So what is "Wellspring4Healing"?  It is a dream I've had for nearly 20 years.  It's a place anyone can visit anytime to find reassurance and comforting words as well as ideas and activities that will help move them forward on their healing journeys.

And just what does that mean?  "Healing journey"?  Well, the way I see it, we are all on a journey of healing at some point in our lives.  If we've done any living at all, we have been hurt in some way.  Child abuse.  Accident.  Poverty.  Rape.  Illness.  Betrayal.  Death of a loved one.  Job loss.  Whatever trauma we have experienced, the damage is real and painful.  Excruciating for many.

For some, the journey to healing is short and fairly smooth.  Others of us spend our entire lives on that journey.

I know these two things for sure:  the journey is less scary when we can connect to others who care, and we can arrive at a joy-filled place where we are healed and whole again, even if the physical injury or illness is still present.

Because "healing" and "curing" are not the same thing.  Curing is always best left to medical professionals.  You will not find any medical information here.

Healing is about finding a way through the fear, getting past the sadness, going around the OMG-what's-going-to-happen-next and getting to the "moment" that everyone keeps telling us we need to live in.  That's right.  It's about learning to live in the moment.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer (six weeks after my husband had been diagnosed with kidney cancer - yep, that's right - six weeks - and just a few years after my brother had died of AIDS), I was inundated with advice to "keep a positive attitude" and "learn to live in the moment."  I quickly learned to hate those words because - number 1 - none of the people giving out that advice had been through what I was going through and - number 2 - none of them could tell me how to do what they were telling me to do.

Well, it took a while, but I finally figured it out.  There are a lot of people in my life that I didn't know back then.  Those who have met me in the last 15 years find it hard to believe that I was ever as sick, terrified and depressed as I describe because what they see today is someone who is generally and genuinely happy, almost always cheerful, pretty fearless and very creative.

And that's what Wellspring4Healing is about.  How to get to the joy and creativity that you know you are meant to have and be, that you deserve to have and be.  I will share with you how I did it as well as how others have done it.  I will give you creative activities as well as encouraging words.  I will share tons of quotations that I have found empowering and healing.  And I will be here for you anytime you want someone to listen.  Just e-mail me through this blog or message me on my Facebook page.

I'm still healing, and I'm still learning.  And I promise to share everything I learn with you.

Do this when you're hurting and scared and in need of healing: Create something. Then give it away. 

Create from your own well of talent and skill and knowledge and expertise. Your well is full. Bring something up from the well, and give it to someone else who is also hurting and scared. 

Bake a cake. Build a birdhouse or a website. Create a business plan. Assemble a model. Create a sacred space. Plant a container garden. Cut and glue a greeting card from colored paper. Design a better bedpan. Knit a prayers shawl. Dance for someone. Sing for someone. The possibilities are literally endless. 

I know of an amazing teenage girl who, while undergoing treatment for cancer, painted funny faces, designs, slogans and jokes on empty plastic ice cream buckets that she kept close at hand for her own sick days. Then she began making them to give to the other patients in the hospital's oncology ward. She said, "As long as we're going to throw up, we might as well have something funny to look at when we do!" 

Focusing on a creative project helps us relax and become calmer. Thinking about who we will give it to helps us remember that, no matter what we're facing, we're not alone, that others have gone through what we're going through and come out well and whole on the other side, and many more are going through it at the same time we are. 

These "healing projects" help heal both the creator and the lucky recipient, and they are the basis of the vision of Wellspring4Healing: creativity in any form is healing to the person doing the creating as well as to those who view/taste/hear/experience it!

Registration is open for "Healing with Art" class!

I am sooo excited!  Sharing the healing energy and power of art has long been a dream of mine, and now it's a reality.

Beginning November 15, 2014, Wellspring4Healing will offer "Healing with Art" or "He(ART)," a day-long mixed media experience that will inspire and empower you on your healing journey. You will complete a painting on canvas that will be completely unique and original, specific to your healing needs.

The class will be held at "Seven Cities Dance Studio" at 47 East Queens Way in Hampton, VA, Suite 202, from 10:30 - 4:30 (includes an hour-long break for lunch and to give our art work time to dry in preparation for the next layer).  The class is $65 if you would like to bring your own supplies (I will send you a supply list when you register) or $75 which includes supplies for this class only.  Whichever option you choose, you will need to bring an apron or old shirt to protect your clothing.  Class is limited to 8 participants, so register now! 
 
2015 will bring more offerings with classes in "Zentangle," "Soul Collage" and more, as well as online "He(ART)" classes.  And we're already looking forward to summer months filled with healing art retreats for adults and a special "Mermaid Camp" and "Fairy Camp" for kids! Watch this blog for inspirational posts, class information and more!