Blog
# 14: The Role of Creativity and Self-Expression in Healing
To round out
these seven blogs on hypnosis, self-hypnosis, and meditation, I believe that it
is important to mention how creativity and inspiration can enhance physical,
emotional, and mental well-being. At one
point, I suffered with physical and emotional pain stemming from many things,
including my father’s death. Mining life
for inspiration and sharing through creative outlets helped me more deeply than anything else during
this difficult time. Of course, I did
get lots of rest, ate wholesome food, practiced qi gong exercises, and received
regular treatments which included chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, and flower essence therapy. Two of the other things that helped me
were spending time in nature, and writing.
Because of
my love of nature and writing, I facilitate a nature writing group at North
Park Village Nature Center one Sunday each month. The nature writing group is
open to whoever feels drawn to it. Each
month we share writing and walk in the nature preserve. I hope that the group has been helpful to
many of the people who have participated over the years.
Below, you
can read writings of some of the people who have attended this group.
Blue #4
By Robert Lawrence, this poem was published
in Exact Change Only, winter 2013 edition
When I feel blue,
I receive the most acute comfort
from listening to the rough twang
and painful times of down-home blues.
Sky-blue is simultaneously
cell membrane thin and depthless.
Red is a warm color;
blue is a cool color (blue
walls can lower blood pressure)
but blue flames burn much
hotter than red flames.
I summon these paradoxes
after storm clouds have cleared
and a blue star shines high
over glistening snow crystals.
Elder Home Visit: Alice
By Ilda Castellanos
Alice, how are you?
It’s so good to see you.
I sing you “Somewhere Over the
Rainbow”,
You say “that’s a nice song.”
Your love, John, is happy to see you.
Your Lynn, your first born, is
delighted to see you.
You serve up delicious pickled beets
with onions
That you made just for us, which we
snack on before
I teach you how to play skip-Bo.
“Not a fun game,” you say,
But you try a few games.
“How are things with you,” you always
say
After you greet me,
After you tell me to take off my coat
And get comfortable.
On a Winter Path
By Betty
Jacobsen
on a winter path
my foot catches on a small branch
frozen upright in the snow
I fall face forward
onto the icy earth, then turn
and lie gazing upward
beneath a darkening sky
under a looming cloud of gray
In the apiary nearby hives hum
quietly
with the winter work of bees
dying drones cast out
from the honey of sweet companionship
gasp and struggle beside me
on the cold white ground
their life force spent
in the act of procreation
the frigid air is thick with portent
hung with prescience
heavy with augury
something’s about to happen
spring
or an awful storm
I hope you enjoyed these poems. People have brought short stories, essays, articles, journal
entries, blogs, songs, and even excerpts from novels to
our group.
Starting next month, the next seven
issues of this blog will cover detoxification and nutrition.
This blog’s offer: Come join us at our next Nature Writing Group
on Sunday, May 19th from 11 am until 1 pm at the Nature Center in
North Park Village, at 5801 North Pulaski, in Chicago. Feel free to contact me with questions about
directions. As always, please share this blog with others.
