Healing Photography

What I am grateful for: Bumblebee in Yellow Flower ~ Photo by me.

The past six weeks, I have struggled. To keep going.  To connect to myself and others.  To keep breathing through the pain.  But throughout this time there has been a lifeline.  A bright spot.  

I have been taking a two hour Therapeutic Photography course once a week.  It has reminded me how much I love photography.  It has reminded me how important the act of creation is for quality of life.  It has reminded me to be mindful, to take each moment as it comes...to see what is here now.  Not tomorrow, not in the past--now.

What makes me feel safe:

Sunlight Illuminating the Dance of Tiny Insects ~ Precious Life Going on Around Me ~

Photo by me.

This four-week course was offered for free by an amazing mental health organization called "Mental Health Recovery Partners - South Island" ( https://mhrp.ca/ ) to help their clients, who are all self-referred, to learn new skills, to be in the moment, to reflect on what we are grateful for, what we are passionate about, what makes us feel safe, and to express those ideas in our photography. I would encourage you to ask yourself these questions:

What are you grateful for?

What are you passionate about?

What makes you feel safe?

The simple act of reflecting on these questions is healing in and of itself.  We create new positive neural pathways the more we think about these questions.

What I am passionate about:

Love In All Its Forms ~

Photo by me.

This Therapeutic Photography course has reminded me about the myriad benefits of art therapy, which I have been blessed to experience at multiple points in my healing journey.  

Photography is an art, though we often take it for granted these days with our cell phone cameras at our fingertips.  At least, I have taken it for granted, though I am now seeing it with more reverence and gratitude.

  

This is one of the first pictures I took after learning about the “Long Exposure” tool in the course:

Duck by a Waterfall ~ I love how the falling water is blurred! ~

Photo by me.

Art of all kinds has tremendous power...to give our lives purpose and meaning...to help us discover new aspects of our worlds...to help us work through trauma...to distract us from our troubles and this exhausting business of being human...most importantly, to bring us joy and fulfillment.  

Any opportunity a person has to engage in a creative act is worth doing, no matter how small.  Whether it is cooking a meal from scratch, or doodling in a notebook, dancing in one's living room, or pointing your camera at an object and freezing that moment in time!  It is all worthwhile;  it helps us to know ourselves, and it helps us create a little piece of eternity.

Another nice moment in the past six weeks:

Prior Lake at Sunset ~

Photo by me.

Creatively,

Rebecca Cooley