Art4Healing

My friend Kathy (KAS) Sartori wrote on her blog:

I’m a DreamTraveler.  I believe, to be happy, we have to recreate ourselves, maybe not every day but two or three times a year and many times in a decade.  That’s what makes life an adventure.  www.dreamtravelerkas.blogspot.com.

                I agree completely with KAS. Once you stop recreating yourself and your life, you stop living. I also believe we only have a short lifetime to pack it all in and I don’t intend on wasting a minute of it.

     I’ve been searching for something to add meaning to my life. It has to meet a lot of criteria. I want to be able to give back to the community but while doing so I need to be doing something I really enjoy. So far I’ve done a lot of different volunteer activities that didn’t quite fit. I was involved in a doing craft activities with unwed mothers in a residential facility. I did that for several years but tired of thinking up crafts, buying supplies, then going to the facility only to find out the girls were busy with other programs, or the staff had forgotten it was our night to come, or...a myriad of other excuses. I tried the Boys and Girls Club but was just a babysitter among a bunch of chaos and I’m too old for that. I took an art class and started painting, which I love. Then I took two Reiki classes and enjoyed that but couldn’t figure out a way to use it in a volunteer setting to help others. I really loved the spiritual aspect of Reiki and can use it in my nursing job, so it wasn’t a total loss.

     My friend Erin kept telling me about Art 4 Healing. She said I would be great at it and I finally decided to give it a try by taking a class myself. I’VE FOUND IT! This is what I’m meant to do. It’s been a journey but I haven’t given up.

     Saturday morning I drove to Laguna Niguel to attend the workshop PAINTING FOR YOUR SOUL. The picture here is one of the projects I completed. It’s called REST FOR MY SOUL. I love how it turned out. We did a total of 4 projects in three hours. It felt so peaceful while I was there and therapeutic for many reasons.

     I’ve decided I’m going to take the intensive workshop in July and become a Certified Art4Healing facilitator. That way I’ll be able to hold my own workshops and assist others in working through their issues. This is perfect for me. I can incorporate all my interests and talents into one. I love teaching, nursing, helping others, and I love art. I can’t wait.

     So, I now have the direction I’m going to go in next. In the words of my oldest son, “Good times!”