"She was like a midwife for my Soul, I felt." Marsha |
About Grief Painter™ Faith Harrison created Grief Painter™ in 2011, while embroiled in a series of personal traumas. For many years she sought multiple forms of counseling, therapy, and education to help heal her past years of trauma, which all seemed to help a little but there was a sense of profound loss and continued dysfunction that was escalating. Throughout her journey of actively seeking professional help, she discovered that she could paint through her feelings. This helped far more than the countless professionals that had labeled her for a variety of diagnosis' that basically equated to "no cure for". Instead of accepting it, she found a way to move into it, like the buffalo moves through a storm - instead of running or hiding, she uses paint like medicine. Instead of painting a tree brown like in nature, she paints whatever color she feels. Later, she noticed that when certain feelings arose she could look at her paintings and not feel so alone or misunderstood.
When a friend asked for help with grief she chose a variety of inspiring authors, teachers and mentors who had made a significant impact on her. Their deep and powerful understanding of human behaviors, consciousness levels and emotions are the anchor to the process. Faith provides the creative inspiration and application to turn it into art. |
The Inspirers
In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote "On Death and Dying", where she first introduced her Five Stages of Grief, while working with terminally ill. She later noted that the stages were not linear...that they were only a part of of the process - not the whole. She wanted her work to be a springboard for more stages and understanding. Grief Painter™ uses Kübler-Ross's levels as this springboard.
Sir David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. is a nationally renowned psychiatrist, physician, researcher, spiritual teacher and lecturer. In 1994, Dr. Hawkins published "Power Vs. Force", a book on human behavior with a scale of consciousness. This book, endorsed by Mother Theresa, Lee Iacocca and Sam Walton, describes hidden determinants in human behavior. Grief Painter™ uses the scale of consciousness to help understand the feelings we have an how they help or hurt us and others. Al-Anon/Alateen, members do not give direction or advice to other members. Instead, they share their personal experiences and stories, and invite other members to “take what they like and leave the rest”—that is, to determine for themselves what lesson they could apply to their own lives. |