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Joycelynn Harrell

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Creative Art Expression for Healing

Blog, Grief/Loss

Creativity & Healing

A blog I’ve written on for years has a category called Creativity, or Art for Creativity and Healing as I like to refer to it. I began that wellness blog as a way to write my own nursing burn out story and I shared the things contained in my own healing toolbox, or healing basket. I don’t consider myself artfully talented but I love anything I make with my hands. There is something about creating that releases stress in my life. My mother and grandmother, and all the women in my family ancestry could sew and quilt. Sewing and quilting are creative art forms.

The first dress I made was out of feed sack fabric. I was 8 years old. My grandmothers taught me to knit and crochet around that age too. If you have never heard of feed sack fabric, it was very colorful cotton cloth that grain came in when I was a child.  I tried to find pictures and could not, but I found a page on Etsy where someone has vintage feed sack fabric if you want to see what that looks like.

Paper Crafting

The particular art for creativity and healing I want to focus on today is paper crafting and creating memory books. A month after Brandon died, I organized a scrap booking gathering at the Wellness Center where I was partial owner. Looking back, I was grasping at straws to keep my mind from going crazy. Grasping to DO because I was fearful just to BE.  Do you ever find yourself keeping busy just to keep from losing your mind over something?

After that first gathering, I didn’t do it again… I just continued to wander in a fog for quite a while after this. At work, it was easy to concentrate and maneuver through the day. At home I did color in coloring books for adults. Year two I began to branch out and I wanted more from my life. I joined a program to be a facilitator for Red Thread Circles and this included intuitive intentional creative art. A few months later, I found Cosmic Smashbooking. This is an intentional creativity program combining smash booking, art, a bit of journaling, and visionary work.

Now that I’ve made it through the two year mark, and I’m working with a Life Coach to get myself back into a better place, the arts are really calling my name. I’m honestly not an artist. However, I love to create. I’m working on being less critical of myself, so I now have an easel and canvas and have a desire to work on that… In the meantime:

Scrapbooking & More Paper Crafting

It seems I’m back to square one in regard to papercrafting. I’m ready to begin creating memory books again. I will start with Brandon. He has two children and I desire to preserve his memory and share with them what he was like growing up. They don’t know anything about him when he was younger. So I joined a company to get coordinated items and be able to start creating scrapbooks/memory books again. I really got into this particular creativity project about 20 years ago, but got away from it.

A few Saturdays ago I went to  a stamping group and totally loved it. I’m not sure if it was the interaction and group community I experienced, or the actual card making (I think maybe a combination of both), but I really enjoyed this so much. It has energized me to work on those books about Brandon and do some other creative things as well.

Art for Creativity and Healing

As I mentioned the stamping group I went to a few weeks ago, I want to point out that art for creativity and healing is a real way to help with stress, grief, pain, and burnout.  As I researched for this article, I found a few nice articles on art for creativity and healing. One is from US News, called the Power Of Creative Arts in Health and Healing.  I found another great article on Creative Wellness.  In this article the author shares how creativity promotes wellness. I was so interested in her article, I’ve just ordered her book, Craft to Heal, (found on Amazon).

What do you like to do as your art for creativity and healing? I have friends who quilt, friends who sew, friends who paint, friends who scrapbook and stamp… what is your favorite way to create?

Why I Write

As I write more in Authentically Joycelynn, it’s not my goal to talk people into doing what I do, or to show what I am doing is the “way to heal”. I’m sharing the best I can that I’m at a point in my life where I want to just be me. I see so many women hiding in a shell of who they want to be, but are afraid to BE who they are. Maybe you are concerned with what others think of you. Maybe you are afraid people won’t like who you really are inside. I’m here to share that it’s OK to be who you are. It’s OK to follow the dreams you have inside. It’s OK that everyone doesn’t agree with your choices.

I’d LOVE to hear from you. What is it you want to do with your life and you are afraid no one will understand? What is stopping you from letting go of self judgement and doubts? Email me anytime!

Be Well, Be Authentic. Be You

Joycelynn

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June 22, 2019 · Leave a Comment

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