I am contemplating rest and peace today as I journal in my garden.
I saw two videos recently, one from Dr. John Delony and one from a fellow artist, both talking about safety and self-regulation:
You're worth a peaceful home. -- Dr. John Delony
Sometimes the Process of creation holds just as much value as the end result. — E. Poole Art
Watching these made me wonder: how often do we pause to truly consider whether our lives are creating/perpetuating stress and anxiety? How often do we pause and intentionally create spaces of peace in our homes and lives?
Our homes should be our sanctuary. Too often, they aren't. This has been painfully true for my family, and I admit to having been far too wrapped up in fight/flight to even give the concept of sanctuary any real consideration until now.
We struggle to create art when we are in survival mode. Everything not immediately essential to our survival gets shut down. We can’t make sound decisions or dream about our future; research has shown that even brain function gets limited when our nervous system is hyped for survival1. Joy gets hampered, too. Our health takes a hit2. And on and on and on.
Perhaps most interesting to me is the point that without peace, our bodies slowly tear themselves to pieces.
It is clear: healing needs safety. Healing needs sanctuary.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am trying to intentionally cultivate that peace and safety in my life and in my home. Prioritizing it. Finding all the little things that promote it. Giving intentional consideration to what I am putting my body through, every day, without even thinking about it.
If my body were a thing of high value (and it is3), how would I be treating it?
And as a mother and a teacher: how can I help my own children and those I teach to reach safety in context of our time together? I know the extent of the experiences my own children have faced, but I only see my students for a short period. Sometimes they tell me what is going on in their lives… sometimes they don’t. Trauma is more widespread than many believe, and it’s a buzzword in educational circles as we are all trying to find out how best to support our communal recovery from the psychological torment of covid lockdowns and God knows what else. How can I model for them what I am just now coming to understand?
One thing I do know is that as an artist and a teacher, I have something unique to offer. Artistic expression is no small thing — it has a significant impact on our wellbeing. As artist Emily Poole noted in her Instagram reel, drawing is a form of self-regulation. Researchers have studied drawing, and found it to be a viable method for emotional regulation4.
The wind chimes on my front porch gently sway, providing a gentle counterpoint to the sound of my pen across my paper. Perhaps modeling intentional care and value leading to peace is as simple as this: demonstrating drawing, facilitating journaling, holding space for thoughts and images on paper.
Lord, help us enter into Your rest, and the peace — the perfect peace surpassing all understanding — that only You can give.
Amen.
Walden University. (n.d.). How Stress Impacts Decision Making, retrieved 11 May 2024 from https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/ms-in-clinical-mental-health-counseling/resource/how-stress-impacts-decision-making
Dr. John Gottman has done some fascinating research on emotions and health in relationships. One of the more shocking examples is of contempt. Contempt is poisonous, it sucks the air out of a relationship (putting it in an emotional survival situation), and being the recipient of another’s contempt can have a scientifically quantifiable negative effect on your health (!!!). The Gottman Institute. (n.d.). The Four Horsemen: Contempt. Retrieved 11 May 2024 from https://www.gottman.com/blog/the-four-horsemen-contempt/
Scripture has many verses about the intrinsic value our earthly form has. Perhaps most poignant is that not just are we ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ with intention by our Creator, but that our physical bodies are temples that house us and His Holy Spirit.
If the Hebrew people regarded the tabernacle with such reverence, that they had specific criteria for how items in it were made, how it was set up, how it was transported, and how everything entered and left… and if our bodies are a type of temple… shouldn’t we treat them with more care and dignity instead of being an afterthought?
Brechet, C., D'Audigier, L., & Audras-Torrent, L. (2022). The Use of Drawing as an Emotion Regulation Technique with Children. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Retrieved 11 May 2024 from https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Faca0000314
I love your drawings about catnip. I don’t have catnip, but I do love my catmint.
I myself have over the years have been careful with the word sanctuary. I’ve used it plenty of times just as you are using it. However, I think it should be kept more of a place that is divine and revered—church building. But then again, I see nothing wrong with creating an own sanctuary as a place to worship in your home. I go back-and-forth on it. But I’m still a little sensitive to using that word. I do like your idea of creating a space that feels safe and is peaceful. I do that as well. Only I tend to call it My Happy Place.
I recently rediscovered my love of drawing recently and have found it a wonderful way to destress and cultivate moments of peace in my busy life.