Saturday, December 26, 2009

14 Days off: #6


Cancer and Creativity


One of the M.D.s at the recent Sarcoma Cancer Conference asked me how creativity and cancer are connected, as he glanced at the handout from the Premiere Oncology and Beckstrand Cancer Foundations’ sponsored art therapy workshops.

I momentary paused at what seemed like a ‘no-brainer’ question. Since creativity has been a life time philosophy for surviving daily challenges, I took it for granted that everyone understands how creativity helps us to find solutions in our lives. So let’s step back into that conversation and delve into creativity.

I believe creativity is that inner voice that resides within each of us. We may open a window long enough to see and hear what our creative voice has to offer, and we may respond to those notes and rhythms.

We may cautiously pry loose the top of our treasure chest of hopes and dreams just long enough to put them into action.

We may step through our castle’s threshold to discover the unexplored space of sound, the magnificent palettes of color, and the multiple textures of surface.

We are each given dice to roll, we add up our spots of feelings, our intensity of emotions, and get the sum, which I call wisdom.

Finally, in “Cancer and Creativity workshops” the weekly two-hour commitment opens opportunities to express our transforming and often cancer engulfed lives. The art therapy workshops help to honor who I am and how I am living with cancer.


Postscript:

The weekly writing and group therapy sessions at The Wellness Community in Santa Monica have opened opportunities to explore and empower feelings. The meetings provide a small and safe forum for my fears and progress. As a result, my life has improved because of not only the programs at the Wellness Community, but the art therapy workshops at Premiere Oncology, also in Santa Monica, California.

2 comments:

  1. I do so enjoy your art creations. :)
    Susan L

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  2. Thank you Susan. Art therapy classes are helping me to communicate at a new level as I experience all these new cancer experiences

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