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Processing Grief Through Creativity
Donna Dandrilli, MA, ATR
Art Therapist and Bereavement Counselor
Visiting Nurse Service of New York Hospice Care
When one is grieving there can be a fear of being “overcome” or “overwhelmed” by feelings. You may feel like you will never be O.K., never feel better or laugh again. This “pushing away” tends to increase the intensity of your grief and create more anxiety. Much energy is expended in keeping your pain silent. But, the very act of creating something can be healing. Making art is giving birth to a part of yourself. It allows you to give a concrete expression of your inner life. Artmaking, journaling, music or dance can create a safe space for allowing feelings to be present and worked through. These are ways of remembering and holding the feelings, of aiding your journey towards wholeness. During this time of grief and mourning, life, death and rebirth can come together in a meaningful way through the creative process.
Here are some examples of things to do:
- Create pictures using watercolors, paints, markers, colored pencils to express feelings of sadness, grief, hope, anger, love, etc. or make “free” pictures without a theme and see what emerges.
- Make a collage. Cut and paste magazine pictures ; using different themes… “What does Grief Look Like?”, What Does Death Look Like?”, etc. or “What did this person mean to me?” “What blessings do I need to carry on?”
- Sculpt with clay to process feelings.
- Record feelings, stories, memories of the past and present in a journal.
- Listen to favorite music and allow feelings to emerge and express them through drawing or dance.
- Create a “mandala”, a sacred circle with a design emanating from the center.
- Paint a rock. Paint your loved one’s name or a soothing word on a rock and place in a garden, on an altar or under a favorite tree.
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