Expressive Art Meditation: A Safe Place for your True Self

Everyday time passes really fast. Everyone seems to be always on a rush. 

Everywhere I look, I notice long lines of people queing for the train, students stressing out over studies, and my papers piling up waiting for me to check them. And as if being a full time mom and a part time teacher is not enough to stress and worry me out, I have included yet another challenge in my life which is pursuing my masteral degree in Family Life and Child Development. With all these roles, I am still finding time to blog for pleasure and for work. Attend events, take photos for product reviews, read, write and plan. I did not stop there, I still fulfill my roles as a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a friend, and just about anything anyone wants me to be. 

Can you imagine how my life is with all these? I have my hands full and I can't get enough of it. That is the reason why attending the Expressive Arts Meditation Workshop by Artist Madhouse was just what I needed. 

The Expressive Art Meditation workshop is an activity my highschool friend Carol Tongco and her college classmate Jem Banzon, created for individuals to be able to pause for a while and have a talk wih one's true Self. I have been blogging and promoting the workshop but my schedule would always conflict with their schedule. 

Such a blessing in disguise, when classes were suspended so I had the opportunity to join their session last July 7 at WhiteSpace Studio, Katipunan, QC. Going to the event, I was just excited to know what it was about. I love arts and crafts but I am a little short on the artistic side so I was expecting that I would learn how to paint, mix colors, and make a masterpiece worth displaying. I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR WHAT WAS IN STORE for me that day. 

I won't spoil the fun for you because I am hopping you'll be curious and excited to try it on your own, but here are some photos of what happened during that day: 

The experience was a first for me. I have not tried meditation or even canvass painting before and I did not expect the two to be a great combination. I definitely would do it again and again for I know it will be a unique experience everytime.

The experience has left such a big realization in my life. It brought back wonderful traits I have in myself that I consciously or subconsiously hid away from others and even to myself because of worries, fears, and problems. I had a long overdue heart to heart talk with myself and with my creator. It felt like I have been overhauled in an Auto Repair Center, or a laptop or pc that has been restored, or an old book that was opened to the world again.

I felt safe. I knew before I went there that I would be vulnerable, but I did not imagine I could be vulnerable to a bunch of strangers whom felt no strangers at all during the workshop. I felt loved an accepted and that thwy would never judge me. I was able to rediscover who I truly am and I felt genuinely appreciated for my true self. 

It sounds dramatic, yes, but I'd say it is a miracle happening right before my eyes, a miracle was happening to me. It was revealed to me that I am a part of a plan, that I am designed with a purpose, that I am more blessed than inadequate.

It was also through the workshop, that I have silenced my inner critic. I learned to listen to my critic but never let it or fear intervene with what I am purposefully created for. I have never felt ashamed of being affected so much by my inner critic that I could not share who I truly am. 

In general, it gets difficult to have a time to quiet down and converse with our true self. The world we live in is so complicated that we get caught up with our pursuit to having and not being. We insist on having the latest gadgets, watch the latest movie, eat the finest meals that our true goals and dreams are pushed sown to the innermost part of our heart. This then makes us forget, forget who we really are and what really matters. With Artist Madhouse's Expressive Art workshop, we are given that haven and outlet to just be, and concentrate on being. Being in the moment, being with our self, and being in miracle. 

Thank you Artist Madhouse, you have unleashed the little child in me again, and I could not be any happier!;)