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Exploring all things related to grief & creativity. Pushing the boundaries of what those words mean, of how they work together, of the ways we make social change by thoroughly exploring grief experiences with as much creativity as possible. Art making is part of it, but it is actually much more about heART-making!
Creative Prompt: touch on beauty while we are in the very darkest of the dark moments...
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Vicki Culling, PhD and bereaved parent herself, has offered awesome trainings at the MISS Conferences in the past -- trainings I've LOVED! She just launched new website sharing beautifully all the creative awareness work she's doing in this world for and with caregivers and other bereaved parents! Love it!
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Sometimes it's too much to look straight on... Just like I discovered I could see the eclipse in an alternative way, sometimes, we have to take an askew view to see all that grief is for us, too!
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Healing Through the Dark Emotions - Miriam Greenspan's work is inspiring and I've always found it incredibly helpful -- no matter how many times I revisit it!
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"Don't SHOULD on me." :) Love love love all the statement tees from Grief Watch!
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I've been answering henna art questions over on All Experts for a long time, but just today, they took me on in an additional role: answering questions about Grief & Creativity. You'll find me under category trail of: Health/Fitness - Death and Dying - Coping with Loss. Let the asking begin! :)
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Allowing the process... | Exploring Grief Using Radical Creativity
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Just a little space where I'm fleshing out all the grief & creativity stuff I'm stirring up from here...
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Some checking in with self and others...watery reflections of course correction in grief and life...and some magic filled moments...
For the inclusion of the Mothers whose children are not physically present...
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Vid on Rollo May's existentialism. Oddity: vid shows images in reference to love, will, creativity, hope, self discovery--all of children, pregnant women, in-tact families. SUCH a core example of how psych field & world culture do NOT get it. For every dead child, there is a family left behind who must face this existential angst in a world where love antidote is living children, live birth, in-tact families. It is discouraging to say the least. The search for better paradigm continues.
by kentangen
A walk through Picasso's Guernica (a painting he created after the bombings) when we discern the original painting in this three-dimensional reproduction we start to understand which features most significantly constitute the painting. Consequently, this three dimensional exploration of Picasso's Guernica is an interesting technique for comprehending and appreciating the original masterpiece.
This is still one of my all time favorite spreads from the Different Kind of Parenting zine we used to publish in print. I do everything on the blog(s) now, but the archive of PDF version of these print issues is still available free online.
MISSing Ingredients cookbook offers recipes with heart! Honored to say that's a collage of my paintings on the cover. Don't give your mom a plain old cookbook for mom's day -- give her one with heart!
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Mothers Day was founded by bereaved mothers. Don't let the greeting card companies co-opt it from you any longer!
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Amy Price Sparkly shoes
Karen Leary Thank you for educating me about the real meaning of Mother's Day.
MotherHenna Sure thing! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, too!
Rumi inspired prompt today: "I kissed grief, and..." There are so many ways to approach the grief experience. Looking at myth and metaphor, no one wanted to kiss the frog either, but a whole storyline unfolded from that action. What happens if you kiss grief, and...
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Wax on wax off... hee hee :) No really, just another experiment in encaustic as part of the mixed media mix... and another canvas of recycled cardboard.
Perfection Mom's Day gift for mom whose child has died? One of these with child's birthstone added. Don't kid yourselves. Bereaved moms are still moms and deserve to be honored come that May Sunday when all others get gifts and flowers!
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Cara Briskman Kara, is this your art?
MotherHenna No, Cara, that's the MISS Foundation logo -- came about a few years before I joined them. Actually, I'm not sure who the original designer was to create it for MISS. Isn't it lovely though?!
I want to be like you because everything you do is inspiring...
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Receive a deep breath all the way down to your toes!! :) Lovely, helpful article from Karla -- she's an awesome MISS Volunteer, too!!
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Why grieve? Because it happens and it isn't a choice! Pat over at Grief Watch always seems to hit it on the nose for me.
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Inspired by Mister Rogers Neighborhood, this creative prompt asks you to consider scooping up a cup of grief and pouring it out to see what you discover about this different perspective of your grief experience.
There are aspects of our grief experiences that just get very real. This is my business card of grief. I certainly will not suit the taste of just anyone!
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Kristen Hamilton We SO need to meet, Lady! ♥
MotherHenna :) We do! Thanks for sharing this one forward, too... xoxoxoxo
MotherHenna Posting in response to an upset reader - just to clarify: I stress here, because apparently offense has been taken -- this is NOT actually my business card!! I do not hand these out to anyone. This is a creative prompt -- it is an expression of grief where I was exploring -- and encouraging anyone else who wanted to explore -- what it would mean if we actually were REAL with the world at large about about death and grief experiences. As always, my work is not for everyone, so please, if my prompt and expression upset you personally, feel free to unfriend, unfollow, or whatever you need to do! I'm not trying to convert anyone to anything! Just to clarify!
New eNews with creative prompt on Approaching Beauty and more...
New creative prompt: Lemon Queen and other dreams...staying motivated...living outside the "norm"...
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Trusting yourself in your heART-making helps you trust yourself in crafting your life...
I, too, have often dreamed of the dead baby commune where we all could gather to live exactly what we are. As always, Angie over at still life says so many things that ring in my head and heart...
Celebrate and truly know You Have Permission to be exactly who you are and to do whatever you dream. Exploring thru multi-media creative prompts, MP3 meditations, presentations, and interviews, along with PDF workbook, you are invited to spend time heART-making as a creative practice in your everyday life!
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Latest eNews from the Creative Grief Coaching Studio. A creative prompt + reminders about application and registration deadlines for Sept 2012 course. We've already had 16 applications for Sept! Only 20 spots are available. If you are accepted, your spot is not guaranteed until you pay the deposit. Spots are given to those accepted on a first come, first serve basis as deposits are paid. Contact us if you have questions!
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Ubuntu: Creating A Wholehearted Life After Loss by Cath Duncan, RememberingForGoo... <---Love love love is the answer! The concept of closure it total b.s. and I'm so thrilled Cath got to share this message at the Martha Beck conference and now we all get to see her speak, too!
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You Have Permission... to find your way and explore in a million different ways! Well, the book gives you 1,000 ideas anyway :)
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Creative prompt: making the invisible, visible!
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Danielle Wright What an awesome idea!
Fascinating! You can upload your own photo to their "Create" tool and fill the image with words that describe you. This would an interesting way to explore how we see ourselves in grief moments, how we see ourselves in resilient moments, etc. Sort of an alternate version of the body map prompt!
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Creative prompt: tangle-ie and gratitude... life & grief are like a tangle... criss crossed and knotted, but with spaces in-between that can hold great beauty... plus using a gratitude journal to see the bigger picture...
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Tracy Morris I love that tangle
MotherHenna Thanks, Tracy! I'm having much fun doing them!! xoxo
AmyandJason McCarter Beautiful tangle!
MotherHenna Thanks, Amy! I'm playing with the "golden thread" idea for segmenting of the circle into sections. It's interesting what that makes me see for each little space. Soooooo fun! xooxoxo
For National Poetry Month - for the continued exploration of grief & creativity - with permission from author Naomi Shihab Nye, today on the blog, I'm sharing a creative prompt inspired by Naomi's "Valentine for Ernest Mann."
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Wanting to feel included but then be excused from participating...it can take a lot of creativity to find ways to reconnect with others after death and grief come.
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The art of the non-anxious presence... wow!! Tamara, thank you for sharing this with me!
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Standing in line: nothing is as simple as it seems in the face of grief
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LOVE!! Shelly hosts Cath who is sharing all about how creative living lets the heart break OPEN after grief comes... beautiful!
Trust. It is a big part of taking the leap or allowing yourself to fall into whatever seems a better space for yourself than where you've been hanging out.
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After grief comes, nothing stops you risking it all except pure boredom or existential crisis!
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Expand your view of creativity during bereavement: Why & How We Keep Getting Out of Bed
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When small talk becomes no small matter anymore...exploring the ways our conversations change in the face of grief.
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You have permission to grieve in more than 5 stages! In fact, you are granted all 1,000 Permissions: www.motherhenna.c...
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For them to like me, I have to like them, but I'm not really interested...grief, ambivalence, shift in priorities -- all these things contribute to changes in our social construct of self after someone we love dies.
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The juxtaposition of making connections after death has disrupted the "normal" life...
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Pause. Ask what is needed this moment. Hear the answer. Tend yourself. So glad one of our participants reminded me of this! motherhenna.blogs...
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Lovely note from Stephanie, Maddie's mom & founder of SweetPeaProject.org: "Your words in Flash Of Life were the first I read that felt entirely honest...Connecting with you was like being pulled aboard a little life raft in the middle of a endless sea. Thank you." Free eBook version of Flash is available now in thanks to all of you who threw me life rafts along the way, too. www.motherhenna.c...
GrieveYard...interesting project offering a "place to contemplate, mourn, exalt, and celebrate the inevitable."
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MotherHenna Excerpt from the section on Alchemy of Despair: "Tell yourself: What I'm feeling is despair. It's an emotion, not an incurable condition or a final destination. I can tolerate this emotional energy and hang in there with it. If I pay attention and let it be, it will move me to a new place...Affirming despair's value goes against the grain of the culture. This is why it's very important to alter your beliefs about the negativity of despair and to be open to what it leads you to question and what it has to teach you." ~http://www.miriamgreenspan.com/