Crisis Care with Art
When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: get out the art supplies!
During a crisis there is a lot for the rational mind to tackle. Contrarily, times of crisis also expose all the ways the mind can be our worst enemy. It will drag us into crazy looped thinking, catastrophizing the future, and the action paralysis brought on by profound uncertainty. I identify strongly as analytical and articulate, but I’ve been focusing over the last year or so on setting those tools aside when they really aren’t the best option I’ve got. My mind gets a holiday, and other parts of myself present themselves for a different way of being.
So after tackling the mind aspects of this crisis (food management, caring for parents, minimizing exposure, taking care of responsibilities), I pulled out the colored pencils and markers and let myself be with the intangibles. I’m an amateur and untrained artist, and that’s okay; for the most part making art is its own end, and whether a piece is done depends on when the process has brought me to the state of being
There’s a lot to be said for taking anxiety and gratitude and sorrow and kindness, and drawing them out, literally and metaphorically.
