Courage

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.
Maya Angelou

My body when I was pregnant

My body allowed to nurture a baby to life. I was able to nourish a miracle baby within my womb. My body provided nutrients to allow an innocent being grow to a healthy little. I had to surrender my perceived control of what I thought I should eat or drink, I followed my intuition to eat healthy foods that were filled with nutrients in order to provide nutrition. My body was a vessel for a miracle to grow from a small pea to a full grown healthy 8lb 11 oz baby boy.
God, please remind me everyday that this little boy, now 11 years old, that he still needs me. He needs me in a different way and I need to nourish myself like I did back then.  

The Art World

My goals and dreams are to be submersed in the art world. I love everything there is about art from the paintbrush to the canvas. I want to wake up in the morning to the  smell of paints and to see my canvas in progress. I want to paint in a well lit room filled with the warm sunshine and a view of the beach. I want to be engulfed by all the art books, images and art supplies.
I want to be excited when I wake up-thinking of which color or brush stroke I will use next. I want to be excited of what emotions will surface as I am creating-and embrace the feelings.  I want to sit quietly and calmly on my art stool and wait for the art inspiration to warm over me. I want to sit in the silence and be okay, knowing that I am safe within the four colorful walls. I want to feel the smooth wooden brush in my hands, the tool that glides silky paint onto the rough canvas.
I want to wake up knowing that what I am doing is helping another person. I want to be confident that my creation will affect another viewer. I want to trust that each selected color, each selected line or image is channeled from up above and is in turn a gift to others.
I want to know that I am fulfilling the mission that God entrusted to me. I want to acknowledge that I am using each minute as a time to be in life. I want to know that I am using God's gifts and I am viewing them as precious jewels. I want to know that I am being of service to the world.

How I see Recovery

I see my days being filled with activities that contribute to the world. No longer consumed with what I will or not eat. No longer worried of how much did I eat and how can I get it out. Rather, I will live in the moment! I will be mindful of my thoughts, actions and surroundings. I will be in the present; I will notice that I am breathing, that I am following my life's purpose, that I am helping another person, that I am following what God has planned for me, that I am of worth to this physical world.
I want to rebuild the way I think, see and speak. I want to rebuild how I act in my day. I want each minute to be meaningful, for time is priceless. You can never go back, you can never experience the past the way you did the first time. You cannot stop time, it happens whether we are fully present or not. Recovery is feeling the feeling in the moment, knowing that it is present for a reason and to accept as just a feeling.
Recovery is living, rather than just existing. Thriving, rather than just surviving.
Recovery is being of service to others.
Recovery is living in love.
Recovery is living in life.

Art Therapy

“Art” is always being used in form of pleasure, expression and communication. It always played with human psychology in order to communicate, entertain, express and satisfy. Art is as useful for a common person as for an artist in creativity.

Art therapy is psychological related term that uses art media as its primary mode of communication. According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is based on the belief that the creative process of art is both healing and life-enhancing.. It is useful for any age person who may find himself over-whelmed by the intensity of his emotions which is difficult to face either for him self or with other. It gives an opportunity to explore these painful or intensive thoughts and feelings in a supportive environment. Art therapy can be individual activity but is often used very successfully in group situation such as in art studios and in workshops that focus on creativity development. Art therapists work with children, adolescents, and adults and provide services to individuals, couples, families, groups, and communities.

    It involves wide variety of art materials like paints, clay, chalks, markers, batik and many more. Art therapy is very useful for hyper active children, stressed and over worked people in order to give confidence, relaxation and enhance cognitive ability. In this therapy person has to use art material in order to express him self. There is no special art skill require for the person only his reaction is important for expression. By applying oil and acrylic paints with finger person can easily release its tension. By using clay, markers, chalks and other medium of art person’s personality usually judged by the art therapist.

This therapy is not only useful for adults and old people in order to increase cognitive abilities, better relationships with family and friends, able to enjoy the life-affirming pleasures of the creative experience but especially for aggressive children for their better development.

                                                                                                      Sehrish chauhdary

                                                                                                  Artist and an art teacher.

My Soul Needs a Home

My soul needs a home
it wanders without direction
it floats without a rutter.
Only adrift,
moving with each gust of wind,
back and forth, any which way.
No one taking command, no one at the helm.
Loneliness and hopelessness are the only ones that steer it.

My soul needs to feel at peace.
The cry for safety and comfort echo
As the cold, salty tear drops flow out.
My voice box aches from strain,
as the silent screams reverberate.
Hoping, but never finding the way
I keep looking for the light that may illuminate the road to peace.
Yet, negativity and confusion darkens my path.

My soul longs for unconditional love.
Where is it? Who is it? And how is it found?
So many questions, but no one to answer them.
My doubts and fears do not fade,
they only accumulate, creating a dense cloud.
When and how will I know the positive path to peace?
Isolation and naivety drowns me.

My soul longs for forgiveness
Please Lord, cleanse me of my dark and gloomy past.
Although, I am undeserving of good and honest love,
Please, give me another chance to prove myself to You.
Bless me from up above
May the Holy Spirit enter my decomposed soul
so, I may live, breathe and funnel the majestic energy.
I will spread and transfer this blessing to others.
Aliveness and joy will emanate from my entire being.
by Monica Ibarra-Robbins

This lifetime I have learned that rebellions, do not get anywhere. To be rebellious creates negative energy; it is action without thought, which usually results in getting oneself into trouble.
Instead of turning my back on my parents, going at life with blinders on my eyes and spikes on my body – I could have opened my heart and my mouth to communicate with them. Accepting and trying to understand where they were, rather than being a self- centered teenager.
*** I wanted to be understood, yet did not want to understand them. My lesson is to understand them. My lesson is to have my heart and eyes open to whom I am around- be open to the person and the situation. Each person has a different background, culture, views and opinions. **My mission is to understand them and then I can better be understood. We all affect each other, so I need to work with people, not against them.
By Monica Ibarra-Robbins