I am incredibly inspired by Day Schildkret's impermanent earth art, Morning Altars. This morning, he posted the following on his Morning Altars' Instagram page:
"Today I'm calling for a GLOBAL ALTAR MOB! What that means is: 1. Go outside: Take that anxiety and worry to the trees. Go wander and forage. 2. Make an altar: Do it on the streets, the sidewalks, the forests, beaches and esp in front of places of power! 3. Channel your heart and mind: Place your hopes, fears, dreams, grief, exhaustion, prayers and pleas in the altar. 4. Share it: Post on social media to warm our hearts, give us courage and gather us in. Make sure you hashtag it: #morningaltars #victoryaltars #vote Let's make altars pop up everywhere today! Nature and art as activism, my friends!" This image is the election day victory/democracy altar that I created in response to Day's call - it was such a centering, calming, and literally-grounding exercise to take part in on an anxiety-provoking day. I was thankful for the suggestion and opportunity to direct my energy into this process and to spend time in nature and create beauty rather than stew in anxiety. I've been following Morning Altars for a few years and have wanted to make an earth altar like this for a long time and had just never taken the time to do it. This was my first time and certainly not my last! The truth is, we don't need the stress of an election to inspire this kind of creative meditation -- I commit to creating more earth altars and sharing them here, join me if you feel inspired to as well.
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Unsurprisingly, my nervous system regulation practice # 2 is: MAKE SOME ART!
It doesn’t matter what it is — it could be coloring in a coloring book, pasting a collage, doodling in a notepad, painting on a canvas, or messing with some clay. We can approach the act of creation as an active meditation and easily access a flow state, regulating our entire system. I’ve been working more on my houseplant series and truly nothing calms me and grounds me in the present moment quite like sitting down and focusing on pasting these little torn pieces of paper onto the canvas. Everything else drops away and I am immersed in flow... calmed, grounded, and regulated. I invite you to try making something this week if it’s been a while. Don't focus on the outcome or finished product - no need for your creation to look good or to be shared with another single soul -- just create as a form of meditation and let the rest go. I’m honestly pretty bad at plain old meditation. I prefer some form of active, creative meditation which has often taken the form of coloring in coloring books. I was recently coloring and was reminded of what a powerful form of meditation it is. I felt so inspired by it, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops and share it with everyone I knew. So, I decided I would color a flower mandala and post it here — no matter how it turned out — as a way to inspire others. Once I committed to posting it “no matter how it turned out,” I obviously wanted it to look pretty fabulous — and then of course, all of the things went wrong…
As I was coloring, a few of the colors bled into one another; the paper started pilling; one marker ran out of ink halfway through and I had to improvise with a similar color; I didn’t end up liking some of the colors I chose once I saw them on the paper; and I kept accidentally coloring outside of the lines! As I experienced each of these mishaps, I noticed a part of me that was very frustrated, worried if this flower would be inspiring and lovely enough to share, and wanted to throw in the towel and start a new one altogether. But every time, a smaller, softer voice chimed in and reminded me that regardless of the end result, I was meditating - a practice of simply staying in the present moment and continuing to color. I chose to listen to this softer voice over and over again until I finished the flower. Once it was complete, and having persevered through my various mistakes and doubts, I decided to do a bit of active imagination (Jungian dialogue) with the flower and ask it if it had anything to tell me. It said: “Despite my imperfections, I am boldly blossoming.” I loved this so much; it was exactly what I needed to hear - and don’t we all need this reminder? This year, I’m committed to sharing with you more about my imperfect creations, attempts at meditation practice, and messy creative process so I can boldly blossom as a creative human being. What about you? Is there anything you’re committed to persevering through - despite any imperfections - and boldly blossoming in 2019? |