 Pamela Mueggenberg LIMHP, MA Art Therapy Counseling
"You can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club." – Jack London You may be surprised to find that I, your friendly neighborhood art therapist - the lady in ponderous frocks who refuses to throw out any drawing and will greet bunnies in the backyard - loves Stephen King. I particularly enjoy his more recent works. He’s mellowed with age but doesn’t let his newfound hope for the goodness of humanity deter him from creating some memorable villains doing gleefully awful things. Last year I read his autobiography/writing guide, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. The book is historically notable as the one he was working on when, taking his daily walk through the woods near his home, he was run over by a truck and almost died. Five weeks after a life flight, a collapsed lung he suffered in midair, emergency surgery, and several reconstructive surgeries with all sorts of pins and shims holding his bones together, King decided it was about time he start writing again. Five weeks! Tabitha, King’s wife, set up a modified writing space for him in the kitchen and set him to work. King writes: “When it was over, I was dripping with sweat and almost too exhausted to sit up straight in my wheelchair. The pain in my hip was just short of apocalyptic. And the first five hundred words were uniquely terrifying—it was as if I’d never written anything before in my life. I stepped from one word to the next like a very old man finding his way across a stream on a zigzag line of wet stones. There was no miraculous breakthrough that afternoon, unless it was the ordinary miracle that comes with any attempt to create something. All I know is that the words started coming a little faster after a while, then a little faster still. My hip still hurt, my back still hurt, my leg, too, but those hurts began to seem a little farther away. I’d got going; there was that much. After that, things could only get better.” The practice of creativity is, at its core, a battle against entropy. With our pain we will create, with our exhaustion we will find patterns, with our confusion we will put things and ideas and images together and then, when we’re done, there will be something new that has never before existed in the world. (Then we need to find a place to put it, but that’s a completely different article.). We need to go deep into ourselves and the world to access such beauty. Compare that, for just a moment, with the story of the Greek Muses. Inspiration is flown in from above to a deserving few. Gilded ladies would whisper in their ear and, delicate and subtle, the art would flow through them and land fully formed on the page. How do you relate to your own creativity? Do you believe it to be a finite resource that must be budgeted? Like a gift from above that must be worshipped. Or, like King, is it a practice that helps remind you who you are? In my experience, the more we create the more creative we become. It is work, one we must commit to and practice, and we will see just how we can make the world more beautiful.
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 By Daniel G. Weidner
“There are none so blind as those who will not see”. The origin of this quote is unknown to me. However, the relevance of this quote to the current political situation in our nation seems clear. There exists a significant number of Americans who will not see. They are locked in their silos and hold on to their confirmation bias with a white knuckled intensity. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines ignorance as: “the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, education, or awareness”. The definition of ignorance in the literature on Mindfulness suggests that it means to be misled, misguided, deluded, or asleep. It is important to understand that in Mindfulness ignorance is not considered to be a lack of knowledge, rather it is knowing the wrong things. Ignorance, at its most basic level, is a misunderstanding of reality. Dr. Mark Epstein refers to it as the “…concretization of experience”. Buddhist’s consider ignorance to be one of the “three poisons” (attachment, aversion, ignorance). The three poisons are considered to be the three main causes of suffering (also known as Dukkha - pervasive unsatisfactoriness). Ignorance is considered to be the root of the other two poisons. We find that our resentment and anger, and selfishness and ill-will are themselves only conditioned responses that are the result of ignorance. Ignorance can degenerate into a generalized feeling of numbness, and if it is allowed to continue one can begin to feel that there is no way out of it. When we pretend to ourselves that we do not see and feel the things that we do not want to see and feel, we gradually lose our ability to feel at all. And it is in this feeling that there is no way out which can lead some people to look for someone who can lead them out of these feelings. A demagogue, an authoritarian, can take clear advantage of ignorance and use it for their own purposes. It is important here to remember that ignorance causes suffering. Our empathy, understanding, and compassion for those who suffer from ignorance are essential. Anger and resentment in relation to ignorance only causes more suffering. No one wants to be told that they are ignorant. People sometimes imply that ignorance means that one is not smart. This is far from the truth. There are many intelligent people who suffer from ignorance. But having a discussion with someone regarding ignorance can be like walking through a minefield. Before one can deal with ignorance in the world one must first both recognize and accept their own ignorance. If you would like to reduce ignorance in the world, then perhaps it is best to begin with oneself. This is where the practice of Mindful Meditation can be helpful. Cessation of ignorance in Meditation does not mean the cessation of feelings and perceptions; it means the cessation of ignorance in our feelings and perceptions. In Meditation we can begin to look deeply into the true nature of our existence. We begin to recognize and accept our ignorance and the suffering that it creates for us and others. Through this process we can begin to lift ourselves out of our ignorance and find greater peace and happiness in our lives. This, in turn, makes the world a little less ignorant. Namaste.  By Dr. Kara Cavel, LICSW, PhD
If you have read my contributions to the CML Newsletter in the past, you know I use the practice of Tarot to ground and center me. In keeping with this tradition of writing about this practice, I would like to offer a meditation on “The Six of Wands.” Recently, I was listening to an interview with James Doty, a neurosurgeon and author who is most known for his 2016 bestselling memoir entitled Into the Magic Shop. He recently wrote a book entitled Mind Magic about the neuroscience of manifestation. I know, I know…sometimes the idea of manifestation gets a bad rap because for many, it’s associated with this “woo woo” perhaps overly simplistic idea that if you desire something and ask for it, it will come to you. Like, “dear universe, I really want to have longer eyelashes.” But Doty’s idea of manifestation is different and based on neuroscience. He writes that obtaining a more fulfilling life involves using your mind to reclaim agency, realize your dreams, and find ways to be compassionate toward others. The Six of Wands represents victory. When I think of victory, I think of freedom. And when I think of freedom, I think of the ways we all have the potential to choose our responses. Some may argue that this is not true. In fact, Robert Sapolsky in his latest book Determined purports that who made us and where we are “plopped” (as my dad likes to put it) is who we become. In other words, he suggests that our choices are determined by our genetics, environment, and experiences. With all due respect to the scientific contributions of Sapolsky, I would rather think of myself as having agency, or a sense of control in my own life because it offers a sense of freedom. In the interview, Doty shared a quote by Viktor E. Frankel who writes, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” Let’s return to my meditation on the Six of Wands. When I think of victory, I think of freedom (and Pele, Sylvester Stallone, and Michael Cain in the 1981 film of the same name). And when I think of freedom, I think of choice. And when I think of choice, I think that the way we access a more fulfilling life is to grow the space between reaction and response. So, for me this card begs the question, “How do I grow my capacity to not react, but pause in an effort to move toward choice, freedom, VICTORY!?”  by Hillary Rubesin, PhD, LIMHP, REAT A few weeks ago, I was in a virtual supervision session with a newly-graduated clinician who is working towards her Expressive Arts Therapy registration. She began our time together with a question: “Do you ever experience self-doubt?” I laughed. Fifteen years as a fully-licensed therapist, and I still regularly question myself. My supervisee breathed out, relieved. We processed her exhaustion following long workdays trying to “mindread” and stay “ahead” of her clients’ thinking. “What if, instead of trying to stay ‘ahead’ of our clients, we focused on ‘being with’?” One week later, I was in between client sessions, doubting myself. I turned to a deck of “Soul Cards” purchased in graduate school after a powerful training in an arts-based process called “Touch Drawing.” I pulled the following card, and quickly tried to make sense of the image.  Before I had the chance to self-analyze (ha!), my next client arrived. She entered the office and began telling me about her previous week. Suddenly, she paused. “I read this poem last night and it made me think of you. Could I share it?” “Of course!” I agreed, always welcoming the arts. She began to read from her phone: A bald eagle called out to another as mag-pies attacked their nest. Someone called it romantic. I believed her. The magpies, the ferryman, God, the poets, everything seemed romantic in Alaska, where people breathed out white birds. (Excerpt from A Woman With A Bird, by Victoria Chang) I stared at her, dumbfounded. “I have to show you something.” I pulled out the card. She gasped. “WHAT?!?! What does it mean??” “I have no idea!” I blurted out. I paused before speaking again, just being with her, in the magic. “Maybe it means that when we truly trust ourselves, we are brought to who and where we’re supposed the be. Maybe self-trust allows us to connect more fully with others. Maybe this is where we find magic again.” The following night, a wooden box fell, inexplicably, from my bookshelf. It had sat there for years, rarely touched. Startled, I began putting the contents (art supplies and little trinkets) back inside. I noticed a small message had also fallen out, alongside the other contents. It read, The Magic Box Each one of us holds a certain magic within. The magic box is the keeper of this magic for the person who believes in themselves and trusts in their own magic. You can share the magic with everyone with a smile. As you journey through life, the magic will never leave you. Your magic will be here forever.  Journey on, my friends. Trust your own magic.
Dr. Hillary Rubesin has limited openings in her private practice for clients as well as for clinicians seeking supervision in Expressive Arts Therapy. Please reach out to her at [email protected].  By Marilyn Erickson, APRN
While the term, “superfoods”, is often seen and is an overrated phrase, there are actually at least three foods that have evidence to support them being called superfoods. In this article, three superfoods will be discussed and several terms that refer to food components found in these foods will also be explained to help you understand the benefits of the foods. One superfood that is supported by evidence is garlic. Garlic is a vegetable that can be eaten raw or cooked. Garlic contains several sulfur-containing phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are plant-based elements that we require not only for nutrition but also for detoxification, protection against inflammation and DNA repair. Specifically, garlic lowers circulating markers of oxidative stress and inflammation. Supplementation with garlic can lower total cholesterol levels and improve other aspects of cardiovascular health including lowered blood pressure (studies show moderate improvement for both cholesterol and blood pressure). A disadvantage of garlic, especially raw garlic, is accompanying body odor or “garlic breath”. Some supplements can reduce this effect, such as “aged garlic” extracts. Aged garlic does not have the fresh garlic scent. Also, garlic can be toxic if consumed in high doses, so maximum doses should not be exceeded. For example, for a person weighing 150 pounds, the upper limit is 17 grams. Another superfood is dark berries, like blueberries, red raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries. Dark berries also contain phytochemicals and anthocyanin which are water soluble flavonoids. Flavonoids are phytochemicals that produce several medicinal benefits including anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. They also have cardio-protective effects and neuroprotective effects. Health benefits of anthocyanins have been widely described as important in the prevention of diseases associated with oxidative stress like cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. More recent evidence suggests that health-promoting effects attributed to anthocyanins may be related to the adjustment or balance of gut microbiota. Because dark berries can influence brain activity, older individuals can eat them to improve memory. This may also be true for younger people, but more research is needed. One-half to one cup of dark berries a day would be ideal. Another important superfood is leafy greens. Leafy greens are one of the most nutrient dense foods. Leafy greens include spinach, kale, Romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, beet greens and cabbage. They contain high levels of fiber, iron, potassium, magnesium and calcium. One study found that people eating just one serving (two cups of raw) leafy greens each day report a significant decrease in cognitive decline. During the digestive process, the greens release chemical compounds that ramp up detoxification. The fiber helps women clear out estrogen from the intestines before it can be reabsorbed into circulation. It feeds that all-important microbiome which, in turn, amplifies hormone and toxin neutralization and elimination. Vitamin K found in dark leafy greens provides many health benefits like protecting bones from osteoporosis and fighting inflammatory diseases. These three foods, really so easy to incorporate into our daily diet, help us in so many ways to improve our memory, decrease risks of inflammation and cancer, and are an aid in maintaining good cardiovascular and bone health.  Daniel G. Weidner, MS, LMHP
“It is our fear at experiencing ourselves directly that causes suffering” Mark Epstein, M.D. (To read Part I of this essay, please click here.) It is not uncommon to hear someone describe their dissonance as boredom or restlessness. The modern world provides a plethora of distractions that we routinely and often subconsciously employ to avoid this internal form of dissonance. We find “social media” as a handy escape from boredom and restlessness. This escape into social media can become psychologically addictive. We also use television, movies, food, hobbies, exercise, religion, sex, and other external activities as ways to avoid the sense of dissonance that can creep in to our lives. This is often very subtle, and can be almost entirely subconscious. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with any of the above listed sources of distraction. It is the use of these distractions in an effort to avoid the dissonance that can be harmful to our well-being. Thus the quote “It is our fear at experiencing ourselves directly that causes suffering”. Depending upon the circumstances of the individual, one may go to great lengths to avoid experiencing oneself directly. Mark Epstein says that “We are all engaged in a futile struggle to maintain ourselves in our own image”. Dukkha is sometimes described as “pervasive unsatisfactoriness”. This unsatisfactoriness can manifest in psychological stress, mental anguish, and even physical decline. Both Western Psychology and Buddhist Psychology tell us that avoidance is not a healthful response to stress or discomfort. This is where the practices of Mindfulness and Meditation can be sources of legitimate and sustainable forms of relief for our cognitive dissonance. Buddhist Psychology tells us that it is only when we are able to directly face and accept the sources of our discomfort that we will realize some relief. This is the opposite of distractedness. And this can be a frightening proposition. What we find when we engage in the practice of mindfulness is that the fear of knowing ourselves is unfounded. We learn that directly facing and accepting the vicissitudes of life is freeing and a relief. It is often referred to as “letting go”. Mindfulness means being present to whatever is happening here and now. When we want things to be different than they are here and now – that is suffering. Through mindfulness practices we begin to notice how the mind works and awaken to it. We begin to understand that thoughts are a condition that arises and passes. We come to the realization that we are not our thoughts, and that our fears and our dissonance are unnecessary. We learn to live within ourselves, accept ourselves for who and what we are and realize greater happiness and contentment with our lives – as they are.  Daniel G. Weidner, MS, LMHP
“It is our fear at experiencing ourselves directly that causes suffering” Mark Epstein, M.D. This quote is from Dr. Epstein’s book: Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. This book is a lucid and fascinating examination of the complimentary relationship between Buddhist Psychology and modern Psychotherapy. This book helps us to comprehend how understanding an emotional experience in the present moment, as it is happening, is different than the realizations that we can experience through the psychotherapeutic process of digging into our past. Both are valuable experiences on their own, but together they can help us to more completely get to know this person with whom we spend every day of our life - and through this process lead a more fulfilling and happier life. In the preface to the tenth anniversary edition of this book, Dr. Epstein (a practicing Psychiatrist) states: “Mindfulness confers upon us the capacity to relate to emotional life in an open, balanced, accepting, and tolerant way, while freeing us to act with compassion, rather than on impulse, in response”. “It is our fear at experiencing ourselves directly that causes suffering”. Suffering, known in Buddhist Psychology as Dukkha, can be understood (on a basic level) as having two parts: First, there is the discomfort, unease, or pain that we experience in association with an unpleasant or undesired event. This can be anything from stubbing your toe as you get out of bed, to the loss of a loved one – and everything in between. Colloquially we sometimes say “shit happens”. The second part of suffering is generally understood to be what we inflict upon ourselves as a result of the experienced unpleasant or undesired event. This can be viewed as our ongoing reaction (thoughts and feelings) following the event. A simple example is when someone says something unkind or critical to us. The event itself may last only moments or minutes. But the ongoing reactions to the event can go on for the rest of the day, and maybe for multiple days. We have thoughts like: “How could he/she talk to me like that?”; “That was so mean!”; “The next time that I see them I will give them a piece of my mind!”. You get the drift. We become the source of our own suffering – Dukkha. There is an internal, and perhaps more nefarious form of Dukkha that we can experience when we directly come face-to-face with ourselves. At a basic level this can be experienced as a form of Cognitive Dissonance. In the field of Psychology, Cognitive Dissonance can be described as the perception of contradictory information and the mental and/or emotional toll of that contradiction. It is typically experienced as the psychological stress that results in the clash between our beliefs and new perceived information. This clash causes some “discomfort” or “stress”, and we tend to seek some way to resolve the contradiction to reduce our discomfort. We may find ourselves trying to reduce this internal inconsistency (which is the source of our discomfort) by adding new parts to the cognition that is causing our psychological dissonance. Justification or rationalization of our beliefs or behavior is often the way that we go about finding some relief for our feelings of dissonance. We can also attempt to avoid circumstances and information that is likely to be the source of, and result in an increase of the dissonance. We often gravitate toward information (and experience) that is consistent with our current beliefs as a way to get some relief. This is known as confirmation bias. I posit here that it can sometimes be more challenging to deal with internal sources of dissonance than with external sources. This would be when self-held beliefs come into contact with information that is contradictory to said beliefs. It can often be just the fear of, or potential for, realizing this contradiction that can cause the dissonance. We will work to avoid and/or rationalize this conflict as a way to gain relief from the feelings of dissonance. Distraction is one of the primary strategies that we employ to either remove the feelings of dissonance or to prevent those feelings from arising at all. (PART II of this essay will be published in our May issue.)  by Laura Crosby
This article is for the book lovers, the tender hearts, the deep(ish) thinkers, and anyone exploring life’s existential questions. It is a compilation of resources to nourish your heart-mind on a path of deepening peace and freedom. But first ... The Buddha said, “Nothing can survive without food.” A simple truth that speaks as literally to the state of the heart and mind as to that of the body. The sights, sounds, and ideas we consume every day condition our consciousness. Wholesome states like compassion, gratitude, and equanimity thrive and grow with nourishment, and can wane significantly without it. So too with unwholesome states — fear, hatred, anger. When we pay attention, we see this; feel this; know this. Thich Nhat Hanh taught that, “Mass media is the food for our eyes, ears, and minds … images, sounds, and ideas that are toxic can rob our body and consciousness of their well-being.” In fact, he once vowed, “to ingest only items that preserve well-being, peace, and joy in my body and my consciousness.” While this path may seem extreme, it points to the agency we can have over how and what we ingest (for the heart-mind) and what we nurture in doing so. Going deeper, it invites awareness, intention, discernment, and mindful choice around what will best preserve our own well-being, peace, and joy. In that spirit, offered here is a medley of works curated for their potential to soothe, nourish, and sustain. May something in them feed your peace and freedom. Meditations + Music
Voices + Insights
Art + Books
“Be mindful of what you watch, read, and listen to, and protect yourself from the fear, despair, anger, craving, anxiety, or violence they promote. The material goods they promise are only quick, temporary fixes.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life  By Pamela Mueggenberg, LMHP, MA
I’ve been losing my words lately. Covid finally hit my house for winter this year, and two months later I can tell that my brain is still recovering from hosting its unwelcome guest. It’s not as though I’m forgetting words, having them lounge on my tongue until they’ve run off on a beach vacation to find themselves. It’s more like the words are sleeping in my brain; even with alarms and klaxons and their nest shaking in frustration, they continue to snooze completely untroubled by their rampant absenteeism. Often my mind attempts to find a way around the word, trying to communicate the emotion or image even if the sound is gone. I was as surprised as anybody when I called wrapping paper “surprise blankets” and my cat as “anger fluff.” I was talking to a friend of mine, a speech therapist, who gave me a few tips to help me find my words again. “The biggest challenge is not to freak out,” she said. “When you can’t find the path to a word our first inclination is to clamp down and force your way through. Take a breath, remember you’re not crazy, and it will come to you eventually.” This struck me as really good advice. We are all faced with the unknown - what will happen today, this year, this decade. What challenges and injuries we or our loved ones will encounter. What we think we can control when really, we’ve just been lucky so far. This time in history has stripped away some of the security we took for granted, and it makes sense that we would fill in the gaps of our knowledge with assuming the worst. How many times have you heard the phrase “end of the world” this week? We are facing serious challenges and have a lot of work ahead of us but the assumption that the unknown is imminently doomed isn’t true. The truth is we don’t know. And not knowing is not the same thing as annihilation. Instead, let’s take a breath. Remember who you are. And the future will come. And when it does, you will have an opportunity to show your values and strengths and keep those you love in your heart. You have those same opportunities today, and today we can choose what to do. So, plant a garden, hug your friends, pick up trash, and live a life you’re proud of. And the words will come. To read the complete newsletter, click here.  By Marilyn Erickson, APRN
Instead of making resolutions for this new year, why not make a commitment to feed your own inner self, open into possibility, open your branches wide to the magic around you and within you. Step out of making yourself small, wrong, or comparing yourself with everyone else. Does that sound difficult? One way to sort of take this apart and apply it to your own personality is to look at what personality might fit you the best? Are you a controller? Are you a pleaser? Are you an isolator? Are you a distractor? When looking at possibilities, some descriptions of these characteristics that may be helpful are as follows:
Think about where you tend to lean. Then consider what is possible, what can foster growth. Consider the actions you take. Are they from fear or do they come from your center? While these primary characteristics guide our actions, we still can discover what we have covered up and what has been hidden. We can uncover our gifts.
How you perceive yourself, whether it be one of these four characteristics or a combination or something else, you can create, lead, nourish, and have a vision for what is possible. While your perception of yourself may guide your actions, you can discover what is hidden, uncover your gifts. If you get caught up in “what if” way of thinking, practice thinking of the what if as a positive outcome. Thinking of a positive outcome helps overcome the fear. What if everything goes right and things unfold into possibilities. What if the challenges of your life help you to become more steady, more committed? For the isolating or distracting person, does this help to be more supportive of others so that the matrix of your relationships can shift in a positive way. What if you have so much to give and also to receive? Sometimes these what ifs are a means of criticizing yourself, judging. Do you see these old ways of looking at things in a negative light as keeping yourself safe? For example, you lock your keys in your car, you say to yourself, “Why did I do something so stupid?” Or can you say to yourself, “Oops, I locked the keys in the car. What am I going to do?” Talk to yourself in a soothing way, not in a judging way. Help build your own strength and courage through self-soothing. Use kind words to reflect yourself. Judging leads to loss of energy. You are responsible for how you talk to yourself. Learn to recognize the old voices that bring you down. Practice discerning rather than judging. Say to yourself, “I don’t agree with my own actions. What do I need to do differently?” See yourself with compassion, through loving eyes. All of these changes in ways of seeing ourselves take practice. Practice self-soothing, enriching, learning and trust in your intuition. Bring light to your life through listening, gathering the tools that will help you, staying steady, and nourishing yourself. Come into stillness, settle and listen. Open to possibility. |
