Our Newest Blog - Ebbs and Flows

We are so excited to share with you AWBA's newest blog, "Ebbs and Flows."  Blog author Michelle Rogers writes.

I’ve had years of experience as a caregiver in both my professional and private life. I consider myself blessed and challenged by the lessons I have learned while being with others in that way. In recent years though I have found myself on the other side of good health. Diagnosed in 2008 with the first of what would be several chronic illnesses, I have found myself facing many new challenges. And what I have come to believe is that the journey of life, whether as caregiver or care-receiver, involves a back and forth movement of body, mind and spirit. Sometimes I fight it and sometimes I can just go with it…either way there are things I learn and things yet to be learned. As a grateful member of the AWBA community, it is my hope to share some of my thoughts and feelings and to hear also from you, as our lives continues to ebb and flow…

Stop by to visit at Ebbs and Flows to read Michelle's first post, "Dragonflies and Fairies."  You can receive automatic notification of new posts by registering your email address on the blog's home page.  If you would like to comment to any post, simply click the comment link at the bottom of the post to which you wish to reply.

Michelle, thank you for sharing your story with the AWBA readers and helping us widen and deepen this community of compassionate and supportive listeners.

To Communicate Without Words

When words seem ineffective, creativity makes visible the inexpressible.

(copyright 2012, Judy Smoot)

Those who have been following this blog for a while may recall that I am a student of the expressive arts and will finish my training in 2015.   I deeply believe that when the timing is right in a person's journey, creative expression has the power to move us beyond the walls we build around ourselves into an expansive place where the unspeakable can be heard in some manner - first by ourselves and then, as we desire, by others.  We trust our stories into the safe hands of a few chosen kindred spirits where we are listened to and honored without judgement.   Whether through movement, voicing, visual art, clay, sand play, collage, music-making, and other forms of expression our deepest and most authentic voices are heard.   

As AWBA continues to explore all of the ways of providing spiritual care to those we serve, expressive arts is one avenue for our programming.  If you do not receive our monthly newsletter (to receive this email visit our website), I want to share with you that AWBA is developing a pilot program directed toward those impacted by Parkinson's.  Below is information about this new program.  Currently, we are seeking funding for supplies so that we can make this series of workshops available to participants at no cost to them.  We are off to a great start and continue to seek your support.  I invite you to visit the links shared below to learn more about this simple and meaning-filled form of expression.

Introduction to Touch Drawing

(A Pilot Program For Those 

Impacted With Parkinson's)

(copyright 2014, Judy Smoot)

Using non-toxic, water-soluble oil paints, a brayer, tissue paper, and fingertips, participants will be invited to explore this visual form of expression.  No art experience is necessary in this casual, nonjudgmental creative space.  Touch Drawing has been very successful in the Sarasota, Florida community and you can read one person's experience here.  The facilitator for this AWBA event has received in-person training from the creator of Touch Drawing, Deborah Koff-Chapin.

It is our desire to offer this four or five-week pilot program to participants at no cost.  This is where you come in.  We seek your support for purchase of art materials.  Every dollar donated goes directly to this program.  It is our hope to expand this offering in the future to include other diagnosis so that we can tailor each program to those particular needs.

Your contribution of: 

$40 - purchases all supplies for one participant for the series

- or - 

$5 - purchases one paint board
$8 - purchases one paint brayer
$10 - purchases tissue paper for one person for the series
$17 - purchases paint for one person for the series

Paint brayers and boards are reusable for future Touch Drawing workshops. To make a donation in any amount, click here to be directed to our website.  

We anticipate offering this pilot program in late summer if not before.  We are also seeking a site for this event if you have access to a space with few or no steps or an elevator and, preferably, an uncarpeted floor with easy access to a sink.  Email us at director@myawba.org if you might know of a location for this series.

Instructions for Living a Life

Instructions for Living a Life

pay attention

be astonished

tell about it

~ Mary Oliver

I have been sitting with this quote for a few weeks now as I sketch and doodle to come up with a piece of art on which to place these words for safe keeping.   I think they need to stay with me for a while.

As many of you can appreciate, I am compelled to be outdoors in recent days.  It was nearly impossible to take my early morning walks when ice and snow covered every pathway (and I did try a few times), and temperatures were dangerously cold.  There were not enough layers to make it possible.  Now that the thermometer is above freezing, that is enough for me.   I ventured out in the wind and the rain this morning to visit my favorite garden to see how the new life is coming along.  I have seen crocuses showing their brightest party faces these past couple of weeks.  However, today, they were all curled in on themselves for safety.  But, oh my, the Lenten Roses were abundant and they did not care about the wind and the rain.  They demanded to be noticed.  Pink and white blooms everywhere.

I continued onto the boardwalk and came to a stop with this image.

I tried to keep walking but I couldn't.  Something drew me to the reflection of the bare trees.  Dripping wet with no one else walking the area but me; and this just stopped me in my tracks.  I don't know why.  Maybe someone else does??  It will come to me.

So, I lived Mary Oliver's words today. I paid attention in the midst of seemingly unpleasant environmental circumstances, I was astonished and now I am telling about it.  Was has astonished you this week?  Have you told someone?  It may seem silly like the above very wet walkway but there is no defending of "astonishment".  It simply is what it is.

I send blessings of spring to each of you.  May you look beneath the surface to new life straining to be found.  May it astonish you.  May you tell about it.   Share it here if you like :) 

Upcoming Retreat - Meet Libby Byrne

Our next online retreat "Beginning Again" is offered March 24-May 23.  This online community experience allows you to participate as much or as little as you like and to engage when it is convenient for you.   This program is open to anyone impacted by a chronic diagnosis which includes those in a personal support role, and volunteers and professionals serving this population.  Visit our website events page to learn about the book we will use and how you will be supported on this journey.  Registration deadline is March 14.

We have offered this program twice previously and are excited to welcome artist Libby Byrne from Melbourne, Australia as a participant for this 2014 version.  In addition to Libby sharing her own experience as one living with Multiple Sclerosis, Libby will share some of her artwork as a resource for retreat participants.  We asked Libby to share with our readers about herself and her connection to AWBA.   

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

I live in Melbourne, Australia.  I am an artist and I have worked with art and people in many different ways for years now.  The discipline of being a practicing artist is also a means of paying attention to the presence of God.  The canvas is often a place where God happens for me. Working with art materials allows me to see my human experience and then make room for God to work within those places.  

How did you find AWBA all the way from Australia?

I discovered AWBA when I was having a difficult week living with Multiple Sclerosis.  Having googled a combination of ‘spirituality’ and ‘chronic illness’ the AWBA site appeared on my screen.  

What is your experience with a chronic diagnosis?

I was diagnosed with MS in February 2010, although I think that the first symptoms appeared in 2007 / 2008. However my experience with a chronic diagnosis began in the late 1990’s when one of my closest friends was diagnosed with MS.  For twelve years I found ways to try and be aware of her experience with this mystery condition that seemed to be debilitating on some days and then barely present on others. The experience of my own diagnosis was a deep shock.  I think that we had never considered the possibility that I could be diagnosed with the same thing – it seemed evident that my role with MS was to be aware of my friend and to care for her as she lived with chronic illness. There was an underlying assumption that if I was caring, I could not expect to also be living with my own illness.  Since February 4th, 2010 I have been challenged to find the time and energy to do both.  

How do you believe that AWBA and this online retreat will support the journey of those living with a chronic diagnosis and/or the loved ones and professionals who support them?

I am hoping that AWBA may be a network of people who are beyond the immediate connections of friends and family – and so able to be present when the people who live with illness are tired, emotionally and physically.  I am also hoping that AWBA will be a community who calls and reminds us to listen for God in the midst of life with chronic illness. 

What do you hope to bring to the "Beginning Again" retreat through your work as an art therapist, studies with art and healing, and your own experience as one impacted by a chronic diagnosis?

As the retreat unfolds I plan to work with art materials to see the experience.  In sharing some of these images I hope that others might find resonances with their own experience.  However, it might also be that an image I post may be surprising to others and in this case I hope that it might be a signpost to begin thinking about our human experience of God differently.   I also hope that others may be inspired to make their own visual and creative responses.  I hope that in posting art online as we retreat – my images will be like postcards from my journey sent and received by others who are on similar but different journeys.  

What do you love most about living in Australia?

I value the freedom that I have in living in Australia and I am deeply aware of abundance as I live my life here. 

~~~~~~~~

Libby and I have had wonderful exchanges via email and I hope you will consider this retreat opportunity as a gift for yourself or someone you know.   You can view some of Libby's art on her website.  I look forward to facilitating this experience and to journeying with you for this retreat. -- Judy

The Power of Creativity

I deeply appreciate the power of creativity to bring us into the present moment.  Visual art, clay, collage, poetry, fiber, photography can all quiet our minds, settle anxiety, give "voice" to experiences that are beyond everyday words, offer beauty to ourselves and others, and provide an overall sense of well-being even when our circumstances may not be that great.  We also can't forget the creativity expressed through cooking, gardening and interacting with animals.

The Spirituality Network offers an annual event, "Arti Gras", held on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday.  This year's event will take place on March 1 at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Bexley, Ohio.   Over the years, I have been an attendee, a workshop facilitator, and donated items for their auction.    This year I have been invited to offer the morning's keynote address, "We ARE Artists, The Power of Creativity."  I am so excited to be a part of this year's event and to be in a place to send everyone into their day of creativity.  I just received the workshop list for the day.   The Network and its creative partners have outdone themselves again.   Attending this event is a gift you give yourself (or another - bring a friend!).  This is a fun day with a focus on process, not product.  Each of us is an artist.  Sometimes all it takes to open that gift is to be among others who are playing alongside  you in a fun, informal, and nonjudgmental environment.  To learn more visit 14th Annual Arti Gras.   

If I have not met you as part of the AWBA community, please seek me out after I speak and introduce yourself to me.  I would enjoy meeting you!

AWBA Expands to Australia

"I arise today, through the strength of heaven."

Art by Libby Byrne

"Working as an Artist I have been aware of an experience of mutuality that exists within the relationship I have with art.   Within the context of this relationship, I have learned that art is much more than a resource to be mastered or manipulated in the communication of an idea.  In fact the important thing is not what I can do with art, but what art can do with me.   When I am open and alive to these possibilities, art becomes a path on which I can travel. "  ~ Libby Byrne

We were recently contacted by artist Libby Byrne who lives in Melbourne, Australia.  Libby is interested in AWBA’s ministry and expressed a  desire to connect with AWBA in some manner.  Libby is a lecturer at Melbourne’s LaTrobe University in the Master of Art Therapy program.  In addition to being an art therapist, Libby is in the midst of her PhD, a theological inquiry into the Art of Healing.  Visit her website at Libby Byrne.

We are excited to share with you that Libby will provide some of her images with accompanying reflections for AWBA’s upcoming online retreat, “Beginning Again” offered March 24-May 23.  To learn more about the retreat, visit our website Upcoming Events.

This event is open to those with a diagnosis, family/friends, and volunteers/professionals who support this population.  We have offered this twice in the past and it was very well received.  I facilitate this retreat and deeply appreciate the opportunity to journey with this audience that covers the entire spectrum of living with chronic diagnosis.  I am encouraged by the stories, and touched by the care and nonjudgmental presence offered by participants to one another.  Take a look at the flyer on the link above, check out the book we will use on Amazon, visit Libby's link and discern if you or someone you know could benefit from this depth of community for an extended time.  The online format allows for flexibility across time zones and participants engage the material at their convenience.   

A Choice for Creative Joy

I am not a fan of New Year Resolutions.  In my own experience, and it seems with many others, it sets up a continuum of success or failure.  So much of life seems either/or, right/wrong, success/fail, good/bad.  As I have journeyed through life, the blacks and whites are not as clear anymore.  My husband and I were talking the other night and I blurted out with frustration, "The more I know, the more I don't know."  That is not a new thought but I understood it in a deeper place than ever before in that moment.  I think "at this age" I should know more, and I know less with each passing year???  What????  Frustrating.  I know that some people claim there is nothing left to surprise them.  As much as part of me desires that for myself and envies their seeming certitude, I also find it sad.  I want to believe there are surprises and places of growth that await me.  God is not done teaching me.  I want to remain teachable and receptive through the unknowing and humbling pieces of it all. 

There is a growing movement to let a word choose you for the new year.  Abbey of the Arts introduced that idea to me a few years ago.  For the past four years,  I have embraced a word for the year.    I suppose I don't want to add another black or white to my repertoire - I either succeed or fail with a resolution.  Allowing a word to reveal itself to me at year end, sets me up for all kinds of surprises and growth.  The word works its way through me in a way that I cannot control.  Having that intentionality for 12 months keeps me aware and open to how the Spirit is guiding me to that place.

Last year's word was "horizon."  I stretched, risked and explored to the edges of the places God took me, and my personal life and the life of this AWBA community was served by that journey.  As I explored those new lands, AWBA expanded into new areas.  We will begin to reap that harvest in 2014.  

I explored a few words for 2014 until the word "joy" came at me from about multiple directions in the span of a few hours.  After sitting with it for a few days, it is clear that I am being invited to be a seeker of creative joy in  2014.  I need joy in my life to balance the hard stuff.  How about you?  I am not looking for momentary snippets of happiness, although I will take them as they come.  I am talking about the deeper places that are not dependent on my circumstances.  I did a search of Joy in the Bible and the references are numerous.  Joy is God's idea :)  I focused on those in the book of Psalms and found 53 of them.  Perfect for a weekly joy meditation practice.  Now that I have settled in that place, other quotes and affirmations are coming forth.

"I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots.  Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands." -- Zora Neale Hurston, poet

As we humans sit in Sorrow's kitchen at times, I want to remember the possibility of being "wrapped in rainbows."  AWBA will do its best to help you wrap yourself in rainbows in 2014 in the midst of  your circumstances.  Using the Holy Text for your faith or other words of inspiration, consider "joy" as an invitation for 2014.   Reflect on what you find and, even if it is not your word for the new year, create a space for joy to take up residence within you as you journey with a chronic diagnosis.

AWBA will offer a new online retreat in early spring.  We have two new public blogs to launch this month and late winter.  We will keep you updated on this blog, our Facebook page and our AWBA newsletter. 

Thank you for your place in this AWBA journey.