160. Creating Balance Through Creativity with Luba Carlson

Luba found herself feeling isolated as she was running a daycare from home with her own two young children and reached a tipping point in her mental health. On one particularly tough day, she put her Masters in Mathematics to work by locking herself in a room with some art supplies and creating her first Mandala. Drawing the mandala that day allowed her brain fog to clear and she realized it was a meditation tool that helped her feel centered and more like herself. For Luba, a Mandala represents balance and growth. Expanding on this, she combined her art exploration with a gratitude practice, developing gratitude art journals. “Gratitude is your fertilizer, that helps what you appreciate to grow.” Luba encourages people to lean into a regular gratitude practice, offering key suggestions for you to be successful: Don’t overthink it. You don’t need a lot of time Take little steps Pay attention to what comes up for you Be mindful and creative with this! She shares the alarming statistic that over 90% of younger children feel they are creative and by the time we hit high school it’s closer to 3%! You ARE creative. Get outside of the journal, color outside the lines. feel free to express gratitude any way you like, give praise, dance, do your make-up how you like, doodle, dig in the dirt, bake. When you are intentional you realize it matters WHY you’re doing a gratitude practice, not HOW. “When you allow yourself to be creative, you allow yourself to hear your own voice.”Tapping into your creativity will help you identify messages that are dropping in and repeating. The kind, supportive, loving ones? Those are the ones meant for you. https://kalinaartstudio.com/ https://www.facebook.com/KalinaArtStudioPapillion