Catalyst #128

This newest catalyst at Creative Therapy

is to use art to show "what you want to

give your children that you wish you had".

This journal cover is my interpetation of that.

The concept of being true to yourself is

not too hard to say and to teach,

but to let your children actually LIVE that

is the hard part, 'cause as a parent I have ideas

and dreams for them that may not be who they are!

 The vintage kids represent my

2 daughters, and 3 sons.

Catalyst #127 "THRIVE"

The Catalyst # 127 over @ Creative Therapy
is to use some type of art medium to
show what your "word" for the year is...

This is my first attempt at collage and tho
it was fun I'm not sure its something
I will be doing a lot of. I have wanted
to try it so this was a good opp.

I chose the word THRIVE.
For so many years my life has been
marked by foot slogging survival,
and believe me it has not been easy
for one main reason! I am not a "just survival" sort
of person-I like to grow and be challenged and
live life very fully, but that all got derailed
for a lot of years.
A friend of mine asked me the
other day how I was doing and I said "surviving"
and she looked at me really intently and said
"When is the last time you were thriving?"
and then I knew what my word was for this year!
When I looked up the definition I loved that, it
was exactly the heart of what my prayers
and hopes for this year are.
And that doesn't mean
that there won't be hard days or trouble or
mountains to climb or valleys too dark to see in.
But I believe that when God says Jesus came
to give us abundant life, He meant what He said!
This blog is a really important element of my
efforts to thrive, as I like to keep it focused
on learning from others, pushing myself
to try new ideas, and growing as a person
through the many lives that intersect mine.

Creative Therapy Catalyst #126

I've decided to join some of the things happening

in Blogland this coming year and will be
posting about them on my blog.

 Over at Creative Therapy

the idea is to use different forms of creative

and artistic expression as therapy.

The newest catalyst is

"tell about a time when someone hurt your feelings"

This sketch above reflects a very painful

memory of a New Years Eve a few years ago.

I had arranged for myself, and someone

I loved, to go for a special New Years trip

to a beautiful, sunny beach and stay at

a lovely hotel.

On New Years Eve the day began to go

wrong early on and as the evening

advanced things began to fall apart.

Half way through dinner I left the table in tears

and went alone to my room because of

the hurtful things that had been said.

I chose to use only black and gray for the

colors in the sketch even tho my tendency is

to use a lot of color in all my crafts

so the feeling would be dark and sad.

It may seem an odd post for New Years Eve

but I hope it will help me heal and forgive

the past...
(It helps me to know that the person who hurt me
had a disease and I didn't realize it, so now
their behavior is easier to understand)

I hope each of you will have a safe
AND HAPPY New Year's Eve!