MRM - April Report
Dia duit loves!
I cannot believe I have not written something since, I do not know, NOVEMBER? It has been a long five months for me. In December I actually went home and did a photo blog for every other day. It was quite fun! They are short (some long) articles on the photograph and how they reminded me of God. Verses are in the posts. This spring has been quite hard on me… I have been terribly sick for some time, and just recently recovered. On the flip side, I have been trying to gain weight, (YEAH…) it is slowly happening. I joined up with my friend Darlene in “VOW” in January and as she began to teach me how to dance it really improved my skills in movement. Among other things such as art assignments and Kids Extreme, Impact has been going really well and I hope to bring to the plate some new things for next year (I am the new leader.) Other than cramming hours into perfecting my term papers, I have had a wonderful spring semester!
Personal:
Have you ever found yourself doing the most geekiest of things? Well for me, that is watching almost too much of the History channel. I have been all over it since we got a TV in the room. Since I am a classic American Picker, the show has really kept me up to date on what is flowing in the market right now (even what is in popular demand right now ._.) I switched form being an anime dork to completely giving it up and going straight to a normal nerd who quotes Star Wars and Lord of The Rings. I CONFESS I AM PLAYING DRAGON AGE TOO! And it is quite amazing hehe
Pintrest. That sums up my spare time when I am not reading the bible or doing school work. It is very addicting and it really appeals to my interests more than facebook or tumblr combined. However, I can only get on it when I am in a computer lab or my desktop at home because my poor ghetto laptop died two months ago (which means NO I do not get notifications as often, nor do I skype.) AND I DO NOT OWN A SMART PHONE… so my professors are still stunned on how I am making A’s and keeping up with their emails when I check them only once a day or not at all. It is called determination; you get up, do your bible study, get ready, then head on to a lab and check your facebook and gmail. That is how my life has been and it is quite the motivator. I force myself to get up to go to a computer screen; I have less time hiding in the room doing my geeky stuff and more time out socializing. Turns out, the only reason I wanted to play on the computer in the room was because I was afraid people would not accept me when they saw all the dorky stuff I do on the internet… WELL… I do not care anymore. It is quite healthier too! You see, when you go to your room to rest, you do not need any electronics and such around you because your room is suppose to be your bedroom, not your office. So I have been sleeping like a baby almost every night and napping every day like a boss.
I am going to stop ranting on “geekiness” now and go to real life. School is going quite well. I mean, my university has it’s ups and downs but all in all I have benefited from them. Classes are running almost too smoothly for me, I do not know if it is because I am too smart for them or I do not have enough work to do. Either or, I am thoroughly enjoying it. Finals went exceptionally well, and I am spending my last day writing this blog entry! I have to stay busy with something before I go home and completely veg out for three months. Dance has been one of the best things that I ever have taken. Darlene has really opened my eyes and taught me to slow down. I am a very fast-paced, energetic person so being quiet, and taking things slow is hard for me. Though my life is day-by-day, and I am quite lax, I could not grasp how to use my body in a graceful way. After months of training, I can finally say I am an amateur contemporary dancer. God was really working on me during each lesson. I learned how to appreciate music even more because all it was to me was noise in my ears. As I began to listen to the lyrics, I understood what I was moving to and the Holy Spirit filled my body. Each movement was directly from my core, and I realized I was dancing for God, not just trying to get to my next position or move.
Another lesson I learned; TO LISTEN. When I was young, I was extremely quiet. I believed I had no opinion. When I grew older, I was very paranoid of being left out so I said as much as I could to people’s attention to me and MY OPINION on everything. Me, me, me, me, UGH I was annoying. I went to a church service where our pastor, John Moore, asked all of us to be silent for just a minute. A MINUTE. I freaked; I could not sit still, I laughed nervously, and got agitated. I realized that night that there was something seriously wrong with me not liking silence. So I sat down that night and ate in silence. I finally heard God talking to me in this quiet whisper saying, “You finally understand now.” I just started crying. For the next three days I was very, very quiet. I only responded when spoken too, and till I could respect my ipod, I did not listen to music for almost two weeks. After that I constantly started picking up hints from God in others about being quiet. It has really helped! I feel like I am finally growing up. I plan to represent a more calm, quiet attitude and a less talkative one.
Last, but not least, I am proud to say I have been trying my best to get out more and begin living my life the way I need to. There is a time and place to act childish, but never constantly. We all have to “grow up” at some point, and I believe college is the fundamental start. Next semester I will be living off campus (not by choice) in an apartment. I have NEVER lived off campus nor wanted too because I like the secure feeling of a dorm. However, I believe this is a huge lesson God is trying to teach me about being independent and living far away. I feel He is constantly giving me little responsibilities each day and every month another challenge presents itself. I can either grow from it or repeat it (I would rather grow.) So, I am sad to say I will not be around as much on campus, but I feel it is going to be a good experience. Staying positive and Christ-like is my motto in life! So I must live up to those standards or nasty negativity will take me down. By learning to accept change and move on, I have accustomed to looking for the positive in everything and everyone.
Please keep up with me on pintrest, I constantly am posting up new artwork and probably will (not promising) write that short story of mine. I am picking up a bit of a different style of art and I am constantly trying to improve so that maybe I can start selling pieces. I sold my first piece to my friend Jordan, of me doing a cartwheel. LET GO OF ART OR YOU WILL NEVER BE A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST! It does not pain me anymore to sell them. I get money for it; and that is more money in my pocket for tithing rather than nothing at all. Thank you everyone for support and complements! You bless me more than you know.
“Blogs:”
http://pinterest.com/evanescently/
Till next time,
MRM
Inside - Out
Being physically “pretty” does make you stand out in the flock of the many colorful people today. What really makes that person “beautiful” is how they represent themselves with grace and poise; exemplifying Christ from the inside out. True beauty comes from within. You must control it like you do your outward appearance. “We are first and foremost spiritual beings; we have a soul and we live in a body. We should pay more attention to the inner person, because when we die our spirits and souls are the parts of us that will live forever, but over bodies will simply decay.” –Joyce Meyer (Related to 1 Peter 3:3-4)
Try not to pay extensive attention on how you look, ignoring the person inside you. It is displeasing God. By improving our thought processes than our clothing, it will make us more aware of our inner-self. Take for example a woman who is considered beautiful or well-dressed, however, her heart is filled with anger, depression, guilt, etc. She is spiritually bankrupt and very unattractive to God. However, if she changes her heart into a more positive, Christ-like one, she is considered beautiful in God’s eyes (despite her outward appearance.) God does not care what you look like on the outside. He does want you to take care of yourself. It is good to know when you are healthy and unhealthy.
When living a healthy lifestyle, it shows physically. When someone works out to stay fit, you tend to notice how well their muscles are built. Think of your heart as something that needs a work out, is it unhealthy? Is your “mind in the gutter?” Negative thoughts can cause someone to believe they are ugly, despite how “healthy” or “attractive” they are, they will still see the person inside them as disgusting. Only you know what lies in your own heart; only you have control over your thoughts, so if you keep repeating negative things about yourself, you will tend to believe them after a while (whether they are true or not!)
From the inside-out, nasty physical changes can happen due to an unhealthy mind or lifestyle. Particularly women have this issue, but so do men. If you think you are fat when you are actually anorexic, or you think being over 500 lbs is just how it is and you cannot lose weight, you are seriously mislead. What if you noticed every flaw on your face/hair/body and complain about it all the time? You will start to do things to make yourself “look” more attractive (such as starve yourself, buy new clothing each week, wear flashy jewelry, cake on make-up, whatever you can think of.) Honestly, it is like placing Febreeze on poop. It may smell nice for a while, but it is still poop nonetheless! You are still you under those clothes, after removing make-up, when you take your hair down, when you wear your embarrassing pj’s from grandma, when you do not let anyone in your room because you “LOOK” like you, and cannot let anyone see this “natural side.” You must embrace the way you were born, and then top trying to fix it because it is not going to be perfect. Only Jesus is perfect at heart, and even his physical appearance was like any ordinary, average Jew of His day; with the dark olive complexion, curly hair and brown eyes. He most likely did have facial hair since that was a cultural thing back then. There was nothing distinguishing about Him. Isaiah 53:2 | “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
Having confidence is a major factor (not cockiness.) Being comfortable in your own skin is extremely important. Coveting what others look like or what they have is wrong, not only morally, but it is against the Ten Commandments. Try to be positive about what you do have. Try to say every morning a complement about yourself. It is as easy as saying, “hello beautiful!” The first thing you have to do though is make sure your heart is focused on Jesus. Without Him, like I said before, means you are not attractive (no matter what you look like.) That is the blunt truth. Once He fills your heart with His love, light, grace, beauty, peace, and more you will begin to feel better about yourself. You are becoming a more confident person through Christ Jesus. I believe that most teenagers have lost all sense of ability to love their unique appearance God has given them. They want to look like a celebrity, artist, or movie star, because that is who they “worship,” their “idol!” It is sad to think that who they should really be modeling after is Christ, not the next big Disney star.
This is not a school project, but a personal essay to my friends who feel like they are not attractive enough. You can be, and if you already following in Christ’s footsteps that means you are very beautiful! I use to think I was ugly. I had one of my own best friend’s mothers tell me I was not good enough to be a model and how I just would not make it because of my pale skin, low cheek bones, etc. At that time in my life, I did not know that God was trying to tell me not to listen to her, but I did and it hurt me badly, causing me to believe I was not attractive. Years from then I honestly was not paying enough attention to my heart and I could not bear to look at myself in the mirror. After so many years of telling myself I was ugly, I believed it, and it showed in my eyes. My heart was not focused on Christ, it was focused on every imperfection I had.
Since I have been in my bible more often, praying each day, and working on my relationship with Christ my Savior, my appearance has dramatically taken a shift in over a year. I can guarantee you my heart changed first before my appearance. As I changed on the inside, my outer appearance did too. I became healthier. I actually went from looking old, drugged, tired, with black circles, hardly any meat on my bones, and no shimmer in my eyes to a surprisingly youthful, “blissful,” awake young-woman (who appears 12, I know ;P) with much more weight on her than you would know, sparkling smiling-eyes, and a huge confidence boost: all thanks to Christ. I became comfortable in who I am, because I am comfortable in who I am in Christ (if that makes any sense) and embraced my own unique qualities, both mental and physical. So from geeky, weird-me to you, next time you look in the mirror and feel like your ugly, tell the devil to get off your back, because you are beautiful in Christ Jesus! And no one can tell you otherwise.
Love you very much,
MRM
(Written January 23rd, 2012)
Art Therapy: A Positive Solution
Art therapy is a creative healing process that can be used to help cure and or prevent further damage to a person’s well-being. It is a process of working either individually or in groups, using many different medias to express feelings from within. People do not need any experience in art to join this type of psychotherapy, for it is designed to benefit the persons healing rather than their talent or skill. I believe it is a not-so-pronounced positive therapy that can help individuals to improve language skills, to find themselves in their art and to truly become happier, secure, and grounded in their spirituality, health, and mental state.
Art has always been known to contain therapeutic properties. The first drawing assessment for psychological purposes was created in 1906 by German psychiatrist Fritz Mohr (The Art Therapy Sourcebook, 29.) People normally draw with the right sides of their brains, which is the same side that is used before even language develops. Memories and other creative processes develop there, and can influence the individual greatly if taught early on to expand this beautiful, artistic side of the mind. When a person is in art therapy, they use materials to make images which are considered and weighed by the art therapist so that she or he can relieve the clients of difficult or painful feelings they are suffering from. By doing this, it could possibly increase their well-being.
As human beings, we have a sense of language that is built within us early in life, one that transcends any form of logic. If not developed correctly, the individual could lose or never receive the learning abilities to speak or know how to communicate right with others, creating a window of opportunity in the brain to dysfunction. Take someone who is an outgoing person, normally very friendly to others, and communicates regularly every day. This person could quite possibly communicate well with his or her parents, friends, or acquaintances about problems, feelings, doubts, or issues that may be hindering them from staying positive and self-controlled.
However, people who grew up with very little social skills, low self-esteem, and hardly ever communicates with others would be quite a picture. Several things happen within these people (mentally of course) that causes them to become introverted, and then depressed because of loneliness or “bottled-up” feelings they have. They cannot learn to express themselves verbally, are very hard to understand at times, being narrow-minded, or lacking a sense of emotional stability, and are extremely distrusting of others because they feel like the only one who can truly understand them is themselves.
Language links us to one another and connects us to the past, present, and future. Since early childhood is a very critical stage in life, should people not be more concerned on how their children learn? For those who lack those parenting skills, art therapy is a much easier medium to communicate through for some children, young adults, and the elderly. Sometimes words cannot be used or found to describe thoughts or feelings; however, when making art those processes are broadly expressed in many forms. Words alone do not seem to benefit some individuals, but images, both dull or bright, sketches or paintings, sculpture or ceramics, can convey what one wants to say. Depending on the persons personality-which is expressed through different kinds of language- he can sometimes have too many words to express, so art may be the solution to get in touch with his emotions.
Clients who can use art therapy may have a wide range of difficulties, disabilities or diagnoses. These include, for example emotional, behavioral or mental health problems, learning or physical disabilities, life-liming conditions, brain-injury or neurological conditions and physical illness. Art therapy may be provided for groups, or for individuals, depending on clients’ needs. It is not a creational activity or an art lesson; it is a form of psychotherapy that uses art media.
According to Medilexicon’s medical dictionary, psychotherapy is “Treatment of emotional, behavioral, personality, and psychiatric disorders based primarily on verbal or nonverbal communication and interventions with the patient, in contrast to treatments using chemical and physical measures.” Simply put, psychotherapy aims to alleviate psychological distress through talking, rather than drugs.
Psychotherapy is an English word of Greek origin, deriving from Ancient Greek psyche (ψυχή breath; spirit; soul) and therapia (θεραπεία healing; medical treatment.) According to the Oxford English Dictionary, psychotherapy first meant “hypnotherapy” instead of “psychotherapy”. The original meaning, “the treatment of disease by ‘psychic’ [i.e., hypnotic] methods”, was first recorded in 1853 as “Psychotherapeia, or the remedial influence of mind.” The modern meaning, “the treatment of disorders of the mind or personality by psychological or psychophysiological methods,” was first used in 1892 by Frederik van Eeden translating Suggestive Psycho-therapy for his French “Psychothérapie Suggestive.”
By using this special type of psychotherapy, therapists can better their chance at making their patients more positive. It is a slow healing process for some, and others it is fast. It all depends on the person’s nature. There are many factors related in healing such as cultural ways, beliefs, attitudes, contemporary medicine, or alternative medicine, etc. For many people, the first thought to come to mind would never be art. Art can open the minds of individuals by creating awareness, verbal stimulation, better communication, and overall understanding of different perspectives of the human mind. The question is can it really heal? The Bruyere Gallery, located in Ottawa, Ont. seems to think so. They have a brilliant center that helps widen the medical staff’s and the patient’s perspectives on creativity.
“I believe that art in the halls of a medical center focuses people on the human condition in general and less on themselves,” said Dr Bob Bernstein, Medical Director at the Family Medicine Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. “I see patients stooped with arthritis or short of breath with heart failure, stopping to look at the photographs… it gives them a pipeline to another world and opens a path to their emotional reactions…. In the case of the exhibit, perhaps they can see their own suffering in context of the existential suffering of others.”
Another doctor, Kevin Pottie, who is the Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University and teacher at the Bruyere Center says, “When someone is going through an illness, they often lose their perspective, and I’d like to think that, when someone walks into our clinic, the artwork stimulates them to think in a different way.” He notes that one of his patients made improvements to their health, and because they saw their art displayed afterward, Dr. Pottie believes the man’s perspective on life changed greatly and his health improved rapidly.
Author and art therapist Martina Scnetz keeps her sight of the patients, who are “art makers” in a group together that stay moving in an actual reality of what is represented in the images being painted by them. A “Healing flow” she calls it, depends on accepting the reality of any images we might make. It also depends on accepting our responses to an image reality as it transforms itself before our eyes when change it with our painting hands. Art supports us towards healing even when the “meaning” of the image, as it is being made, is yet out of consciousness and only within the body’s censorial gestures. Art eases us into healing through a process that is alchemical in its subtlety, in creating a visual world on paper we are self-creating too. We are self-creating by dialoguing between our eyes and our psyche without handling language. (The Healing Flow, 11-12.)
In conclusion, when one might think he or she is well off being negative, they could be jeopardizing their entire health, and/or emotional values. According to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, thinking positively may increase one’s health benefits. This means becoming less sick with a common cold, flu and other viruses and it even helps individuals cope through hardships better. By creating an environment that is positively uplifting, art therapists are healing people one day at a time to help them recover from more devastating things such as cancer or Alzheimer’s. Even deformations of the body can limit one’s ability to say positive because they are not “normal.”
Art therapy is only one of the great solutions of healing, but I believe it is one of the greatest. Because of its board subject matter, art can relate to all cultures, people, personalities, places, and things in a way only art can. Sometimes, when people look at art, all they see is a picture; a painting on the wall. But what they should be seeing (and some do) is a reality that someone has created, or envisioned and made to life through media. The clients can share their story, their dreams, hopes, or desires to become whole again, and the therapist can help influence them discover themselves by showing them that their dreams can be a reality, but only if they choose them to be. We are only limited by what we think we are limited to do or be. By opening those doors to new experiences (using art as a guide,) people may discover that their dreams were closer than they ever thought, and it could change their perspectives on life forever.
(I want to become an Art Therapist when I graduate college so that is why I wrote on this particular topic and how it can heal people. This was my psychology term paper and I put a lot of effort into this. I hope you find it very interesting, please check my sources too! -MRM)
Bibliography:
“The Healing Flow.” The Age of the Clans: The Highlands from Somerled to the Clearances by Robert Dodgshon. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o>.
”The Art Therapy Sourcebook.” Google Books. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://books.google.com/books?id=YJGDWnNxZgUC>.
Gibbs, Janice Robinson. “Art and Healing: Is There a Connection?” Canadian Family Physician Nov. 2000, 46th ed. NCBI. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2145070/pdf/canfamphys00033-0197.pdf/?tool=pmcentrez>.
”What Is Art Therapy?” BAAT. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://baat.org/What_is_Art_Therapy.pdf>.
’Psychotherapy’ Psychotherapy. Web. 25 Mar. 2012.<http://www.medilexicon.com/medicaldictionary.php?t=73742>
”Psychotherapy.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapy>.
Some things are wroth editing and some things are not. Wouldn’t you just love to edit out the “bad” events that happened in your life? They would disappear into the abyss of blackness and never return. However, somethings you can not erase, and memories are one of them. Not matter what you are going through this holiday remember that there is always a new year coming up, but do not wait till then to take a step out of the swarming mass of bad memories you cannot let go. Let them go now and let God handle it.
-MRM
Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. -Psalm 55:22
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. -1 Peter 5:7
Do you know what is pleasent about a graveyard? It’s silent. Do you know what is unpleasent about a graveyard? It’s too silent. Every year my mum and I travel to the graveyard where we put a hand-made bouquet on her/my grandfather’s grave. It has been a long time since I have been there (at least since last spring) and each time I go, it is a rainy, cold day. It made me think about what I read this morning about Jesus rising from the grave (Matthew 28:1-10) and how one day I will die and go to heaven. That will be the happiest day of my life to be honest; getting to see Jesus face to face and living in peace forever? I am VIP on that list I promise.
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. -2 Corinthians 5:8The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. -Isaiah 57:1-2For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:17-18In conclusion, I had a good time today and hope to learn more lessons about life and death; because I am still learning something new about Christ every day, and it never ceases to amaze me.If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. -Romans 14:8-MRM
“The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The funding of a new U.S. backbone by theNational Science Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies, and the merger of many networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2011, more than 2.1 billion people – nearly a third of Earth’s population – use the services of the Internet.” -Wikipedia
THEN HOW IN THE WORLD DID I WRITE THIS IN 1969? LOL God is hilarious sometimes. I wrote this on the actual date in the second picture (it’s in edit mode,) however, it appears as Dec, 31 1969 for some reason as the normal view. Check it here yourself
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” -Psalm 126:2
