Let's Practice the Art of Transitions
By holding space for yourself and others. Register for the free workshop!
Hello beautiful readers,
First, I just want to give a warm welcome to all of our new readers! I feel such gratitude to see this labor of love, my newsletter, grow and I hope that it serves you all well.
Before we dive into the theme of this newsletter, if you are wondering where to find the registration link for the upcoming free workshop, it’s at the bottom of this post.
So here we are in December. I’m always a little surprised by how quickly it arrives. I think for many of us it’s a potent month… filled with activity, transition, and the feels. It’s a liminal space, a threshold between ‘what was’ and ‘what’s next’.
Let’s pause for a moment and consider…
How many times have you been in a liminal space?
How have you experienced that time?
What have been some of the critical life moments that have influenced how you live through liminal spaces today?
Being upon the threshold of change can bring up, consciously or not, the unresolved thoughts, feelings, and experiences of our lives. Especially around endings, like the ending of a year.
This can evoke strong feelings and can bring in a complicated mixture of urges, like wanting to push through or hold on. Of course, feelings of gratitude and appreciation are right on the heels of those urges, because endings often remind us of our blessings.
There’s always an opportunity to learn, heal, grow, and evolve if you can sit with and through this time of transition. When you practice the art of holding space, you give yourself the gift of support.
This is why I wanted to hold a free workshop in December for my subscribers, because art therapy is a wonderful tool for holding space. Art serves you by giving you the chance to externalize what’s happening inside through color, shape, and form.
Not only does this give you breathing room, it allows you to slow down the energy that’s held inside. By holding space for your experience, you can more easily process what has happened, find resolution, and perhaps even take inspiration for how that understanding can serve you and your purpose.
If you’re not able to make it to the live session, please know that I will record the mini-presentation and guided meditation part and share that recording in January’s newsletter.
Warmly,
Stephanie
Excerpt from the book…
Since this newsletter is talking about transition, I thought that it would be fun to share this excerpt about the art therapy concepts I used to create the healing process used in my book, Beautiful Boobs: How to Move from Surviving to Thriving with Breast Cancer Using Art Therapy.
Art therapy soothes the distress your body and mind hold from unprocessed experiences.
When you document what you’ve expressed, you become a historian who validates that the experience was indeed real. This allows your mind and body to recognize they can let go of what’s been compartmentalized for survival.
When you prepare your canvas for exploring the next theme, you’re processing the transition. This act of clearing what you painted onto the canvas suggests closure, which is comforting to your psyche.
Your Creative Prompt for this Issue…
(P.S. you don’t have to be an artist to do this!)
Before doing this exercise, set yourself up for doing some art and writing. Any kind of art medium will work- so chose something you have on hand or treat yourself to a few supplies. Here’s my basic list for starting an art journal.
This newsletter’s creative prompt guides you to explore the closure that is upon us- the winding up of 2023. You can use these reflection prompts to get ready for the workshop, whether you’re attending live or with the recording.
The most impactful moments of 2023 on my personal life were…
As I think about these moments, I notice that inside my body I feel… inside of my mind I feel… and my spirit feels…
What I wish to honor is…
What I wish to release is…
After reflecting, use your art materials to tell your story of 2023. Again, feel free to wait until the workshop if you can attend live. Making art in community is such a powerful experience.
When you’re finished making the art, I’d highly recommend doing a free write (answering without editing) about your artwork. Here are some questions that might help you describe what you did:
What happened?
How did it make you feel in that moment?
How do you feel now?
I’d love to hear from you about how this prompt went for you. Feel free to share in the comments below or email me directly!
Behind-The-Scenes Look at the Publishing Process
Since we have so many new readers, I’d love to take a moment to share why this newsletter is so important. Not only does it give me the chance to do good in the world, it also helps me build my author platform. This is essential if you want to get published- especially in the nonfiction world. Your platform is essentially your “reach” and publishers want nonfiction authors to have significant reach before offering a publishing contract.
As you can imagine, building a platform is no easy task, but it’s also the kind of challenge that’s really rewarding even when it’s daunting. After all, it gives me the chance to meet incredible people- like you!
To help make that easier, I started working with a PR firm earlier this year to help me get exposure. My update for this newsletter is that they’ve been able to place another article- this time with the website- Your Zen Mama. It’s about how to cope with toxic positivity and motherhood. Feel free to read and share with someone you think could benefit from it- I appreciate it!
We’re also in the process of putting out a press release that will hopefully generate opportunities to get interviewed, etc. So that’s the big seed I’m planting this December, may it take hold and bloom effortlessly.
Upcoming Workshops-
12/21/2023~ Art Therapy for Women: Self-Reflection & Energy Clearing @ 6pm EST. A free workshop for my wonderful readers! Let’s create community together and take a moment to reflect back on 2023. Space is limited, so register today if you want to attend.
This is just the beginning of how I want to create community with you all. I’m plotting out all of the programming ideas I have for 2024, which is so much fun for me! So stay tuned, there will be more events and group coaching opportunities kicking off in January.
These opportunities will be for newsletter subscribers only- so if you’ve just happened upon this newsletter, I hope you sign up! Would love to extend these opportunities to each of you.
XO,
Stephanie