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Achieving Mindfulness and calm through creative expression
Hi everyone. I’ve had bronchiectasis for over 30 years and have had 2 lobectomies. I am an artist and a licensed independent clinical social worker. Having worked in medical, psychiatric and private practice settings over my career I am now disabled due to my BE but I continue to want to help others.
I’ve created a series of youtube videos using art as a way to cultivate a state of mindfulness and reduce anxiety. If you are interested in a fun and relaxing creative experience focused on healing through art my channel
I am in no way trying to promote myself here…I am sincere in my own story and struggles with BE and just want to put my experience to use for those that might be uplifted.
Be Well,
Maggie Hart
Replies to "Achieving Mindfulness and calm through creative expression Hi everyone. I’ve had bronchiectasis for over 30 years..."
@maggiehart I wanted to say hello and welcome you. I found many ways that I could use my own artwork to get me through my fears of major surgery, and to overcome and understand where those fears came from and in doing all that, I deprogrammed my fears. My story is unique in that I was loosing the ability to control my arms and I didn't want to loose my artistic ability that I had worked so hard to achieve, and I needed a surgeon to address the spine problem that was causing it, yet I was very afraid of surgery. I learned how to cope in my self directed art therapy and was completely calm on my surgery day. I am still amazed that I figured out how to do this and that I had this capability within myself. I just needed to believe that I could.
I started talking about it at the beginning of this discussion with this post.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/221700/
Scroll to the next post and there are some pictures.
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Welcome @maggiehart. I moved your post about mindfulness and calm through art to this existing discussion:
- Art for Healing https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/art-for-healing/
You'll find that Mayo Clinic Connect members include many accomplished professional and amateur artists who use different forms of art and mediums, like @jenniferhunter @harriethodgson1 @frances007 @artgirl2 @parus @paulalina @ricm58 who also recognize and channel the healing value of art.
You're so right that the making of art - whether you're good at it or not - creates a state of mindfulness and reduces anxiety.