Another rainy July day and some of the mums could not attend because of children being unwell, but ring in to ask can the artwork be taken home next week to share with partners. There is sadness about this series of sessions finishing next week. "All good things come to an end" said one mum..."Mondays have really been my favourite day of the week". There is an open discussion about being stressed, the nature of depression, relationships with mothers and whether we have support from friends, family and how we draw upon our own resources. There is sharing about whether we can convey to our children and partners our true feelings, challenging family circumstances and methods of how to cope with young children and the desire to have times to just be free. There is talk too of patterns of change, body image, our view of ourselves as mothers and individuals and the nature of honesty, all whilst making creative journal pages.
On the table are flowers, a candle, the fragrance of lavender oil and a book 'When I love myself enough'. One of the women talks about how she longs for some time to think, for the mind to be quiet. We change the mood and play beautiful serene music and focus in on our own individual thoughts, the invitation for five minutes to explore free writing exploring what we appreciate about ourselves and our world.
We reflect back on the writing and the women share how much they have learnt about themselves, that they didn't realise they could be so insightful. There is talk about who is there to support us, to understand how things can be when feeling challenged.
It has been great for me as lead artist to have the support of Paula Tew, "I am really sad too that this is my last day". She has had fun recording and documenting spontaneous events, how the sessions are run, experienced and enjoyed. She takes digital photographs of the huge amount of beautifully creative artworks, together with the small protective environments which are made for the journals, a safe space too for the figures we have created. We discuss that the world wants evidence of everything, whereas these sessions have been about experience, women coming together to share wisdom and learn resilience for daily lives. Meanwhile, we enjoy making animated slideshows of the journals.
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