Art of Life and Curiosity

Mairead Ashcroft

Description

Art of Life and Curiosity invites you to open any page of the book to discover new perspectives and provide space to break free from old patterns of thought and behaviour. This interactive mental health wellbeing book can enable opportunities to explore universal life topics to improve holistic wellness in unique ways. By combining theoretical modalities and ancient teachings from the Native American Medicine Wheel, Mindfulness practice, and other wisdoms, readers engage in a semi guided practice of contemplation, self-discovery, and compassionate self-care. Art of Life and Curiosity may be a lifelong mentor whose guidance transforms with your changing developments and needs. Mairead’s survival of religious childhood sexual abuse and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has influenced her training as a trauma informed Counsellor, Art Therapist and Wellness Coach, leading to the development of Art of Life and Curiosity. Readers are encouraged to create their own Wellness Wheel using the easy to follow written and visual directions. Mairead’s creative, symbolic art works and reflective questions, add personal allegories to enhance the reader’s involvement in the book by presenting gentle opportunities for contemplation and transformation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 27 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669889892
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

ART OF LIFE AND CURIOSITY
 
 
Creative Mental Health, Wellbeing and Life Balance Exploration
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 by Mairead Ashcroft. 797029
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
Xlibris
AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)
AU Local: 02 8310 8187 ([phone] from outside Australia)
www.xlibris.com.au
 
 
ISBN: 978-1-6698-8990-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6698-8991-5 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6698-8989-2 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023902410
 
 
 
Rev. date: 07/18/2023

 
 
 
 
 
 
This is a book of love and compassion I dedicate it to my children
Contents
PROLOGUE
PHILOSOPHICAL/HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
Wabi-sabi
Allowing Change
Respect for Mother Earth
Religion
Patriarchy
Industrialisation
Carl Jung
TYPES OF SACRED CIRCLE
Celtic Cross
Native American Medicine Wheel: Northern Hemisphere
Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Medicine Wheel: Southern Hemisphere
Mandala
The Flower of Life
Guiding practices
Mindfulness Practice
Focused Orientation
CREATING AND USING YOUR WELLNESS CIRCLE
INTRODUCTION TO THE PORTIONS
CREATING YOUR WELLNESS CIRCLE
USING YOUR WELLNESS CIRCLE
• Start by noticing your centre
• Choose a Portion
• Find a counterbalance
• Add ingredients to suit your needs if required
• Embody the experience
• Be curious and open as you explore
• Deepen the meaning for yourself
• Record your insights
PORTION 1: CENTRE
Centre
Balance
Learning
Self
Beauty
Harmony
Peace
PORTION 2: BOUNDARY
Boundary
Connection
PORTION 3: EAST
Emotions
12 Fire
13 Sun
14 Dawn
Day
16 Birth
17 Spring
18 Heart
19 Minerals
20 Work
21 Friendship
PORTION 4: SOUTH
22 South
23 Spiritual
24 Soul
25 Noon
26 Growth
27 Summer
28 Plants
29 Family
30 Organisation
PORTION 5: WEST
31 West
32 Physical
33 Water
34 Body
35 Earth
36 Dusk
37 Maturity
38 Autumn
39 Human
40 Leisure
41 Moon
42 Creativity
43 Sexuality
44 Love
PORTION 6: NORTH
North 45
46 Intellect
47 Mind
48 Air
49 Stars
50 Midnight
51 Death
52 Winter
53 Animals
54 Recovery
55 Sleep
56 Dreams
57 Night
PORTION 7: 58 ABOVE
PORTION 8: 59 BELOW
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
 

Prologue
Throughout time and across continents, symbology in art forms have had a strong place in our spiritual and communal imagination. We see evidence of human spiritual and inner world connection in examples such as the Native American Medicine Wheel, Celtic Cross, circular prayer dancing of the Islamic Sufi, Australian Aboriginal artwork, ancient Armenian trigger point tattoo work, and sacred architecture from many parts of the world, representing spirituality and culture. Sacred since Palaeolithic times, the integration of image and other art forms into our faith, culture, and how we represent ourselves in our world have provided us with opportunities for individuality, outward messages of our inner state of being, expressing our passions, values, and dreams. Art of Life and Curiosity will examine universal wisdoms that arise across time and cultures. We will look at meaning making topics that connect us as conscious, thinking beings, and we may process emotions, body felt experiences, and perspectives as they present themselves as they arise while engaging with Art of Life and Curiosity. You will also be encouraged to create your own personal Wellness Wheel. Directions and diagrams will be offered to assist you with this simple process. We will delve into a total of fifty-eight universal topics, each adapted from the philosophies of the Medicine Wheel, Mandala, Celtic cross, Flower of Life and a variety of other sacred practices, familiar life experiences and aspects from nature. By focusing on these areas using Art of Life and Curiosity, you may bring awareness to aspects of your daily life that may be out of balance and preventing you from living according to your values. Equipped with this insight, you can then consider what may or may not need to change to enable you to live with positive intention and authentic meaning. Importantly, Art of Life and Curiosity reminds us that a contented life is one containing a balance of elements and experiences that are held within flexible but strong boundaries.
I practice Transpersonal Creative Arts Therapy which offers many creative approaches for clients to express the topics mentions in addition to their interpersonal, private experience of the world. I do not interpret work but merely offer a safe space for inquiry. As with my clients, you are encouraged to discover your own meanings from messages from your unconscious that shift through your body independently. As if by serendipity, insights and answers to previously untapped wisdom can surface. With the removal of judgment for the aesthetics of the work created, the raw experience may then be explored and understood as a unique, personal message or messages, breaking down language and literacy barriers while offering universally symbolic representations that may be understood in meaningful, transformative ways. We all carry within us, personal answers to our own questions and challenges. They are often tucked away in your unconscious just waiting to be set free. To achieve this we need curiosity, the bravery to delve into places that will unlock some food for thought and a safe place for the exploration to take place. This is what this book, Art of Life and Curiosity can enable for you. I don’t have the answer to your life’s questions. I am, however, qualified to stimulate the space of curiosity for you to explore your solutions.
 
Many societies have developed appropriate wellness circles as an expression of their spiritual and democratic practice. I the acknowledge and thank the elders past present and emerging from across our earth whose wisdoms I refer to in this book, and whose practices enrich the world in which we live. It has been my honour to have access to these teachings as a base for my wellness recovery. The concepts of the medicine wheel and the sacred circle have influenced my life for several years now. Throughout this book we will examine various circular art forms and their healing influence on the societies that use them. I am a survivor of long-term childhood sexual abuse by an ordained member of the Catholic Church. It was patience, compassion for other survivors and possible ongoing victims, that encouraged me to trek the long, and often painful road to have him face his day in court, for his crimes. He was jailed and is now placed on the National Sex Registry in the USA. Over the seventeen-year period it took to achieve my goal, I found solace by engaging in creativity. While sitting in courtrooms and hospitals, travelling on public transport, attending counselling, or recovering in bed after another evening of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), night terrors and sweats, I created images to help me stay focused on the process and not be swallowed up by the pain and anxieties surrounding that time of my life and the recurring memories of my childhood. I noticed that the symbol of the circle emerged again and again in my work gaining strength with each arrival, as if it were a gentle and protective nurse, set of prevent an all-consuming infection. Creating circular images and the motion of it provided me with a sense of comfort and a feeling of centred peace. Curious about this, I began making inquiries into the archetypal and symbolic meanings of the circle throughout history. I researched and expanded my personal understanding about the sacredness of the circle by looking at its use in such art forms as dance, music and image-making. From these findings and the many illustrations that found their way from my hands onto the pages of my sketch pad, Art of Life and Curiosity was born. The name of the book in an extension of my Counselling, Wellness Coaching and Art Therapy practice Art of Life with Mairead.
The process of creating Art of Life and Curiosity to help keep me focused, support my determination and calm anxieties that accompanied the grim tasks of police statements, medical examinations, media reports, lawyer conferences and waiting. OH, the waiting! This book organically developed into an interactive, introspective tool that promotes mindfulness, aids relaxation, and encourages better mental health by inspiring introspection and curiosity about the universe and our place in it. Anyone searching for gentle and solid but sometimes challenging perspectives in their approach to holistic wellbeing may be guided by Art of Life and Curiosity to rid themselves of judgments from their inner critic and other people’s ‘stuff’ so you might live your life free from guilt, shame, hate and fear of the things that are holding you back. It provides an innovative way to discover and understand your own inner wisdom, remind you to stay grounded and solidify a personal reflective practic