by The Painting Experience | Feb 6, 2018 | Articles
My dear old 94-year-old Dad died in late September. After the initial grief and busy-ness, including helping my 91-year-old Mom resettle, I was exhausted. I noticed my mood fluctuating between sadness and grief and feeling pretty flat. By flat, I mean not quite numb, but in a kind of re-orienting or integrating state. Soon afterward, [...]
by The Painting Experience | Mar 7, 2017 | Articles
In a recent post, we linked to several articles offering scientific evidence for the benefits of creative practice. As therapists, we may fall into the trap of saying, “That’s nice, but when will I fit that into my schedule?” Prior to her research on wholeheartedness, Brene Brown, PhD, LMSW had this to say about creativity: [...]
by The Painting Experience | Oct 11, 2016 | Articles
“Self-compassion entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self-criticism.” ~ Kristin Neff In the first part of this series on self-compassion and process painting, we explored how staying present and compassionate toward ourselves can free us to more fully [...]
by The Painting Experience | Jul 26, 2016 | Articles
When we are able to soothe ourselves -- to take a risk and continue painting anyway -- we can experience great relief from the confines of fear and perfectionism. In the first post in this series on self-compassion, we looked at how practicing self-compassion can help us expand our creative potential. There, I introduced the [...]
by The Painting Experience | May 8, 2016 | Articles
Staying present and compassionate toward ourselves frees us to express our unique creative wisdom. So why this topic -- self-compassion? And what does it have to do with painting for process? Well, let me ask you, when you are painting, or expressing yourself creatively in other ways -- singing, dancing, writing, drawing, and so [...]
