Why do we do what we do?

I was just reading a post on Lanie Garrity's wonderful blog 14 Secrets to a Happy Artists life,  and one of her posts focused on this question.  It really got me thinking about my life now,  as an artist and as an art therapist.

I was born with a congenital heart condition, and as an only child growing up in Chicago, I spent alot of time alone, often in the hospital, and when not, missing school often, rarely playing outside with other children.

I was pretty lonely, and art became my best friend, my ally, and my constant companion.

I self soothed, created imaginary friends and worlds, and lost myself for hours in lovely fantasy.

This rich inner world, stayed with me my whole life, and after having open heart surgery on my 13th birthday, I threw myself into life and activity.

But artmaking stayed with me, throughout my life and shaped my life into the one it is today.

As a child, I remember often looking down from our third floor window watching the kids in the alley and courtyard, riding bikes, playing with hoola hoops and on the swings.  I felt like an outsider and wanted to belong.


And even though making art made me happy I wanted to do it with others...  Whenever I was sick, my parents would give me another paint by numbers set, or kit for weaving pot holders.  I loved to make different things, use my hands, and build little people out of mushed up toilet paper, making up stories and traveling across the united states in our long hallway with my handmade paper doll friends....

As I fast forward to my life now, I see that I live a life now that allows me to do art with others, share all the different art processes I have learned, and offer   others the opportunity to explore the healing realms of their imagination.

This is a bit more personal that I have been before on this blog, but it seemed to fit for today, so Thank you Lanie  for your wonderful prompt.

Why do you do what you do?     Ciao

Imagination is the true Magic Carpet....

As we open to the energy of spring, it is important to remember to use its energy to open to the imaginal realm as we create our visions for our lives.   We create it whether we want to or not, know it or not, believe it on not, so why not create consciously.  This is a thought that comes to me again and again as I step into the greening of the spring.

As I travel through my day, I have found myself imagining the green of the earth, the grasses that are sprouting all around my house and my life, growing up into my body and invigorating me with their life force.  Health, vitality, new growth streaming into my body, teaching me how to be in my life with newness and a sense of possibility.

Pay attention to what is right in front of you, take the time, even if its 30 seconds, to cherish the moments of your day, simple, complex, frustrating, and the  challenging as well as the sweet and tangible ones.
These are my spring thoughts, my prayers for balance and a renewed physical engagement with life.

Build a structure of belief whether you believe it or not, let consistency be the ritual that transforms the day and the world into one that fits my dreams.   Send these thoughts on wings of dreamy reverie, put the postage stamp of approval on them, open, hope, suspend judgement.

Honor the imagination.  As Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Because our imagination is like a magic carpet that can take us away, and fill us with hope, and reframe the present so unlike a bitter pill, life is much easier to swallow.

So as the landscape of this season unfolds in my creativity and my dreams and my fantasies, I offer these images and thoughts for bringing spring into your life .

                                               Happy Spring Dream Time to all...