Take Heart - Art Therapy

26/12/2024

01/07/2022

Be happier and healthier…be creative…make art💚

Studies show how art viewing and art making can lead to greater well-being across ages, nationalities, and income levels.

18/06/2022

I feel truly passionate about promoting Mental Health (as I am sure you do too😁⭐️✨🌟)

And therefore...

I'm taking on Coastrek!
This year, I’m walking for mental health by taking part in Coastrek, the ultimate team trekking and fundraising challenge, proudly supporting Beyond Blue.

Along with thousands of other Coastrekkers, mostly women, I will be walking a really, really long way to support the three million people in Australia living with anxiety and depression, and those affected by su***de.

There will be very sore legs, sweaty hair and maybe a blister or two. There will also be meaningful chats, lots of laughs, camaraderie and connection, and a sweet, sweet feeling of exhilaration when I smash my Coastrek goal after months of training and prep.

Each contact to the 24/7 Beyond Blue Support Service costs around $48 to answer. Your generosity will help connect people with immediate support, advice and referrals wherever they are.

Thank you for making a positive impact on mental health in Australia. Every donation helps!

I really suck at fundraising, so I need your help...

I'm doing my bit to do the training but raising the funds is giving me anxiety😩

Please follow the link below if you are able to make a donation.

This will save the world from me doing a sing and dance routine in public places with a hat in hand🙈

Huge thank-you💚💚💚

https://www.coastrek.com.au/fundraisers/LindaMaritz

29/04/2022

Your scars can be your art💚

22/04/2022

“Grandma, how do you cope with pain?”

“With your hands, honey. If you do it with your mind instead of relieving the pain, it toughens even harder.”

“With your hands grandma?”

“Yes, our hands are the antennae of our soul. If you move them; knitting, cooking, painting, playing or sinking them into the ground, you send care signs to the deepest part of you and your soul lights up because you’re paying attention to it. Then signs of pain will no longer be necessary.”

“Hands are really that important?”

“Yes my daughter. Think of babies: they start to know the world through the touch of their hands. If you look at the hands of old people, they tell you more about their life then any body part. Everything that is done by hand is said to be done with the heart. Because it’s really like this: hands and heart are connected. Masseurs know well: when they touch someone with their hands, they create a deep connection. It is precisely from this connection that healing comes. Think of lovers: when they touch their hands, they make love in a more sublime way.”

“My hands grandma.... how long I haven’t used them like this!”

“Move them, my love. Begin to create with them and everything within you will begin to move. The pain will not pass away. And instead what you do with them will become the most beautiful masterpiece and it won’t hurt anymore. Because you have been able to transform its essence.”

~Elena Bernabe
Shared and translated by Takiruna

16/04/2022

14/01/2022

Love this💚

At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, walked through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.
Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.
The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter "written" by the doll saying "please don't cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures."
Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka's life.
During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.
Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.
"It doesn't look like my doll at all," said the girl.
Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: "my travels have changed me." the little girl hugged the new doll and brought her happy home.
A year later Kafka died.
Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written:
"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."

06/01/2022

Know your worth and where you belong💚

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston.Brown has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. She...

02/01/2022

Start your new year with self-compassion💚

31 days of Self-Compassion from ✨ Love this as a way to start out the new year 🎆

Starting off 2022 with a little daily self-compassion 💗

Having goals, and dreaming big is amazing, and self-compassion is the support to get you through when that road gets bumpy.

Self-compassion says, “It’s okay, I’ll try again tomorrow” when it feels like your millionth failure.

Self-compassion says, “I’m not there yet, but that doesn’t mean I’ll never be” when it feels like you’re falling behind.

And self-compassion says, “I’m not perfect. I’m human. I will try my best in however that looks from day to day, and know that I am already enough” when the world feels heavy and nothing seems to be going right.

I hope this year, as the road of 2022 unravels before you, I hope it is filled with so many joys! But when doubt, worry, and judgement creep in, I hope you give yourself (and others) compassion and space to be human.

✨ Cheers to a kinder year ✨

31/12/2021

I love fresh beginnings…I’m hoping for 365 new chances. But truly, I really am only guaranteed of this day…this hour, this moment.

I just want to experience the good every day will offer. It might also be possible that I will have to bring ‘the good’ myself to some days.

Whatever 2022 holds for you…I truly hope you will find something good in every day.

take heART💚

30/12/2021

A good reflection to do the last day of the year💚

A new year is upon us, and as usual, most of us are getting our New Year’s Resolution lists ready.

Resolutions can help us envision what we want of the coming year; however, they are based on a calendar date instead of a moment where we are psychologically ready for change. Therefore, we can struggle to stay motivated, feel a lot of pressure, and, eventually, drop our resolutions.

Let’s try a different approach this year.

We invite you to take a moment to reflect on the past year, what went well, and what you are grateful for. Then, think of a few goals for the coming year. By following this process, we will begin our new year with a positive mindset, which can help us stay motivated in the coming year.

The simple 7-6-5-4 New Year’s Resolution exercise can be a helpful way to begin. Just follow these steps:

✨ Write 7 things you are grateful for this year.
Reflect on 7 moments, events, or facts you thank 2021 for.

✨ Note 6 things you achieved this year.
Look into the past year; what have you accomplished? What habits were you able to foster? What steps of courage did you take this year?

✨ List 5 people you are grateful for this year.
List those people that were there for you this year. It could have been your close friend, family, or that stranger in the park that always smiles at you. You can also think of ways to thank them. A simple letter or note can make their day, just as they have made your year.

✨ Write 4 resolutions/goals for the new year.
Finally, write 4 resolutions for the new year. Four might seem like a small number, but sometimes it can be challenging to keep track of our goals when we write lengthy lists.

If you have many resolutions in mind, we suggest you make a whole list and then choose your top 4 priority goals. You can begin the year by focusing on these goals first. Make sure to write SMART goals. For instance, focus on goals that are specific (e.g., workout twice a week at 3 pm) instead of general goals (e.g., be healthier).

So, what are you grateful for this 2021? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

The PositivePsychology.com team wishes you a wonderful 2022!

29/12/2021

The movement into the new year is supposedly the time of reinventing yourself and living by mantras such as “new year, new me”. But what if, instead of completely changing our ways and striving to be someone we aren’t, we simply just rebuild the pillars that may have lost their strength a little bit recently?

Rather than seeing New Years resolution’s as our “to-do list”, we can see the new year as a fresh beginning to gain control over the things that we may have lost a little bit of track of. The mindset that the minute the clock strikes midnight enables us to live a completely new and demanding lifestyle is not sustainable for our mental health. Setting long-term goals without any structure or markers of progress is not sustainable for our mental health either.

So instead of completely reinventing ourselves, how about we just take small and trackable steps towards a liberated mind? Expand your self-awareness as you choose to take responsibility for different aspects of your life. The best way to build true mental productivity is to mindfully build habits and routines, with plenty of time to rest and recover (King, 2021).

This post is all about reclaiming your power in the new year to ultimately optimize your communication, standards, and most importantly, your mental well-being.

Let us emphasize that a new year is not necessary for you to reclaim your power! Power and control can dwindle at any given moment and you can reclaim it at any given time. Sometimes the idea of a fresh beginning can just give us the motivation we need to actually take action!

We wish you all a prosperous new year, and may all your power be reclaimed!