Coping with the COVID-19 Quarantine Through a Creative Lens Part II: Mindfulness
At a time where the majority of the population is home-bound and seeking a #grounding #perspective to #cope with all of the daily societal #changes happening in response to the health #crisis, #mindfulness can be a particularly helpful approach. Jon Kabat Zinn, PhD, is the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has written many books on the concept of mindfulness, including “ Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation.” Kabat Zinn explains, “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the #present moment, and non-judgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater #awareness,# clarity, and #acceptance of the present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most #valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the #richness and the# depth of our possibilities for #growth and #transformation.”
Our therapists also embrace this perspective and embody it through both mindful #artmaking practices (as in the creation of the mixed media #watercolor #drawing shown here by Sharon Itkoff Nacache, ATR-BC, LCAT) but also through daily perspective. Lindsay Lederman, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT, ATCS, Clinical Director at The Art Therapy Project shares how she is working on “only doing the #essentials” and “remaining grounded and knowing what I have #control over and what I do not. Staying in the here and now and engaging in activities that keep me #focused on what's #positive and important in life.” Deliberately doing one thing at a time and avoiding becoming #overwhelmed with ambitious to-do lists or #overstimulating #media coverage are important ways to prioritize, simplify, and protect one’s mental health.
Valeria Koutmina, MPS, ART-BC, LCAT reflects, “as much as there is #fear and #chaos right now, I am also viewing it as a potential #space rife with #creative possibilities. The unknown can be scary, but it can also be exciting. I try to remind myself, loved ones, and clients that the #Tomb and the #Womb are not so different--both have lots of #darkness, both are #alchemical. At this time, we are being called to #cocoon, assess our #strengths and #resources, and bring breath to #uncertainty. #Nature and its cycles teach us that nothing stands still. By slowing down and bringing mindfulness to our current reality, we can listen to it and eventually transform it. I am enjoying establishing #rituals of #breathing, #cleansing, paying #attention to, and expressing #gratitude for what is….Making #hand-washing a #beautiful and #pleasurable #ritual by using scented or textured soaps, noticing the #sensations you experience, expressing #gratitude toward your hands, #body, #mind and how much they do for you can also be helpful.” Indeed, #reframing perspective through daily exercises of gratitude can serve as a powerful antidote to anxiety and depression by rerouting maladaptive thought patterns back to what one has in the present instead of #ruminating about past #regrets or future “what ifs.”
Stay tuned for Part III, which will be available next week.