05. Perception

 
 

creative self-care

Weaving together personal history and future vision through perception and the craft of hand .

 
 

By reflecting on where we’ve been, then connecting to the natural world through intuitive creativity, we are able to soften old scar tissue, balm old wounds, and envision anew.

 

prompt

Art is important because it commemorates the seasons of the soul...

⎯ CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES

MORNING ritualS

Materials: Sketchbook, colored pencils + your favorite writing device.
Setup: Wake up one hour early for walking, reflection, and creativity. Create a calendar for morning rituals and add the following schedule to this month:

3 Days/week — Get outside for an early morning stroll. Meander through nature trails or city streets and take-in what you perceive around you: the scent of the fresh morning air, the wetness of rain or dew beneath your feet, the sight of overlapping leaves or power lines. Notice what brings you joy, inspiration, and what sparks curiosity. As you walk, look out for a fallen branch or stick or piece of driftwood that catches your eye. Bring it home.

1 Day/week — Set aside morning time to reflect on the different eras of your life. Choose a page of your sketchbook. On the left side, record keywords of your perceived personal history and sensory experiences. Next, assign a color to each era and to the right of your lists, draw vertical lines that commemorate the vividness + duration of each era in your life. (ie: the more lines of one color = the longer that era felt to you).

1 Day/week — Set aside morning time to envision your future. Close your eyes and imagine the vivid smells, tastes, and sounds you want to experience. Feel the emotions and temperament of this new era. Absorb these feelings fully. Record what you envision and assign this new era a color. Next, draw vertical lines over the horizontal. This will create a pattern that weaves your past with your future.

 
 

Untangle your perception of life ⎯

watch w/ a friend:
Beyond the visible

view w/ curiosity:
m&V confirm humanity

visit by yourself:
Locating perception

READ w/ a child:
Cloth lullaby


Example of this month’s Morning Rituals.

 
 

therapeutic activity: WEAVE YOUR timeline INTO AN INTENTION STICK

At the end of the month, block out a few hours to activate the flow state of mind and create an Intention Stick. The activity below was designed to channel the freshness of the new year into an intentional, crafted representation of your life’s timeline.

Materials:Smooth stick, driftwood, or fallen branch that you personally foraged from nature’s floor.
Yarn, wire, twine, raffia, ribbon, or other soft material that’s thin + flexible enough for wrapping. Choose colors that match the colors from your weekly ritual above.
Set your space: Find a quiet space to be fully present with yourself. Create an ambiance that is peaceful, and supportive. Consider candles, soft music, open windows, dim lighting, etc.


  1. Organize your wrapping material according to era, matching colors to those that you chose in your Morning Rituals. Cut each piece to different lengths.

  2. Select the material in the color of the earliest era + tie it to one end of your stick. Begin wrapping it around your stick. Stop when you intuitively feel the urge. Tie off and cut any loose strands.

  3. Repeat the above with the proceeding eras. Explore overlapping threads, loosening, or tightening your wrapping style. Allow the process to be intuitive + meditative.

  4. Finally, wrap the color of your future, giving it a prominent position on your stick. This could include wrapping it over every other era or leaving large gaps between each wrap, etc.

  5. Hang your intention stick as part of your home decor or place it on your altar. The energy that is put into this symbolic piece is the energy that it will emit.

 
 

Meg Stuart & Varinia Canto Vila: confirm humanity

Woven Illustration, Antonio Mascio

Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois

 

Laina Miller is an Artist, Creative Wellness Consultant, and Social Emotional Arts Instructor. All viewpoints, activities, and insights expressed were generated from personal and professional experience and bolstered by favorite readings, teachers, and mentors. The aforementioned have been cited wherever possible. For additional support, please reach out to a trusted mental health advisor.