health

Haiku August 25, 2012 Art Medicine

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Fragile ego sits

Paints for two hours, color!

Smiles, pride takes over.

Art Prescription:  I taught an Art Prescription workshop today at UNC Wellness Center. I took in a big beautiful flower arrangement for them to work from. A tall order for most people who say “I can’t even draw a stick figure.” The medicine of the Art Prescription is to help participants be in the moment, respond to the paper and paint, let go of the inner critic, and just express! I started by giving a demonstration of blocking in colors, and the second part was to do some pen and ink to give the suggestion of movement and shape.  I could see the looks of fear on their faces as I read a couple of opening poems. By the end of our two hours together everyone was on to their second painting. Amazing what adults will do if just given the permission to play!!

Haiku August 20, 2012 Social Beings

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Quiet studio

Walk to seek social contact

Neighborhood friends, dogs!

Art Prescription:  Art can be a lonely endeavor at times. Creativity needs quiet, and as humans we also need social contact to thrive. I mix it up by going to the Wellness Center most mornings to swim or do yoga, and then round out my day with an evening walk in my neighborhood. Since we have cats, I get to say hello and pet all my dog friends, I like their owners too! Balance is the key…how do you maintain balance?

Haiku August 16, 2012 Sexy Bras

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Uncomfortable

Bind, mold, shape, lift, divide, fit

Fit? Fashion? sexy?

Art Prescription:  Okay so this is predominately for my female readers. I recently bought a new swim suit from a local athletic store. I’m a lap swimmer so my suits wear out fast. When I went to pick it up, the store owner informed me that they will now be stocking the suit I ordered…you know a lap suit with a shelf bra. She commented she wasn’t as “old as I was and she liked a bit of support.” WHAT!?! That was a few weeks ago, and me being me, I’m still thinking about shelf or no shelf, under-wire, or athletic, padded or minimizer…Really don’t we all just want to be comfortable under our clothes. Is this too simple to ask? Our culture and advertising dictates what the “real” woman should look like. Masses of women are spending lots of money to try and fits these ideals. How have we gotten so far away from seeing each other as real human beings, each with an individual spirit and joy of life, each with their own gift to give right now. I now step down from my box…

Haiku August 3, 2012 Operating Room I

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They all stood in blue

Cold steel scattered cross table

Heart-beat is steady.

Art Prescription:  A little different haiku today, one I wrote while in the surgical suite this morning. Thought I’d share a bit about my left-brain job. I work part-time as a nurse in OMFS or Oral Maxillofacial Surgery. After the surgeons and surgical assistants scrub in, they all put on sterile blue gowns. These gowns are paper and discarded after each surgery. The patient is draped and bundled until all you see is the part that’s gonna get worked on – today being a mandible (lower jaw). So envision a huddle of blue figures standing along with a couple of trays filled with assorted surgical instruments, drills, clips, gauze, suture, wires, tubes, suction, etc….and the steady sound of the patient’s heart beating rhythmically.

Haiku July 20, 2012 Change is hard.

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Metamorphosis

The caterpillar grows wings

Drinks life’s new nectar.

Art Prescription:  One constant in life is change. And it is probably one of the most difficult parts about being human. Each day we have to accept changes in our bodies, our environment, our jobs, our families. The challenge may not be the change itself, but how we cope. Change is hard, especially for folks like me who are creatures of habit. My husband sometimes compares me to “Rain Man,” because out of my routine I get a little anxious. Guilty as charged. On the other hand change is sometimes good. Something may happen to jar us out of our contented routine, get our attention, and cause us to have to shift our thinking a bit. Like a slug being pulled off a rock, we hold on, until the moment we are plopped down elsewhere to find new balance.

Haiku July 13, 2012 Sexy Body

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Run like a gazelle

Swim like a dolphin, movement

Honor your body.

Art Prescription:  Okay so I don’t run like a gazelle. I am a swimmer and it is my brain boosting drug of choice. Swimming to me is like meditation. I get into a rhythm and my mind can wander freely. Feeling weightless in the water perhaps is primordial. We are all built differently – is there a sport you identify with – dancing, fencing, walking, hiking, biking, tennis, golf…Main thing is to care for your sexy body!! Cheers!

 

 

Haiku June 26, 2012 A Creative Life

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Generate happy

A place for the mind to go.

Do work then step back.

Art Prescription:  My mission with The Art Prescription is to motivate everyone to live a creative life, with the underpinning that it is good for your health. When we create we are in the moment, like meditation or yoga, focused, sending our brain good messages to increase our well-being chemicals like serotonin. Realizing that most people work and feel the time constraints of daily life, I’m brainstorming on a list of creative projects that are attainable in the busy life we all lead. What ideas do you have? What would work in your life? Send me your ideas!!!

“How to be creative in 10 minutes or less”

a la “how to have great abs in 10 minutes or less”

Creative prompts for the busy working woman who wants to have a creative spark into her daily round!

1. have a little space set up for daily journaling

2. save scraps and/or quotes you love – fortune cookies

3. write, scribble, draw with crayons, colored pencils, pen and ink – just put something on the page

Chances are if you give yourself 10 undivided minutes, you might want to continue…

4. just do something everyday to keep the well from drying up

5. even if it’s just commentary on your work day – write it, and paint the page red

6. list what you accomplished that day, instead of a to do list

7. list 3 things you are grateful for

8. See, hear, or taste something new – write it down

9. Notice at least one thing about nature.

10. Allow your imagination to have a life of it’s own, always write down your spontaneous thoughts – they might lead to something!!

A few random thoughts after a glass of wine….

Haiku June 4, 2012 Choice

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Crystal clear wine glass

Ah, what gets poured, happiness

Fill up on your choice.

Art Prescription:  Today, my birthday, I meditate on choice. I believe how you choose to live, how you choose to think, what you fill your life with… a glass half-empty or half full…is very well what you end up with.  You can spend your days waiting for the “perfect” thing to come along and “make” you happy, or you can choose to fill your life with contentment and gratitude. For me, working towards my goal to touch people’s lives with art feeds my spirit everyday. I can claim to be swept along by any old current in life, or choose!! Choose the direction I want to swim to save my very own life!! This one very precious life….go ahead now, jump in!!

Haiku May 10, 2012 Time

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Mysterious time

Too much time, too many thoughts

Not enough, stressful.

Art Prescription:  Everyone has experienced times in life where the clock seems to stretch out for hours.  And other days time is gone in minutes. Time is a human encounter. It’s as much about physical as psychological. How you spend your thoughts often manifest in how you spend your day. If thoughts were money, how would you spend them. Would you buy something positive? Or allow your money to go down a drain? Every morning, regardless of how sleepy and “tired” you feel, you need to tell yourself: This is going to be a GREAT DAY! Now make it happen!