June 21st, 2022

 
June is PTSD awareness month, share art healing with all those struggling!

When bad things happen, our body initially records these impressions in the senses. Once we try to make meaning of the event, it already has become a secondary layer of the experience. Mental health actually starts with the senses, not the mind.

Pain is generally avoided and covered up in self sabotaging behaviors such as addiction, violence and destructive behaviors. This not only doesn’t heal anything but causes more pain.
So, where does one start?
One starts at the beginning, the senses.

Art is a powerful tool to hear and express the depths of pain, confusion & whatever else lost in the mire of PTSD.
Texture, color ,symbol and image can express emotions safely and accurately. Often, words are just not able to ’paint the picture’ within leading to a feeling of being an outcast and misunderstood.

Our angst needs to be seen and recognized. The art process provides this experience providing a map of what’s going on within, thus allowing clarity and expression of our deepest truths. Once we feel validation from witnessing what’s really going on, one can make forward progress towards true healing.

The art process also allows us to make the pain beautiful and create a way to carry it differently, less destructive and still honor that which has made us who we have become from our traumatic experience.

Remember…
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN ARTIST TO HEAL!!!!