Losing Best Friends
Grief Painter™: Troy
Facilitator: Faith Harrison
Troy came to honor the passing of two of his best friends...one human and one four-legged.
Facilitator: Faith Harrison
Troy came to honor the passing of two of his best friends...one human and one four-legged.
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Troy's Words:
The most impactful part of the process for me was the unfolding awareness of what actually was pulled out of me and put on canvas. Each level I moved through revealed something about that level to me. Seeing the final product showed me peak at what lies underneath so much of the chatter that goes on in my head. If I had tried to create this piece of art within the confines of my normal operating consciousness, I would have failed. The process opened up in me the ability to see that I am more than my thoughts. That underneath the thoughts, the emotions, lay a powerful intelligence. This process created a portal into the unconscious. I mindfully was not intending to create any particular images in the painting, however, the ones that came through were powerful symbols of my unconscious that speak to me in ways I could never have imagined.
The biggest challenge for me was during the anger stage. I had difficulty accessing it. I have done a lot of work to reach a level of acceptance. Faith, though, through the music, her expressing some of her own anger, led me to that place inside myself.
I am so grateful to have participated in this process/experiment. I appreciated how Faith set a sacred container to open the process. The tea, the music, the rattle, the prayer, all of it was so gentle and intentional. I appreciated Faiths comments encouraging me to use all the available space to me; the table, the floor, the outdoors. I appreciated the guidance Faith offered in each stage. I appreciated Faith’s willingness to demonstrate various ways to work with the colors and ways to apply them. On another note, over the last few days I have felt more connected to myself. Since actually seeing the images on the painting I sense what I intuited all along; that there is more to me than I am conscious of or aware of. Thus, seeing the images I have a sense of expansion. Like I am more than I think I am and this opened up a way to access that energy, that potential. When I sit with my painting I really sense this
raw primordial energy that is both ancient and relevant at the same time, speaking a language that has no words that my intellectual mind can ascertain. It is more of a language that is felt through the heart. It is beingness in its raw form. I feel like this process has birthed in me a new beginning, certainly something has shifted and is seeking a voice in my normal operating state of being.
Personally I have been on this journey of accessing my shadow…in the shadow I sense this feminine energy that wants to emerge. One of the images in my painting was a “bird”. I intuit that this bird represents the feminine. During the process of painting I chose the color of orange to represent love. Out of this love emerged this strong, dark, feminine bird creature that seemed to hold it all together.
The biggest challenge for me was during the anger stage. I had difficulty accessing it. I have done a lot of work to reach a level of acceptance. Faith, though, through the music, her expressing some of her own anger, led me to that place inside myself.
I am so grateful to have participated in this process/experiment. I appreciated how Faith set a sacred container to open the process. The tea, the music, the rattle, the prayer, all of it was so gentle and intentional. I appreciated Faiths comments encouraging me to use all the available space to me; the table, the floor, the outdoors. I appreciated the guidance Faith offered in each stage. I appreciated Faith’s willingness to demonstrate various ways to work with the colors and ways to apply them. On another note, over the last few days I have felt more connected to myself. Since actually seeing the images on the painting I sense what I intuited all along; that there is more to me than I am conscious of or aware of. Thus, seeing the images I have a sense of expansion. Like I am more than I think I am and this opened up a way to access that energy, that potential. When I sit with my painting I really sense this
raw primordial energy that is both ancient and relevant at the same time, speaking a language that has no words that my intellectual mind can ascertain. It is more of a language that is felt through the heart. It is beingness in its raw form. I feel like this process has birthed in me a new beginning, certainly something has shifted and is seeking a voice in my normal operating state of being.
Personally I have been on this journey of accessing my shadow…in the shadow I sense this feminine energy that wants to emerge. One of the images in my painting was a “bird”. I intuit that this bird represents the feminine. During the process of painting I chose the color of orange to represent love. Out of this love emerged this strong, dark, feminine bird creature that seemed to hold it all together.
