Mindfulness Based Art an appreciative inquiry into expressive mind Margaret Jones Callahan
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Transforming Grief Part 5:  The Power of Loss   December 19, 2016

1/8/2017

7 Comments

 
Sometimes personal grief collides with grief that is historical and social. All three, the personal, historical, and social, are intimately interwoven in this moment. Allowing the fullness and power of grief to be a moving force from within us can lead us to a sane expression of our pain. Sitting in mindfulness meditation with a focus on loving-kindness and on our open hearts is one way to make this kind of expression possible.
So I sit and practice compassion for everyone: starting with myself, my friends and family, and then the world…including the politicians, the hungry, the military, the sick, business people, spiritual practitioners, children, and the elders. Then anyone I have left out, including all those I might call enemies, and all sentient beings.

Compassion washes my eyes. It helps me stand in the shoes of the soldiers in Syria, the citizens trapped there…and the refugees who have escaped. It lets me feel my anger at death and relief that I didn’t die. It makes me want to help those who suffer and it exposes my fears. Simultaneously it can make us strong and vulnerable.

Picture
Our present reality calls out for our voices. Our grief can find it’s social expression of the truth in a mindful painting, a drawing, a sculpture, a poem, a community mural, or a song.                                                                             Here the social and the political are personal.

The tears are humanity’s ancient grief. They are my friend’s grief at losing her mind. They are my grief at her pain, her changes, and the loss of her presence in my daily life. They are my American friends' grief at the loss of their country. They are the country’s grief.
Like the sweeping power of a tsunami, the world is moved by the force of this energy. All of us feel the power of loss to change the order of reality. And we can all feel its’ ability to realign us with the stars.  Now in these days of darkness, as the Solstice comes, where is the changing light?

In Leonard Cohen's words:
     "I see you have gone and changed your name again.
      Just when I've climbed this old mountainside
      To wash my eyelids in the rain...
       It's time we began,
       To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again."


The love between us is my rock. It supports new life in all weather and through every type of storm. Love matches every pain with grace.

Picture
The fire dances over the water and it warms the earth.
It burns the past and liberates the future.
The rock rests in the water and on the earth.
Within its' stillness, it shows us the patterns of ancient hieroglyphs.
Our history and our life stories are written there.
We find the love in the ground we stand on.


After the tsunami of the election, I look for the rocks again.
Where is the earth that is trustworthy?

Where are my new loves?

What ground supports me to speak?


An aspiration: May this coming year bring fresh questions and fresh perceptions into all our lives.                                                                                 May we gather the power of our vulnerability and confidence into a song of the heart and sing and dance with each other. May we stand together in peace.


7 Comments
Kim
1/9/2017 12:24:49 am

Thank you Margaret for beautifully and courageously showing us that grace can be found when grief is held with compassion. These are difficult times and its hard sometimes to find ways to give voice to painful emotions. Your courage to express yourself inspires others.

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margaret jones callahan link
1/11/2017 02:10:26 pm

Thanks Kim. I always believe that grief and joy are co-emergent. When we come closer to the loss, to the pain, we can experience the brilliance of our hearts. My next post is about that..finding the joy in difficult circumstances. I have experienced a purity of heart, a peace, with my friend that is greater than my small mind. till later:)

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Molly
1/13/2017 10:24:11 pm

While painting with our Open Studio group today, this phrase took shape: Our presence makes it different. "It" meaning the situation, the decision, the conflict. Our stance is the lens through which we experience and interact with the world, and actually shapes what unfolds. This is the Buddhist view, and it came to life today while standing, gazing, attending, painting. No words suffice!

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Margaret Jones Callahan link
1/15/2017 11:23:11 am

Yes, presence is the key Molly. Just being willing to connect with the present situation, or the conflict, and be in the present moment with our experience does make a difference. I'm glad that you experienced that in the art making. The mindfulness practices do generate a" lens" and the brush warm ups help us embody that view. So good to be with you in studio practice exploring expression. The warm ups referred to can be found in the MBAT Sparks Guide.

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9/27/2018 05:56:38 pm

I am not saying that people should have the same motivation as I have because I know that other people’s beliefs are not the same as mine, but I do encourage everybody to always include Jesus Christ in their source/s of motivation. Always thank Him for the strength He is providing us. Be motivated by His story. After all, He sacrificed His life for ours. It is just a way of repaying Him for all the good things He had done for us.

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10/19/2018 01:56:08 pm

An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers

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    Margaret believes in the transformative power of Mindfulness Based Art. In 2011, she founded the MBAT Summer Institute to train clinicians and educators.


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