Archive for the ‘Art Therapy’ Category

Six-Month adult “Reclaim My Brilliance” Program

February 17th, 2010

I’ve been seeing many adults hurting so badly and in such pain. It may be many things such as fear of the unknown, relationship problems, or the emphasis of lack and scarcity. Sadly, these fears trigger the thoughts and behaviors you had as a child. If you have never fully healed those aspects of yourself you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed, fearful, scared, or avoiding what’s really at the root of your feelings.

However, for those people who are stepping into their fear and allowing themselves to heal there is tremendous change that is occurring. It’s remarkable to see the release of pain that has been held on for years and how people’s lives can be transformed when they are committed to growing- no matter how scared they are.

So many people are stepping forward to heal their hurts and pains. They have grown up in families that didn’t allow their voice to be heard or they never felt good enough. There are years of pain and hurt that have been pushed down because they were so fearful of letting these hurts out- fearful of rejection, worried they may fall apart, scared others may find out their deepest fears. So they keep looking for ways to fill their void. By doing more, buy buying more, by looking a certain way, by focusing on their children’s well being, and putting everyone else’s needs before theirs. It breaks my heart to see these people struggle to push through all the pain they are feeling and keep searching for ways to fill their hurt places.

These deep wounds created in the past keep you running on a treadmill of beliefs that if you did something more, had something more, if others were different, if you looked a different way, then you would be happy, lovable, respected, understood. The truth is that the ability to heal these tender places is already within you and you just haven’t tapped into it, so you continue to look outside of yourself. The sad part is that most traditional talk therapies will give you more of the same. They will continue to keep you in your head, thinking about things- rather than being in your heart, where you can heal and release your pain. Despite years of talk therapy, many still have not healed their heart. As one very wise woman said, “Art therapy allows me to get into my heart instead of my head. When I am in my heart I can feel, and when I feel I am able to heal”.

So I’m offering something I’ve never offered before, an opportunity to get to release your pain and beliefs that you’re not good enough, that you have to do or be more, that you are broken and unlovable, so you can let go of these feelings for once and for all.

If this the right time for you to finally let go of the pain and heal yourself (and you’ll know in your heart if it is) then I ask you to step up and commit to letting go of patterns that no longer serve you and reclaim your radiant self. I’d be honored to help you on your healing journey.

Introducing the Six-month “Reclaim My Brilliance” Program

This new program is designed for you to powerfully and boldly show up in your own life and reclaim your authentic self. The format of art therapy sessions and coaching calls provides a structure to help you gain clarity and insight and to help you make dramatic and powerfully transformative changes.

This is an accelerated program only for those who are ready to commit to change and are willing to show up fully in their lives (and in this program) to make the changes and transformations that you desire.

You will be held in a loving supportive space that holds you as powerful in your life. Your clarity, insights, creativity, and willingness to take action, and make changes will be honored, as you boldly step into claiming your voice and inherent power.

You will discover within you the healing power of self-love through coaching and art therapy techniques. In the process you’ll be artfully guided to create strategies that will let go of old patterns and transform your relationships. You’ll playfully explore how to nourish and re-connect with your heart, while taking action to integrating these changes into your life.

By being held as powerful in making transformative changes, and by being held accountable in weekly connections, you will give yourself the gift of commitment.

This 6-month program is designed to empower you to step forward into your brilliance and heal old patterns using art therapy and creative problem solving strategies, and coaching tools.

Learn to:

Step into your power and express your feelings in a self-honoring way.

Let go of old patterns that no longer serve you so you can feel happier and connect on a deeper authentic level with your family and friends.

Say yes to yourself and your emotional well-being by owning your feelings.

Let go of stress that keeps you sick, tired, and restless and disconnected from others. Learn how to create deeper connections with others as you let go pleasing behaviors.

Spend less time worrying about what you do and say- and what others do and say, so you can be more “present” in relationships and enjoy your time together with family and friends. Learn how to get out of your head, those thoughts that keep you stuck and trapped with fear and worry, and learn to shift into your heart, so you can live a happier, more fulfilling life.

Trust your inner guidance and how to use intuition to guide you in knowing what’s right for you, regardless of outside circumstances and other’s expectations.

Feel invigorated, re-energized, and more confident, as you embrace your self.

Learn to set boundaries from a place of balance, respect, and love, so you clearly convey your needs.

Six-month program includes:

§      Two- 60 minutes exploratory sessions per month (by phone or in-person) using art therapy, creative problem solving, and coaching to help you uncover the deeper patterns that keep you from having the relationships with yourself, and others, that you truly desire.

§      Two- 30 minute laser coaching calls per month designed to keep you focused on positive outcomes and changes as you move forward boldly in the process of self-discovery.

Bonus- Weekly support check-in via email to help you stay focused, by providing support to help you authentically step forward in reclaiming your brilliance.

If you are ready to set into your brilliance call to schedule a time to start this unique transformative program- call (941)504-8498 or click the free consultation button below to set up a time to talk more about your needs.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve you. I look forward to supporting you in your transform, so you may stand in your power and create the life you desire to live!

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What do you do when problems arise?

January 15th, 2010

The next time you are getting frustrated with your child over their ignoring you when it’s homework time, or when your spouse is ignoring your requests to pick up their socks, stop. There are always opportunities to learn and grow from our experiences and in those moments when we are encountering a problem is when the possibilities for change can happen.

Before you launch into a lecture or express how everyone is taking advantage of you, stop.

Really connect with what you are feeling, then take a few minutes to acknowledge what it is you are feeling and what you desire. When you are calm and in control of your feelings you are not operating from a reactive place. Instead you are in control of your thoughts and feelings and can reasonably discuss this. If you do not take a few minutes to get clear, you will express yourself from a reactive angry place, and you certainly will not be understood. I often do art when I feel this way, so I can get clear on what I’m feeling and what I desire.

In this moment of frustration, anger, and hurt, is when you have an opportunity to change how you respond- and consequently change the relationship for the better.

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Using Art Therapy to create what you desire 2010

December 31st, 2009

I just so love and adore the new year. If you know me then you have heard me say, ” you get a do-over”. A do-over is a word we used as a kid. If you missed the ball while trying to hit it you got another chance. It didn’t count, you get to call a do-over, and you get to do it again. I love kids because they really understand do-overs. You could spend half an hour pitching the ball and they call do-overs until they get it. That’s pretty smart, asking for what you need. So I adore the new year, because it’s like a natural do-over.

However, do we practice do-overs in our lives? Many of us practice “do-agains” instead. I looked back at my yearly journal entries and see many of the same goals, be more compassionate with my family, loose 10 lbs, etc. The resolutions are great until someone in my family does something and I get so frustrated or I sign-up to get 8 boxes of girl scout cookies, then I’m face with rewriting the same things next year. Does this sound familiar?

So I began to wonder why some really big things I set out to accomplish, like writing my book, happen and why other less difficult things don’t happen. What I found was I needed some concrete outcomes, steps to take to get there, and supports around me to help me make the changes. Even bigger than action steps is the commitment I made to the change and how I decided to feel about it.

If there is specific area in your life that you are longing to transform allow yourself to focus on that one thing. Here’s where the do-over comes in handy. You can change the way you think and feel about this by using your creative possibilities thinking. So identify the problem (one is enough), be very specific and clear what it is. Now go grab some art supplies, magazines, chalks, oil paster, markers, paint, whatever you have on hand. Sit with this problem and ask how would I be different if this problem was resolved, what would I be doing, thinking, or feeling? Allow yourself to use the art materials to express how different your life would feel and be if this was no longer an issue. This is your do-over. This is your map to make changes.

My collage hangs over my fireplace as a reminder of what I am choosing to create.

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Help! My Child is Screaming on the Floor, Now What?

December 16th, 2009

If you are a parent then you have faced the challenge of helping your child find ways to manage those big feelings that at times seem to over take them. Those feelings of frustration, anger, or sadness that appear to storm out of nowhere and take over your calm rational child. Often parents are bewildered by the behaviors attached to these feelings such as tantrums, yelling, crying, refusal, inflexibility, shutting down, or hitting. Many calm rational parents, who have read the latest parenting books, still struggle with helping their children through the maze of these intense feelings and out of control behaviors. What may be lacking in traditional parenting methods is a way to teach your children emotional management skills that speak to them in their own natural language. Art therapy offers a way to do just that.

Art therapy is a profession that developed in the 1920’s from the belief that all individuals possess innate artistic abilities that can be cultivated for self-expression and developing coping skills. The field has evolved over the years and Art Therapists now work in diverse setting such as hospitals and schools. If you haven’t heard of art therapy before you may be surprised at how using art therapeutically helps to aid in self-expression and creating positive ways to self-regulate strong feelings.

Children who are unable to regulate strong emotions experience “melt-downs”. Brain research suggests that “emotional hijacking” occurs when there is a flooding of electro-chemicals in the brain. Children who experience a stressful situation may become emotionally escalated due to the amygdala being flooded by peptides and hormones. However, neuroscience suggests that by using your cortex, the analytical part of your brain, you can self-regulate strong emotions. When a child is in a learning environment that elicits strong negative emotions this can impact their ability to hear or comprehend what is being taught. The inability to regulate emotions may lead to social isolation, poor academic outcomes, and low self-esteem. However, there is a link between positive affective states and cognitive performance. Thereby, suggesting a relationship between positive affect, higher productivity, creative problem solving, memory, and logic. It is also suggested that increases in dopamine released by positive affect promotes creative problem solving. Moreover, the research on multiple intelligences offers some insight into the different ways a child learns and why some children learn through trying things out by doing a hands-on project.

So what does that mean to the parent who just wants to help their child learn how to manage the big overwhelming feelings and out of control behaviors? It means that doing a creative and pleasurable activity may enhance a child’s learning. It also means that if a child is involved in a positive learning experience that is related to the way they process information, they may be able to learn and retain this information more readily. So a child in art therapy can use their innate creativity to create a character from their imagination to help them stop and think before they act. They can use clay to express their frustration, and then create a new way to solve the problem they are encountering. They might come up with a creative plan to stop their sibling from bugging them using markers to draw out their choices. Children in a creative problem-solving group can create clay figures to help them negotiate relationships and find ways to build social skills. These creative exercises help children to “strengthen” their problem-solving muscles. In other words, they are building up their prefrontal cortex and when they are becoming emotionally charged they can use their creative thinking to get back in control. Art therapy offers a way for your child to become in control of their emotions, not their emotions controlling them, and isn’t that what every parent wants?

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Gratitude- Using Positive Psychology and Art Therapy

November 24th, 2009

I do love this time of year as a period of reflection on what what has transpired over the last 12 months. Although the year is always is filled with change, this year I reflect on the gifts I’ve been given- strength in being vulnerable, grace in the midst of loss, many supportive friends and family who lovingly witness my journey and accept me where I am I my path, my own deeper loving acceptance of who I am. All these glorious gifts I give gratitude for. Although many were discovered in difficult times, I give thanks for the ability to welcome growth in the midst of change.

The feature article below offers some thoughts on giving thanks and how you can use your creativity to celebrate what you are grateful for.

As many of you know I am a fan of positive psychology and use in often in my life and in my art therapy practice with clients. If you haven’t heard of positive psychology it is a new field of psychology that emphasizes the strengths and resources of the individual. Instead of focusing solely on what’s wrong, it encourages you to explore “what’s right” in your life. Needless to say it encourages resilience and the belief that we are resourceful creators in our lives- meaning we can use our innate gifts to live a happier life, regardless of the circumstances.

So how can you apply the principles of positive psychology into your life and help your family use these tools too?

One of the basic tools positive psychologist have been studying is called “Three Good Things in Life”. The research suggests that by writing down three things you are grateful for each day you can reduced depressive symptoms and increased happiness for six months (Park et al., 2005). How simple, yet how effective!

So here are some simple ways to bring this practice into your home and encourage yourself and your children to explore gratitude.

1. Make a gratitude ritual-
At dinner or before bed allow your child and yourself to reflect on what you are grateful for each day.

2. Journal-
This simple tool will allow you an opportunity to reflect on the day and find the good. It’s nice to do this before going to bed to allow your mind to think positively before drifting off to sleep.

3. Make gratitude art-
This could be in many forms, such as marking an image or using collage to create what you are grateful for; or creating gifts of gratitude for others.

4. Create a Thanksgiving tradition-
Encourage your child (or do this yourself) to draw or use magazine pictures to make place mats for each member of the family. On each place mat create an image of what about that individual you are grateful for (such as who they are, what they like, what they do, what makes them special). This is a great activity to keep your child busy while you are cooking and a unique way to celebrate each person in the family. You can collect them throughout the years as each person grows, and reflect on their changes and unique attributes.

Having problems at home and need more support? We can help, contact us at info@thecreativityqueen.com

Park, N., Peterson, C., Seligman, M. E., & Steen, T.A. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of intervention. American Psychologist, 60.

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Art Therapy: Paint a Prayer

November 16th, 2009

I’m heading to the American Art Therapy Conference in Dallas this week and will have time to taste all the art making goodies and learn lots of new tools and techniques to share with you. A few highlights of the trip will be visiting the Art Station to learn more about Mandalas from instructors trained by Dr. Cornell, as well as an exploratory class at the Arboretum, and of course my own presentation- which is so very exciting!

I also hope to hear what successes you have been celebrating, both big and small. If you have taken time to be creative, said “no” to things that are not right for you, allowed yourself time to listen to your inner voice- all these we celebrate! Please send me an email and I’ll include them in upcoming newsletters so we can continue to celebrate together.

Here’s a delicious creative tip to keep your juices flowing- enjoy!

Paint a Prayer
Ask spirit to come and be with you.
Sit in a quite place and allow yourself to feel your heart opening.
Invite spirit to speak into your heart what it is you need to hear.
Use watercolors, or other paints, to express what you are feeling and what was spoken to you.

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Love, Loss and Learning

November 10th, 2009

When you lose someone you love deeply there are lessons beyond what you could imagine. Some painful and heartbreaking and some humbling and heart opening. Every loss is an opportunity for growth (within yourself and closer to others). No matter who you are you will experience loss in your life. A loss of a grandparent, of a parent, a sibling, child, pet, spouse, friend, or relative. Loss is inevitable and comes in so many forms- moving away from friends and family, loss of a significant relationship, divorce, loss of a job, changes in school, a loss of physical health, saying good-bye to someone traveling away, or having an empty nest. Life continually is in a state of change and loss is a part of the cycle. 

So how can we live with grace and compassion and open to these experiences when we encounter them (rather than shutting down, hiding, denying, or minimizing these most important moments)? I don’t have the answers, but I am in the process of learning and this is what I’ve discovered.

1. Allow yourself to be in the feelings.
People are fearful that they will become overwhelmed with emotions if they allow themselves to feel deeply. The truth is the more you ignore, avoid, or try to push through these feelings the more they will drain you and overwhelm you. Embrace what it is you are feeling and what it is that you need so you may gracefully move through the experience.

2. Give yourself time. 
There are stages of grief and loss and they do not unfold overnight. Please be gentle and kind with yourself and not to try to push though the process quickly. When you honor your needs and give yourself time to heal you will move forward with an open heart, knowing what is unfolding is in perfect time.

3. Allow yourself to detach from trying to control circumstances and outcomes.
We all know the Serenity Prayer “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can;and the wisdom to know the difference.” There are many things beyond your control when experiencing a loss and surrendering to what you cannot control allows a centering back to yourself and what it is you truly need. Being still and focusing on the “here and now” allows you an opportunity to let go of what you can’t control and soften to what you can.

4. Support and love is the way through loss.
There is an opportunity to open your heart and be vulnerable with those in your life during this process. When you are honest and allow others to be there with you on your healing journey you create deeper relationships. This has been the greatest gift in my experience and I am grateful for all those who have lovingly offered support and understanding in this time of loss.

5. Find comfort in creating.
During some of the most difficult times in my life I have looked to art as a balm for my soul. Art allows a soft resting place for grief. I’ve used the art to honor those losses and those I have loved, as well as a gift for myself to help heal and nourish my soul. 

Here are some creative therapeutic activities you can do to help you through loss. Knit, sew, or create jewelry. These activities allow you to assert control over the materials, provides a mediative or prayerful experience of repetitious actions. Create a photo collage or scrapbook as a way of processing and honoring memories. Create art from clay or cement by embedding special items in the medium, or glue items on a box or candle representing your memories and feelings. 

I believe we not only need to learn from these experience for ourselves, but also model this for our children and families. If you need more support we can help, contact us at info@thecreativityqueen.com

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Welcome

October 7th, 2009

We are delighted to share with you our new website! The goal of our work is help children tap into their creativity to solve the problems they are encountering and to provide parents and families with creative tools to help improve relationships. We believe that families are resourceful and given a new way of thinking and new tools and strategies, families can communicate better and everyone can be happier!

We are grateful that you have taken the time to visit,  we welcome your comments and feedback, and we look forward to helping your family.

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