During this time, when it can feel hard to know which end is up, I find myself (along with many others I'm sure) yearning for a sense of groundedness and safety. I recently came across a beautiful image in Taproot magazine by an artist named Meera Lee Patel. The image captivated me and seemed to convey how I've been feeling lately—out of sorts, almost dreamliike, and caught up in a whirlwind of "stuff". Noise, information, sights, colors, thoughts, worries, excitement, hope, despair, beauty, sadness. In an expressive arts therapy group I attended yesterday, we were asked to find an image we resonated with and respond to it in some sort of creative way. I immediatley knew I would use the image from Taproot and wrote this poem based on the feelings it invokes in me:
Uprooted:
Whirlwind of newness
Surrounded by trees
Some uprooted, some firmly planted
Reaching for the familiar sweetness of fruit and flowers
As the wind carries them away…
Just out of reach
The smell of cinammon in the air
Is that a house up ahead?
The path is winding and crooked…and long
But it is still a path
It has been carved away and cleared
By many who were also tired
And I may find that the door is unlocked
And a fire waits for me inside.
I invite you to find an image that you are drawn to or that holds a special place in your heart and spend some time engaging with it. What does it have to tell you? What about it draws you in? If you could magically appear inside the image, where would you place yourself? Next, create some kind of response art in the form of writing, movement, visual art, or even a song. Take note of how you feel after engaging in this process. My hope is that it brings you some deeper understanding of yourself and your feelings and allows for a feeling of release through self-expression. These times are hard but processing them with the help of the expressive arts can help make them a bit easier. Please share how this process felt for you!
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