Living and Loving Ourselves
by Creating something out of nothing makes us feel good. Expressing ourselves in any form is as important as balanced nutrition and regular exercise. Even when we are sick or injured, we have the will to create, but sometimes our bodies won’t do what our heads want done. After a fall on ice recently, I had to take some time to contemplate my craft, Art Therapy, and the overall advantages of living the life I was always meant to live.
When twilight chases day:
Heavens twinkled with the delight
Of a thousand artists’ eyes
the day but one, a fireball called
the sun, to help us get our day’s
work done,
When twilight chases day,
Heavens twinkled with the delight
Of a thousand artists’ eyes,
All called upon to pay their due,
writers must write, painters must
paint; musicians are most blessed
for all, for their work they get to
play for you!
Of course, real life is under no obligation to be interesting and the difference between fiction and reality is that fiction often makes sense. Real life is much more complicated and can never be dictated like a story. There are so many mishaps, wrong turns, and new directions and revisits to explore. In other words, there are no formulas for living like there are for writing and making art. Philip K. Dick says, “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” Although I believe writers should have good vocabularies, I’m not sure writers should want to control as much as entertain, inform and turn the burning inside our heads into positive thinking, researching and recording. Some say it is our uniqueness alone that that we writers and artists have for sale.
For me, my will to write is like a devouring flame, resistless, relentless. It is also an antidote for my depression. Halfway between my waking and sleeping, as well as my bickering and strife, I pray my imagination never fails me and my hands never quit working for me. My happiness and wellness comes from self-expression. Cathy Malchiodi, today’s leading expert on Art Therapy says, “The soul’s palette is many things: an agent of transformation, a therapy for the psyche, a salve for body and mind, and a remedy for the ills of individuals, communities and the world.” Our dreams, hopes and inner voices are worth exploring. When we truly follow our inner voices, it is magical even when they see to it that we must take a “rest.”
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