This is a follow up from last week’s post, “talking to the image”.
After the image of the lotus had spoken, the blue circles in the image talked. The circles revealed themselves as pain.
Talking to the image; a glimpse into Expressive Arts Therapy
In Expressive Arts therapy, it’s a common practice to talk to the images we create and it’s also a practice to listen to the images talk through us. The images, having been created in the intuitive right-brain, seem to express a point of view that often surprises the intellectual left brain.
Integrating archetypes
Following on from my last post on the “princess” archetype…
The Gestalt idea that all dream characters are parts of the dreamer and could be analyzed as such correlates well with the Jungian idea of the ancient archetypes and deeper personality integration.
A mother’s support
My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa, even though everyone else did because we didn’t have any money, because Africa was the ‘dark continent’, and because I was a girl.
My family has very strong women too. I’ve talked in a previous post about my mother being a feminist; being unstoppable. Growing up I witnessed her doing everything and anything she was capable of, including plumbing, electrical wiring for the house, changing a car tire, fixing the washing machine, building a closet and fixing the car’s engine whilst on the road. My father wasn’t much of a handy-man, so my mom was the default fixer upper.
My first ebook and the process of writing
Well, I have just published my first ever ebook for Amazon Kindle.
About a month ago I enrolled in a tele-seminar comprising two weeks of lectures on the process of writing, publishing and marketing an ebook, and I truly enjoyed it!
What lots of people don’t know about me is that, in Mexico, in Spanish – my first language – I actually am a published writer. I published several short stories in a couple of book compilations, and I also had poetry published in newspapers and art magazines. I even got to be the opening segment of a biography writing competition compilation.
You DON’T HAVE TO be pretty…
It’s time for the second installment of my article “don’t make your child into a princess”.
This section will focus on the idea that as women, media tells us we have only one source of pride and value as a human being: our physical beauty. Without youth, smooth skin, white teeth, shiny strong hair and a thin figure we are valueless and completely unworthy – or so we are told. We have to do anything it takes to be pretty in order of deserving love and acceptance.
Within fifteen minutes of watching TV or looking at a magazine, 80% of women start feeling bad about their appearance. Their confidence fails and their self-esteem lowers, making them become self-conscious and self-critical. This strategy has been developed by advertising with the sole purpose of selling us women products that we don’t really need, anything from make-up to tooth paste to hair coloring to face creams and weight loss products and programs.
Don’t make your child into a princess
I have noticed lately a great amount of little girls, some as young as one or two years old, all made up and dressed up as princesses. These little girls are not rehearsing for a play or dressed in costume for halloween; they are “embodying” an “every day” princess.
This, of course, is nothing new; the archetype of the “princess” has been around for a very long time, and it is prevalent in children’s books and stories. Disney has done a lot to push into little minds the idea that “every girl is a princess”, and it sells millions of dollars in videos, dresses, accessories and plastic toys to complement the illusion.