the Israeli government would have put me on a voluntary 14-day quarantine (as was protocol at that time) because I was going to have a stopover in Switzerland, thereby eliminating every reason for which I was taking this trip in the first place. Additionally, after the government put out the travel advisory statement it was getting harder by the day to leave Israel as they were trying to ground all flights. Eventually, all flights to and from Israel were completely grounded. I would have been stuck in Israel for months because all flights were then grounded until July 2020. Had I taken the trip, it is likely that my ability to work my two teaching jobs in America would have been twice as difficult due to the time differences. In addition, I would have been without all of my national counseling examination study materials, and most of my CJEA trainee work. To top it all off, I would have possibly had to celebrate the eight-day holiday of Passover on my own in quarantine, instead of with my family in Chicago.

To my amazement, my body was the voice of my intuition which was uncovered through the non-dominant hand journaling exercise. Throughout the planning of my upcoming trip, a little voice coming from my stomach kept whispering, “It is not the time to make this trip.” However, I kept telling myself that the little voice did not know what it was talking about. I was so convinced that the internal voice was wrong, because intellectually it had no counter argument to the rational part of me. It took each part of the Pandemic’s evolution to convince me that the little voice of intuition was correct. Although I was still skeptical of what my Journal revealed to me at the onset of the pandemic, I am so grateful that I listened to my intuition and did not travel to Israel. This journal entry saved me from unnecessary fear and challenges. Through the journaling process I understood the importance of listening to my intuition, even if it does not make logical sense in the moment, because ultimately it will never lead me astray.

Chaya Sarah Kost
Candidate for CJEA Certification
csyk07@gmail.com

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Lucia

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www.luciac.com
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Art Using the Non-Dominant Hand

When I met the artist, Tucker, over 27 years ago, he had begun drawing on his own. Tucker came to one of my workshops and discovered his inner child through his non-dominant hand. I moved away and we made contact vial phone and email a couple of time over the years. I knew he had eventually begun making art for a living. We recently reconnected and I was thrilled to find out that he and his inner child had created a large body of work which he has exhibited. The pictures speak for themselves. 

Art Using the Non-Dominant Hand

In the early 1990's I attended a weekend seminar with Lucia Capacchione. I had never heard of Inner Child work or dialoguing with your right and left hand / your right and left brain. It was a wonderful and new experience for me – the writing exercises seemed to open a curious creative door.

At the time I had been drawing for about four years, and when I returned to my workspace I began to explore working with my left hand. Eventually the work I was doing with my non-dominant hand felt more honest, full and alive than the right-handed work. So, I decided to nurture that voice.

I am a visual artist and to a large degree the way I work today began back in that weekend seminar with Lucia.

He stepped into the sunshine knowing truly that love does conquer

The sky was the sky, the ship was the ship, the moment was the moment

The woods

To speak with

Two of the voices come close together

Gray Duck Gallery exhibit

Tiny car

Child's play

Texas State University exhibit

Texas State University exhibit

w. tucker
website: http://wtucker-art.com
tumblr site: https://lightbeforelightbehindme.tumblr.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.
 
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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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Creative Healing for a Fractured Collarbone: Weaving Together Non-Dominant Hand Scribbling and Writing

In early February, I fell and fractured my right collarbone. I’d been working in my studio hanging small drawings and watercolors to the wall with push pins. Descending from a small 2 stepladder, I misjudged the bottom step and extended my right leg too far. With my left foot still up on the top step of the ladder, my right foot was unable to land steadily on the floor. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor on my right side, still holding onto the ladder, which came down with me.

Long story short, the result was a fractured right collage bone (clavicle) and badly bruised right should, arm and elbow. The irony of all this was not lost on me, my friends, students and the physician in ER when I told him I’d written a book called, The Power of Your Other Hand. Upon showing me the X-ray results, he informed me that I’d have to keep my right arm in a sling for a while and limit use of my right arm and hand while my collar bone magically knitted itself back together over the next 4 – 6 weeks. No surgery required, just self-care, rest, and patience while Mother Nature glued the bone back together.

I am naturally right handed, so guess what? For a month I had to practice what I preach and teach and use my non-dominant (left) hand for almost everything: including writing, drawing, painting, typing, using a mouse, brushing my hair, shaking hands, etc. The corona virus was just hitting California, so “social distancing” was IN and shaking hands with people was OUT for health reasons. No driving, of course, and none of my regular leg and upper body exercising for strength at the gym. I’d get physical therapy later.

It could have been worse, I observed. If I hadn’t already had hip replacements on both sides, I might have broken a hip. No chance. These hips are made of unbreakable ceramic and titanium. So, grateful to be walking, I launched into my own healing program. My physician was out of town, so I made an appointment to see him upon his return. We had a phone conversation. An expert in vitamins with his own line of supplements, I got some supplements designed to help with bone growth and mending. And then I started Creative Journaling.

I drew the outline of my body (front and back) and let each body part tell me how it felt in a word or two or three. There were lots of places that were hurting and they had plenty to say.

What I learned after in depth dialogues (using my non-dominant hand to speak for the body parts) was that I needed to “rest, be quiet, not work, slow down…let the parts (of my personality) that go out in the world and are always in charge have a rest. Last year was all about that. This year is about being at home, care-giving us & out home….” We’d just renovated the kitchen. The emphasis was on “a place to nurture self and be nurtured.”

My fractured shoulder told me, “Your business right now is to take care of me.”

About 3 weeks after the injury, my arm still in a sling, I was able to do some bilateral (2-handed drawing) to music in my journal. I call this “Dancing on Paper” and always find it very relaxing in the face of daily news about COVID-19 and how rapidly the virus was spreading. Anxiety was in the air, as the corona virus became a worldwide pandemic, with entire cities and countries in lock down in an effort to contain it. I hadn’t realized how much tension was stored in my body from the injury and from the news until I left it on the page through scribbling and then writing to the rhythms of Keith Jarrett jazz piano solos.

The message, again, was that I needed to “baby myself like an infant” in order to heal my collarbone. It was written with my non-dominant hand using two pens of different colors.

As the words formed with my left hand, I thought, “Yes, it always comes back to inner child healing.” I realized that my right hand, which is the side of the body that does so much giving and reaching out and being in charge in the world, was forced to rest on my own stomach, due to being in a sling. The energy that I'd been putting out for many months, leading workshops, doing book signings, etc., was now being turned inward for my own healing. I continued scribbling my pain and stress out, this time with both hands.

Weaving insights from my Creative Journaling and the emotional release they provided into my daily program of rest and self-care has moved my recovery along quite beautifully. As of this writing, I have an appointment to start physical therapy, and will continue with the journaling and more artwork as my arm permits.

One important observation that I want to share is this: My experience over the years is that each and every body part or physical symptom has its own unique, situational and time-bound message. That is why I do not have much confidence in books that claim to tell you what your symptom, disease, body parts or pains “mean.” My clients, my students and my professional associates have all had the same experiences I have had. Each time we converse with our bodies we get different answers. The words from the body differ dramatically depending on the circumstances of our lives, the nature of the particular pain, the specific location, and the guidance the body gives on how to heal it. There is no easy formula for this. No quick answer from outside, from an “expert” or author who claims to know what’s going on in YOUR body and in YOUR life on this particular day.

The lessons the body has to teach us are individual, very particular and personal to us at any given time. Drawing and writing with the non-dominant hand can unlock the gifts that illness, injury or pain have to give us.

Note: Journal prompts for bilateral drawing and body parts dialogues are in Chapters 3 and 6 of The Power of Your Other Hand (Conari, 2019). There are also many journal prompts for self-healing in Drawing Your Stress Away and Hello, This is Your Body Talking (Ohio U/Swallow Press, 2017).

Be well,

Lucia

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From Chaos to Calm: Drawing and Collaging Our Way Through COVID-19

The anxiety we have all felt in the face of coping with COVID-19 is universal. To one degree or another we have all felt it. Anxiety comes in many colors and themes. It may appear as fear of the unknown, of living in highly unpredictable times and with circumstances out of our control. Then there is the fear of coming down with the virus. For many millions, panic about financial survival weighs heavily. Many are scared about day to day challenges, such as schooling children at home, finding much needed supplies that have become scarce, or care-giving sick family members (whether they have COVID-19 or not).

We all need ways to release this build up of anxiety from the body and mind. If we don’t, our immune systems can be weakened (the last thing we need right now). As Dr. James Pennebaker’s research shows, writing about trauma or crisis strengthens our immune functions. My research with children showed that drawing and writing about anxiety has health benefits. (Edinburg School District, Edinburg, TX, Jefferson Elementary School, 2013-14.) I’ve also observed that creating collages depicting chaos, followed by collages of calm, can bring about a deep state of inner peace.

Scribbling it out

Scribbling with both hands, as well as writing with the non-dominant hand, are great ways to shed anxiety bottled up in the body. Using both hands for these stress scribbles helps balance my brain and appears to regulate the nervous system.

Letting my non-dominant hand add words can help as well. The looser the writing, the better. Sometimes a simple image will tell the whole story, as in this “Long windy road” scribble when I realized that sheltering in place could last awhile.

When scribbling out my stress I always find that I draw my way to another mood, one of acceptance and calm. The colors often change, as in this stress series when red and black suddenly turned to yellow and blue. I was also healing from a collar bone fracture and bruised arm and found that all the scribbling I had done made my shoulder and arm feel much better. On the last drawing, I wrote, Mending the Fracture.

Collage: Feelings piece by piece

Another great medium for dealing with anxiety and chaotic feelings is collage. The very act of tearing images out of magazines is cathartic. Sometimes the subject matter in the photos expresses accurately how we feel. That was certainly the case with these photos of trash from an article in National Geographic. Just recognizing how the photo depicted my jumbled up feelings was healing in itself. But I went even further and scribbled my mixed feelings out onto the next page, forming the background for more photo fragments of trash.

The words, Finding Our Way to the Future, amidst all the chaos of COVID-19 jumped out at me from the magazine pages. There was something positive we could do. Shelter in place, wear masks in public, protect ourselves and others from this mysterious virus, which was turning up new symptoms every day and striking new unsuspecting populations, like the young.

On the facing page, I placed a photo of the cosmos torn asunder. I got the feeling that this too would pass. The split seemed to represent a big divide between “life before COIVD -19” and “life after COVID-19”. I had no idea what that meant logically, but my intuition said there would be a big sea change in our lives. And yes, it would be a “trip on the wild side” as the words stated.

As usual, this morphed into another mood and a new message on the next page. Holding pictures of underwater images and a deep sea diver with the caption, Get a clearer picture of the… inspired me to write the words…Inner World. That’s what all this chaos and stress were leading me to. I added to the left, Healing through travels in Inner World. After that I wrote Visions of the heart.

It was clear that sheltering in place while also recovering from a fractured collar-bone were forcing me inward. Time to introspect, feel my feelings, and listen to my heart.

At that moment I noticed a Get Well card from a friend sitting to the side of my work area. The sentiments were perfect for this moment. So I glued the card into my journal. The words, Time and rest, gentle healing, and a deep-down cared-for feeling!…echoed exactly what I needed at that time in my life.

Later on in my journal I expressed the “vision of my heart” by creating collages of places and scenes I associated with peace and well-being: safe and beautiful places I’d been to in Hawaii and other spots on the planet.

This led to a collage I call, Calm, that speaks for itself. A cozy, safe sanctuary in which to rest, relax and recover.

 
For more activities in scribbling and collage, please see my books: Drawing Your Stress Away and The Art of Emotional Healing.

These journal pages also appear at my YouTube channel, Lucia Capacchione, in the series: The Creative Journal Goes Viral - Part 4.

Lucia

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Sheltering-in-place: Finding Inner Freedom Through the Non-dominant Hand

In early March, before shelter-in-place became “a thing,” I was already doing it. Having survived a horrible case of the Hong Kong flu in 1968, I didn’t want this virus anywhere near me. I was familiar with the 1918-19 influenza outbreak in Los Angeles. My mother, a preschooler at the time, had carried vivid memories of those terrible times, which she shared with me.

I researched as much information as possible about COVID-19 and, in the process, learned about quarantine strategies that had worked effectively in past pandemics. I learned that San Francisco had been largely spared in 1918 because of a robust quarantine policy put in place right away. When they eased up on it too soon, they were hit hard by a second wave.

Sometime in early March, we began staying at home and only going out for essentials. I had worked at home for all my adult life, when I wasn’t on an occasional book or workshops tour. But this was different. On March 11, I expressed my feelings about voluntarily being at home all day and night and limiting contact with others. Using both hands, I drew this maze-like scribble.

I was able to express the feelings of being contained and protected but at the same time held in. As I drew the concentric circles inside the enclosure, it felt like going around in circles inside the enclosed space. The drawing expressed all the feelings I was having at the prospect of staying at home all the time. We had also been having raining days, so that familiar “stir crazy” sensation of being cooped up inside due to cold, wet weather was there as well.

The next drawing I did was a scribble pattern that felt like the chaos that was being unleashed in the world as COIVD-19 swept across Asia and was making its way down the west coast of the US. After scribbling with both hands for a while, my dominant hand began doing its own thing by coloring in the natural loops created by the scribble pattern. This is an old tried-and-true warm up activity used by art therapists, but now it took on a whole new meaning. This felt like people in quarantine sequestering in their own separate spaces. They were all floating in the chaos, but contained in their own quarters. I wrote the words, “quarantined COVID”.

On the same day I drew what felt like scribbled chaos in orange (using both hands) followed by a brown cage-like grid. Were the cage bars somehow an attempt to contain the chaos? Or were they standing between me and the chaos, protecting me from it? Perhaps both. We know that staying at home protects us, but also protects others if we are carrying the virus.

Writing with my non-dominant hand, I inadvertently misspelled quarantined as quaranteened. Later, I recalled having a serious case of bronchitis when I was seventeen, followed by measles, and having to be in bed for many weeks. The present was triggering a past trauma. This kind of double entendre happens all the time with the non-dominant hand-writing. The unconscious knows what it knows, even if we don’t. And it will “blurt” it out through the non-dominant hand in words and in drawing.

I did many drawings that day, and more scribbling with both hands that looked like quarantine in times of chaos.

By contrast, another drawing done that day was a harbinger of good things to come. A dynamic blue and green container holds a bright, flowing yellow light.

When the official sheltering-in-place announcement was made by our Governor to begin on March 19, I was ready. I saw it as an opportunity to use the extra time on my hands to do journaling. As anyone who knows my work is aware, journaling is my personal therapy, meditative practice, refuge in the storm, and creative incubator. It has certainly been all of that and more during these trying times.

On April 5, after two weeks of the official shelter-in-place mandate, I decided to draw out my feelings about staying at home all day every day. My non-dominant hand grabbed a black marker and started at the center working outward forming a square-ish spiral. From there I continued with brown maze-like lines expanding out from the center spiral. The final black lines on the perimeter felt like an outer protection for the inner space.

This was followed by a two-handed dialogue with the drawing. My dominant hand asked the questions (in brown). My non-dominant hand answered in black.

What are you?
I’m the insides. Your insides. All cooped up inside you. ON this gray dark rainy day. 

How do you feel? 
Grounded. Like when we were kids. Couldn’t go out on rainy days. We felt restless + stir crazy like now, like all these days of staying home. I feel sad, too. 

Why do you feel this way? 
Cuz of COVID19 we are staying home – we’ve been staying put for over 2 weeks now. Even when it’s not raining like today. I miss doing things + going places we always did before. Like going out for lunch or dinner, going to the gym for exercise every week, getting coffee at the coffee shop near the gym – they closed down now. Going to the local shops. Can’t do any of that… I really miss that. 

And I miss seeing all the people in town – friends, shop-keepers, and visiting with them. It’s like a ghost town in town. Empty. Only the bank + grocery stores + gas stations open. 

I’m so glad the ice cream parlor on the west end of town has been open. When we got a cone there last week I though, THIS is definitely a necessity. Ice cream is essential right now. That made me feel happy. If I couldn’t have my ice-blended latte from the coffee shop, I could at least have a coffee ice cream cone! But I had to eat it outside, alone on the sidewalk because everything is take-out these days. And I was the only one on the street. Just me and a couple of cars passing by. 

What can I do to help you? What do you need from me?
Exercise at home on the little trampoline some more. We started that last week but I need to do that more and longer periods of time. I like doing the walking, a little jumping, and dancing on it to music. 

Also, keep letting feelings out by “dancing on paper.” Scribbling and drawing to music in the journal here. And even on big paper. 

Is there anything else?
Yes. Call friends and stay in touch. It’s OK to email, but I like hearing the voices of friends + family + co-worker. Skyping is good, too. 

Also, I miss eating out. So do what you did yesterday and get take out. It’s like “Dining out at home.” And it feels good to help the restaurant folks. It keeps them working. And we have to help each other. That feels really good, especially right now. I’m glad we donated to NOKIDHUNGRY.COM. THE IDEA OF KIDS GOING HUNGRY OR ANYONE GOING HUNGRY REALLY MAKES ME SAD. So donate + help others. That feels better to do that. 

I’m glad we can help others when we do work as a therapist on the phone + Skype. And when we do group calls for CJEA or interviews + podcasts + YouTube videos. Helping others helps me. And sheltering in place helps everyone. 

Lucia

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Dialogue With COVID-19

One of the most effective journal prompts I’ve developed is one involving a dialogue with a current challenge, problem, or crisis. The coronavirus sweeping the globe certainly constituted a crisis, not only for myself, but everyone in the world. I decided to have a dialogue with the virus in which my non-dominant hand spoke for COVID-19. As always, I received profound inner guidance from “the crisis.” Over the years I’ve learned that by confronting my biggest fears directly, using this dialogue form, I’ve come to understand the teaching I was receiving and be able to work with it productively, in my own life and in my work with others.

The following journal entry was done with both hands. My dominant hand asked the questions and my non-dominant hand answered for COVID-19.

Lucia Journal entry
Mar. 24, 2020

I want to talk to the coronavirus.

What are you?

I’M THE BIG C Coronavirus. 

How do you feel?

OUT OF CONTROL.
RAGING ALL OVER THE PLACE.
LIKE A RAGING FIRE. 

Raging. Like Anger? Like fire?

YES Raging

Why are you raging? Out of control?

Because I can. There are do defenses, no boundaries being put up to stop me. 

What can I do to help you? What do you need?

I am neutral. I go wherever I can. I don’t want to kill people. I just spread. It’s my nature. If people want to stop this contagious situation they need to set boundaries & limits. Also people need to learn to do nothing. To stay out of harm’s way. They don’t know how to protect themselves from raging out of control people, ideologies, policies, practices. They look the other way or think they are helpless & can’t stand up to these out of control elements in society that are fueled by violence & greed. It’s eating people alive, sucking the life right out of some people. 

This is bigger than “germs”. It is bigger than bacteria. It is out of control rage raging across the globe like wild fire. Like the fires that were set intentionally to destroy the lungs of mother earth: the Amazon forest. 

What does humanity need to do to save itself? Things are really dire.

People need to & will wake up to the giant imbalance. Look at what the raging out of control pan demic is begetting? Panic, Fear, anxiety, depression and all kinds of illness. Teach the writing & drawing cure for creating healthy & strong immune system. That’s what is needed. That’s what YOU can do. 

The forces that contributed to this calamity must be curtailed, limited, stopped from continuing. The force of numbers must be brought to bear. Individuals who feel powerless must come to realize the power of groups, strength in numbers, healing in community. 

People MUST rise above myopic camps who can’t see beyond their own trench in the ground, their own cave. I may be the world teacher if folks heed the call & learn the lesson. 

I’ve been saying this is all 3 catastrophes my parents survived, all happening at once. Ellis Island (my family - Grandma Lucia, Aunt Rose and Dad - in a cage in the prison wing in 1920), like the Mexico border today. The influenza pandemic of 1917-18, and the great depression of 1929 that lasts to the late 30s.

It’s all 3. The main differences are you have the internet so you can quarantine while staying connected....more medical care can be there IF everyone works together. Systems can be put in place. And you are right. This is a repeat of 3 classic, well-known tragedies in US history striking all at once. A triple whammy because – although no one is talking about the Mexican border, it’s going to figure into this crisis of virus. Some bad, bad karma has accumulated for the US from the inhumanity inflicted on people on the border. It all adds up to a red plague. Time to wake up, yo!

Lucia

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