You will need: colored pens, pencils or markers, paper and a quiet space.
- Quiet your mind: Take 2 – 3 minutes to sit down, close your eyes and connect with your breath. If your mind wanders, no problem: keep coming back to your breath.
- Relax: Release any tension from your arms, legs, heart and soul for a few more minutes.
- Ask this question: What is my favorite feeling, smell, sound, thing to see or to touch? Examples are the sound of water, the smell of flowers, a beautiful sunset.
- Settle on one sensory memory.
- Call up memories associated with that: Bring to mind any pleasurable memories associated with the sense you chose. If it was the sound of water, call up a beautiful memory of being near water. Smell of cookies? Bring that memory to mind.
- Dig deeply: How did you feel? Who was there? What were you wearing? What colors do you see? Bring to mind any and all detail of this memory, as if you are trying to recall a dream.
- Be a child! Write, scribble or draw this experience in any spontaneous way it comes out. It might be words, symbols or stick figures: there is no right or wrong; this image is only for you!
- Reflect: Look deeply at your image…most likely, it contains what you are deeply grateful for….and, what you’d like more of in your life right now.
When it comes to gratitude, you have a lifetime of stored memories to draw from…and to draw.
Remember: Creative time is your time: it’s a gift that you deserve!
Yours in health and hope,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bryan-Jacobs is a nationally known artist, creativity facilitator and bestselling author, currently pursuing a master’s degree in art therapy. Through her own recipe of art-making, mindfulness and nature, she supports individuals in awakening their inborn creativity. Her combination of practices opens a path inward to inner wisdom and insight that helps transform challenge to change. The result is a greater sense of presence, connection and empowerment, as well as the abiding joy that is the core of the creative process.
Elizabeth is also the author of bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings and Soul Models: Transformative Stories of Courage and Compassion.
Elizabeth’s passion to share the benefits of creativity, mindfulness and nature inspired her to pioneer Creative Awakenings: Where Spirit Meets Science, a series of innovative, transformational seminars. She has shared Creative Awakenings for nearly two decades, privately and at exclusive venues like Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, The Golden Door Spa in San Marcos, CA, the Ojai Valley Spa and Resort as well as with numerous corporations.
To support wellness during challenging times, Elizabeth now offers Awakenings Circles. These online, mindfulness-based creativity programs and practices help guests dig deeply on their journey in connecting with what matters most.
Elizabeth is a renowned sculptor and artist with works in numerous private and corporate collections, including Dell Children’s Hospital and Healthline Media.
Along with her husband, artist Bobby Jacobs, she is also the co-founder of The Spread Your Wings Project, a non-profit devoted to sharing the benefits of community art-making in response to the challenges faced by our nation today. The couple builds massive pairs of angel wings in community with vulnerable populations for fundraising purposes. For more information, visit TheSpreadYourWingsProject.org.
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