Hello Lovely Readers,
Last time I posted, my family and I were taking off on our move to London. I intended to post soon after, but life has been... well, full.
As we were warned, it has been a complete roller coaster ride filled with amazing highs and deep lows. Our lows have been complex with feelings of vulnerability, discomfort and yearning from all of us for home. While our highs have been enjoying amazing adventures together and opening up to a broader and more respectful view of the world and all of us beautiful beings in it. I’m marveling at the amount of compassion, love, acceptance and strength that has been growing exponentially in my girls.
Yet, a few months after our move we were blindsided by a devastating loss in our family. It has rocked me to my core, a pain I didn’t realize I was even capable of feeling. I’m not one to be run over and just stay down, so I have been doing everything I can think of to help me manage, release, and heal this immense hurt that now resides in my body.
As you can imagine I've been tapping like crazy.
I’ve also reached out for help from my EFT mentor, and have seen a few different therapists to help my family and myself cope, to find the right language (because our words, both internally and externally, matter so much) and learn how to best support my girls. I’m also finding comfort, peace and healing in meditation and journaling.
The thing about grief is that you can't tap/meditate/journal it away... you have to feel it and it takes time.
You have to allow yourself to feel the hurt, pain, loss and devastation. There isn’t a fast way to get through it. Trust me, if there was I would’ve found it.
EFT, tapping has been extremely helpful in allowing me to sit with my emotions, keeping it more manageable and to be able to gain perspective. Often our emotions are filled with noise, and tapping allows us to clear the noise and gain clarity on what we are truly feeling.
But, I've also found a new way through this pain, and it's been in creating art.
As many of you know, I love art and even put on an Art and Healing Retreat, ArtWorthy last spring with my dear friend and artist, Ivy Newport. So it might not seem surprising that I’m finding some peace and space between the pain through art.
But, you must know… I don’t do art, I just love other people's art. So this actually came at a huge surprise to me.
Since my loss I have been yearning to create, to paint, draw... anything.
I’ve found that while I’m creating, my pain subsides… and possibly is even moving through me out onto the paper.
Now, let’s be real… I’m not creating masterpieces, I’m just allowing myself to take my time and get lost in creating.... It’s not about the end result.
Creating takes you into a meditative state, into a flow and it’s in that flow or meditative state that feels like the world, your mind and body have gone quiet and you’re in a state of peace, and calm…. serenity.
I know that 2016 was filled with grief for many and the beginning of 2017 has been rocky at best.
If you are looking for a way to access internal calm and peace I strongly suggest you try your hand at creating art.
We are all creative... our body, mind and spirit yearn for it.
Looking for some inspiration? Check out Pinterest for some inspiration, I was inspired by the artist Jean Haines and painted the owl below based on one of her watercolor paintings. Or try an art class, my dear friend Ivy offers a multitude of online art classes providing incredible instruction, you can check them out here.
Here’s to a new year where we're able to find PEACE.
I’d love to hear from you! How do you find peace? Do you yearn to create? Let me know if you give art a try.
Much love and gratitude
