My student, Tamara sent me a fantastic blog by David Lapin. He speaks about fatigue vs depletion. David says, “Fatigue is when a muscle or the mind has been used almost to the point of failure and it requires rest to recuperate. Contrastingly, depletion is when our inner resources of energy have been drained—and this may have no connection to exertion. One can be depleted without feeling tired. And one can be tired without feeling depleted.”You can read his article here,
https://lapininternational.com/leadership-blog/r-r/ .Many people I know seem to be in this space right now. Instability in coping with Covid, working to the fullest capacity, seeing less of the people we love, and an overwhelming feeling of burnout!
Everything we used to do on a habitual, day-to-day basis, seems a distant & different Pre-Covid memory. It’s hard to explain… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something has changed & most of us are pretending it hasn’t. Most evenings I sit in my studio & do art. This is most often, journalling of some kind. Either a drawing, collage or a combination of both. I’ve noticed something interesting in my latest journal. (I started this one on 8 March 2020, just before the pandemic hit)
My journal has taken an unforeseen twist. I am doing less ‘art’ and more, writing down & doodling of thoughts. More self-medicating through art for self-healing.
It is not a new concept to me, I already know I art when I am happy, sad, mad, angry, excited, proud, or scared.
But, I hadn’t noticed how obvious it was in my journal until I read the article. There is some science to this…Stress reduces your creativity, yet creativity reduces stress. Makes perfect sense why I gravitate to it to heal me, and it works! Taking just 15 minutes a day to do something as simple as adding color to a coloring book will help to align your emotions & clear your head. Art makes you feel calmer and more relaxed. And so, I have created a stress relieving, gratitude jar for you to try this out for yourself. Focusing on what you DO HAVE, instead of what you don’t, can be a powerful exercise.-Print it out & read through all the instructions below before you begin.
INSTRUCTION :
-Allow 30 minutes when you can be alone and don’t feel rushed (you can put some soft instrumental music on in the background)
-Close your eyes & take three deep, slow breaths to clear & neutralize your mind.
-While your eyes are still closed, be mindful of what feelings of gratitude come up for you. (take your time)
-Open your eyes & fill your jar with gratitude!
Pencil crayons are great for this!
-You can use a different colour for each item, you can use words, patterns or symbols.
Remember, there are no rules!
You are not making art as such, just putting feelings of gratitude to paper.
I’d love to know how the activity feels for Yoooooouuuuuu?
Let me know by writing your comments below.
ps. I have an online, Junk Journal Workshop that teaches you how to create your own journal from scratch. You can find the details by clicking on the third tab at the top of the site, labeled ‘WORKSHOPS’