Art Heals Art Reveals :: FREE ecourse
Some of you remember the first Artist-Healer guest-post circle I hosted - way before Holistic Creative Chats began. I asked people to step up and contribute to the conversation about how creative process and the healing process mirror one another, and how some of us feel deeply connected to the marriage of those two energies.
Many of the contributors were uncomfortable with the labels of the roles - 'artist,' and 'healer.' I get that. Me, too, at times - and I simultaneously see that the labels are just a tool for communication, albeit an often inept and limiting one. This conversation, though, was a natural and personal inquiry for me, of course (having left art for nursing, than nursing to return to art, always with an innate pull to serve and inspire somehow). It all felt so ambiguous, though - a true pull of my soul into Mystery. My spirit and body were all in; my mind, not so much.
And these conversations - while important and inspiring, are truly nothing new to our world. The medicine of art and healing have been intricately infused for thousands and thousands of years... and, thankfully, the awareness of that is re-awakening for many, evoking a challenge to more modern, oppressive and conventional ideas of what an artist or healer is or does.
I can only speak for myself (and from what I understand from the many artists and healers I work with) - but it's sort of like our very cells remember the power in this, and when our awareness catches up with curiosity and inquiry... well, that's when amazing shifts happen in our growth, our lives, our relationships, our healing and soul-work... and, sometimes, we become so much more ourselves in this remembering process that not only do we begin to consciously engage with what we are here to amplify and contribute - but we feel a helluva lot better, too. Not always more comfortable, per se - but on the right course for our unique journey.
UPDATE: This offering is archived awaiting revisions, for the time being. You can join my newsletter list to receive access to current freebies and support for your creative practice.
I was a palliative care nurse - so feeling better, feeling seen, feeling relief, getting comfortable in the face of discomfort... finding a personal sense and experience of well-being, mixed with accountability and empowerment in what is right for us (even when others may not get it) - this is the stuff that lights me up when it comes to working with and witnessing others.
And I'll share a not-so-secret secret with you, too - the big one - just to be clear. This creative and healing process stuff is all wrapped up and inseparable from our sense of connection with the great big energetic spirit•force•elements that make life happen, move and transform to begin with. Whatever you call that, and in whatever ways you acknowledge and ritualize (or don't) your relationship with that Great Mystery - you are part of it. I think it's fantastic - don't you?
All of this joyful babbling on my part is to say that I am feeling called to share, talk about and explore this even more, experientially, with others - with You, if you feel called. So I'm going to start with a free offering in November (Arts & Health month)...
Art Heals Art Reveals is a FREE upcoming mini-ecourse that will walk you through a creative self-discovery process to find meaning, support healing and/or reveal reasonable next steps toward desired clarity and living your truth.
You will be guided through an inquisitive creative care-plan for your heart’s truth, using the expressive and simple practice of self-inquiry + visual [art] journaling. No experience with writing or art-making is necessary.
We do this because sometimes it's all just a little mysterious - and that's awesome. We don't have to get why we are called to explore something, just that we are - and that we are open to whatever it may show us...
Sometimes we are looking for the next steps on our path, and in seeking, we realize there’s something that needs healing first, right where we are, before we can move forward.
Sometimes we are looking to heal something that we can’t seem to shake or that continues to ask for our presence, and we are shown, in slowing down, the steps that move us forward in unexpected ways.
Sometimes we are just looking for clarity around how to be or take action with a circumstance or possibility that feels obscure, unreachable, exhilarating, overwhelming or uncertain.
Whether you see yourself as an Artist or Healer in the world at large, doesn't matter.
Your inner artist and inner healer are your allies, with a direct connection to your unlimited creative nature and resiliency, waiting to assist and guide you as you face the difficult, transitional and mysterious times of your life.
Drawing on my background, training and experience with creative practice, holistic healing, and compassionate communication, we will introduce the artist and healer archetypes, and then I will present a simple process of accessing the wise healer and joyful artist within you for a creative encounter of care-planning – a process you can use again and again.
UPDATE: This offering is archived awaiting revisions, for the time being. You can join my newsletter list to receive access to current freebies and support for your creative practice.
I am looking forward to exploring this conversation and process with you!
With heart,
