others | mindfulart

Make a book of Calm

Collect our own resources that calm us - quotes, pictures and put in a book

This was suggested in class one day and I got hooked on the idea. Not just an idea for people who suffer from anxiety issues (would be really strong) but for anyone!

Collect quotes and things that make you re-focus when fragmented, out of sorts, anxious to bring one back to a grounded, safe place.

Items to insert could be:

lavender - known for its calming qualities
a quotation
an image
an expression
a colour

exercises from other resources

This lists all the exercises I have found in my research that I feel would be very effective. All authors of these and a link to their pages are included.

Gratitude Box

Gratitude boxes keep a record of the people and things that we are grateful for. It can contain objects that remind you of the things that stir feelings of gratitude.

Boxes can be personalized and decorated. Paint your box your favorite colors.
Glue family photos or other images to the top and sides.
Let the images you select reflect the items of gratitude contained inside the box.
Create a theme for your gratitude box.
Decorate the inside of the box to complement the outside design.
Line the box with silk or satin.
Decoupage pictures and images to line the bottom, sides and bottom of the lid.
Add thoughts or objects to the box as soon as you've completed the decoration. For example: write a list of people and things you're grateful for. Date the list and place it in your box.

The Coat by Anne Cantor

reflection on what is beneficial in my life v's what is holding me back, weighing me down

Again, this exercise was one suggested in college so I hope I do it justice. It is very important that this is contained and structured or it can go terribly wrong!

Write on pieces of paper all the bad things that have been said about you that you still hold.
Pin each of these piece onto your coat.
Write all the negative things you think about yourself and pin it to the inside of your coat. (limit no. of statements)
PUT THE COAT ON.
Take it off - RITUALISTICALLY or read each one and unpin each that dont serve and put in the bin/ burn.

Body stories with Collage

Our bodies hold many stories, dreams, memories and purposes. Using collage to tell the story of our body, either in part or in whole, reveals what is hidden from our everyday thinking. Our bodies are a living metaphor of what we feel and think on subconscious and unconscious levels. We all have parts of our body that we love, and parts of our body that we dislike, ignore, and even hate. We can choose to see our body stories by focusing on the individual parts that need attention. Alternatively we can do a collage "body scan" of our entire body to see what areas of our body want to speak first.

PART 1: What Do You Love About Your Body?

Trace or draw the part of your body that you love and choose one or more images that resonate with this part of yourself. When you are finished with your collage, slowly sit back and contemplate it.

What are you saying to me?
What memories do you hold?
What are you expressing about me?
What I am doing well for you?
How can I continue to give to and nurture you?
What Do You Dislike About Your Body?

Each part of our body has its own unique story that expresses all that we think and feel. Often we overemphasize the parts of our body that are "working" and ignore the parts that are suffering because they feel too painful, shameful, or weak. Our disowned body parts hold memories that we may have forgotten and they may need our loving attention to come alive again.

PART 2: What needs attention in your body?

Focus on your breathing and choose a part of your body that feels numb, sore, stiff or disowned. What part of yourself do you prefer not to think about? Draw an outline of this part of your body and intuitively choose one of more images that represent how you feel in this area and glue them onto your collage.

We all would like to feel good on a regular basis, and when we don't, we can feel frustrated and discouraged about life. We heal and transform our pain by changing how we react to it. When we close down around our hurt, we keep it locked in our body, and over time this can turn into chronic pain, body stiffness and soreness, illness and disease.

Consider that each part of our body and mind would prefer to be used for joy instead of pain. We can be sure if we are harboring a negative emotional charge in our body, we are missing the lesson and strength that was missed - that could have been lived into in the past - when we experienced the original hurt and emotional hardship. We can contemplate how we can reframe our original hurt and pain into a new strength and a potential for joy.

When did you begin? When did I close you down?
What am I continuing to believe about myself that makes you feel worse?
How could I react to you right now in a way that would help you feel better?
What do I need to do to help you heal now? What do I need to heal from the past?
What are you teaching me?
What would you like me to commit to everyday to help you get well?
What positive quality in myself am I avoiding by holding onto you?
What new strength would you like me to live into?

My Life with the Wave by Octavio Paz

identifyng emotions within

Read the Story
Talk a bit about how waves can be tiny ripples or steady crashes or huge tsunamis, and the parallel to how we sometimes feel inside.
Create images of what their own personal “feeling wave”
After each child completes the art, place it along a longer sheet of paper on the floor to add to the “ocean” of feelings in the room… made up of everyone’s individual wave.
Reflect

What can I control

what can we control in our lives, what can we cope with?

This discussion starter is pretty self-explanatory, helping your clients understand what they can and can't control using a visual. For this activity, I used chalk, while my client and I talked about what they can control in others and themselves. You can also write these out on cards or pop-sickle sticks, asking your client to take home a few at a time to use as a reminder of what they can/can't control, then reviewing alternatives (coping skills practice!). You can also get more specific, "I can control my fists, but can't control when my sister takes my toys". This activity could be for pretty much anyone, but was used in this instance for a kiddo who really struggled to allow others to have consequences, and taking matters into their own hands! The circles were also a visual to represent so many things around us that we can't control, but then going over what within ourselves we can control, focusing on specific behaviors and reactions.

Inside my head

See what’s on a child’s mind in this colorful, creative exercise. Combining past experiences with present routines and future goals, children can express themselves using images he finds in magazines to create a collage.

What You Need:

Paper
Pencil
Scissors
Glue stick
Magazines
Tempera paint
Paint brushes

What You Do:

Help draw a silhouette of your child’s head on the white sheet of paper using a pencil and cut it out. If your child isn't used to scissors, assist them in cutting.
Ask your child to list some simple facts about himself. This can include his daily routine, favorite foods, games, colors, or places he’d like to travel to. It can even include pets that he has, or wishes he had and what he wants to be when he grows up.
Find some old magazines and ask him to cut or tear out pictures that reflect who he is or wants to become.
Give him a glue stick and help him glue his pictures inside the silhouette of his head.
If there are any images he couldn’t find in the magazines, let him paint them into the dry silhouette with tempera paint.
Mount the final image onto a solid color piece of paper and hang up the contents of your child’s mind!

Transformational Self Portrait

Think of an experience or event from your past that still has a negative impact on your life today. It could be something big or small, recent or long ago. Think about what happened, how the event(s) played out, and how it affects you today. Feel free to write your thoughts down if you want. Now think about what you would like to change about yourself as a result of that negative experience. It could be a transformation related to your self-esteem, self-confidence, mental/emotional state, etc.

Getting Started

Now that you’ve thought about your past experience, how it has affected you today, and how you want to change, you can focus on putting your creative juices to work! As you may have guessed by the title, you’re going to create a self-portrait. This will be a little different than the typical self-portrait though. For this art therapy activity, you will be creating a transformational self-portrait mural. This can be a painting, drawing, collage, whatever you want. You can use any materials you’d like in any combination. Don’t feel like you have to restrict yourself…creativity is encouraged!

The First Piece of the Transformational Self Portrait

Based on the concept you devised above, the first piece of the transformational self portrait you will create will be based on the experience that negatively impacted your life and caused a negative transformation or life change to your “self.” Remember, you are creating a self portrait, so this first piece will be a self-portrait based on how you were in the past as a result of the experience. Think back to when you had your negative experience and how you felt when it happened. You can create a self-portrait based on the details of the experience/event, or you can create something based on one aspect of the experience that might be the source of the negative impact, or you can make the first piece an overall reflection of your “self” at that time.

The Second Piece

The second piece you will create will be another self-portrait, but it will more of a traditional self-portrait in the sense that your creation will reflect your “self” as you are today. The caveat of this being that it should reflect how you are today because of the negative experience mentioned above.

The Final Piece of the Transformational Self Portrait

The third, and final piece of your transformational self-portrait, as you may have figured out by now, is the piece that looks toward the future. This particular activity doesn’t have to be a reflection of the immediate future or any specific date. Step outside yourself as much as possible for this and think about how you WANT to be, about how you WANT to change your “self” because of your past negative experience. Think about how you see your “self” in the future after you’ve transformed. Create a self-portrait of this ideal future self.

Putting It All Together

Look at your 3 pieces and put them together to see your final product. Look at what you’ve created and see if you can notice elements in your creation that reflect the transformation that occurred and the transformation you want to happen. And now that you’ve created an image of your ideal future self, you can work on becoming the image you created. Certainly, this is easier said than done, but hopefully this will be a good start, and a reminder, to work on your future transformation!

Mind Maps

Trying to sort out a lot of information? Too many options? Mind Maps are a great tool to visually observe all of your options for any given situation. We tend to live in a very linear world due to the limits of verbal communication allowing us to only say one word after another. As students, most people tend to take notes following this model of linear thinking and transmitting information. Mind maps offer another option and one that allows for a more visually stimulating opportunity to process information.

Please think of a goal, a plan for the near future, or a problem.
Find some paper and a writing utensil.
If you are feeling extra creative use several different colors of marker or colored pencils.
Write or draw your current situation in the middle of the page.
Think of several different options for the choices relating to this and begin to draw or write words around the initial image on the page.
This mind map might resemble a neuron, a star fish, an amoeba or a sun with rays.

7. Think of the pros and cons of each path, and include this in your information.

8. Think of what each choice will lead to if you continue on one of the paths as a solution to the original predicament.

9. Maybe assign a color to the different options you are presenting on this mind map.

10. The result should be a visually stimulating array of options and more in line with how our brain really works.

11. Hopefully this technique can help you sort out all of your options to figure out the best path to take to reach the end goal.

It is very easy to not make a plan in many situations, because change and growth often requires tremendous amount of work. Not making a choice though is actually making a choice that you are settling for the status quo. Change can be painful, disruptive, challenging but is always rewarding in the end.

Grown-up Transitional Object

Why This Activity?We tend to lose our center or our “home” when we are facing a life change or transition. Turtles and snails are two creatures that carry their homes with them

where ever they go. They don’t change who they are based on where they are or what

others expect of them. They are symbols of moving slowly and methodically. This

activity helps the participants to explore and identify safe, constant, and positive

aspects of themselves and create a concrete reminder they can carry with them.

Materials:

Drawing paper, magazines, markers, paint and brushes (optional), computer and printer (optional), scissors, glue, varnish (optional), smooth stones or clear glass flat bottomed marbles

How To:

Explain the metaphor of turtles and snails. These are two of many creatures that carry their homes with them where ever they go and don’t lose “themselves” because they are in a new place or facing a transition. Change is not easy for everyone, whether it entails moving off to college for the first time, starting a new class, it can create challenges for anyone. Insecurities about fitting in to a new environment and displacing anxiety about transition may cause anxiety to help manage the feelings. What stays the same no matter where you go? What helps you remember your strengths and manage your anxiety?
Using either discussion or a free write, have clients identify at least one positive, constant, reliable, quality about themselves. If it is impossible to identify one, choose one word or one phrase that is calming or inspirational. Is there a word or a phrase that keeps you centered when you feel you are losing your sense of self? Is there a photo, figurine, or piece of jewelry that reminds you to breathe, focus on the positive and stay present when you are in stressful or unfamiliar situations?

If possible, have the client collect smooth stones from the beach, garden, or park. This adds a physical element to the activity and an opportunity to introduce the client to a new leisure location. If working inpatient, or if incorporating an outing is not an option, provide the stones or clear glass flat bottom marbles as part of the materials to the participants. These can be purchased in garden stores or craft shops.
On a piece of paper, either hand-write in marker, print out from a computer, or cut out from a magazine a word, phrase, or picture that was identified in step 2 and apply to the stone or marble with decoupage glue. Allow to dry and apply several more coats for extra protection.
Optional: Some people prefer to add a coat of varnish on the finished product for a glossier finish, or paint the word, phrase, or image on the rock directly. You can also use Fimo™ or other clay to craft the stones.