Month: February 2018

Guest Contributor: Jodie Buonopane Freid

Dancers dance through life | Singers sing through life | Comedians joke through life | Chefs cook through life | Artists draw through life…

How do you move through life?

I personally do arts and crafts for sanity! I’m always thinking about drawing, doodling, painting, creating, crafting, scrapbooking, framing, or decorating.  Every experience in my life, I can visualize as a form of art (cartooning a stressful interpersonal interaction I’ve had, making a silly comic book from a bizarre idea my toddler had, drawing exaggerated reenactments of a near fender-bender today).  

So, I wanted to share some fun ideas to anyone who also likes to explore their creativity.  If it’s not art you like, use these ideas to imagine however you move through life and doing more of that.

Why, you may ask? It’s uplifting, relaxing, enticing, distracting, and catchy.  Bring the kids into it!  They love to make a mess, feel proud of what they make, it provides a good bonding opportunity, creates great memories, and so much more!

Here are some ideas to start with:

• You know how you get a lot of flyers, magazines, and ads in the mail? Keep them, store them in a box or basket and use that paper as a recyclable table cover for messy arts and crafts.  Use the magazines for creating vision boards, motivation posters, etc.
• Organize your arts and crafts supplies. Recycle decorative boxes that your Harry and David gift came in from your in-laws. Label what’s inside with a sharpie. Store them on a shelf in the basement or a closet. When things are organized, they’re more available and enticing.
• If you have a hard time thinking creatively but want to try, go with the seasons.
• Fall has many themes, acorns (collect them, cover in glue, and roll them around in glitter, set to dry, and fill an empty mason jar), apples (cut in half and make apple stamp prints with paint), leaves (place a sheet of paper over a leaf and color over it with crayon and see what happens), pumpkins, make paper bats with black construction paper at Halloween, create turkeys and more.  
• Winter introduces icicles, snowflakes, snowmen, clouds, mittens, hats, scarfs, boots, sleds, skis, igloos, snow forts, ice skates, hot cocoa, holly bushes, holiday lights, Christmas trees, wreaths, menorahs, cardinals, and more.
• Spring brings blossoms, seeds, flowers, grass, color, sun, rain, umbrellas, bunnies, squirrels, ground hogs, bees, honey, chicks, eggs, birds and nests to name a few.
• Summer invites warmth, sunshine, blue skies, pools, beaches, balls, sports, picnics, bathing suits, fireworks, popsicles, ice cream, and BBQ’s for starters.

Imagine all of the crafts that you can make with your kids when you keep these themes in mind. Stuck, just check out pinterest.com for inspirational visuals.

For Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):

• Are the gray cloudy, sunless days getting to you? Do you find yourself wearing colors that match these days (muted, grays, blacks, blues, whites)?
• Go through your closet and organize some of your favorite pieces by color, creating a rainbow in your closet. That is color that you will be guaranteed to see every day and maybe you’ll choose something more colorful!
• Make your snacks and lunches colorful.  Create a container of carrots, cucumbers, colored peppers and hummus or ranch.  See http://www.rainbowplate.com/#home.
• Got a window in your house or office? Go to Michael’s or AC Moore and buy some “window markers”. Get your little artist, or yourself, or both of you to create a mural on one of the windows.  Imagine a pretty sunset or a bright big happy sun with some tulips or a beach scene!
• Make a snowman and put a colorful scarf on her!

I hope that these ideas inspired you to live your life through however you move!

About Our Guest Contributor

Jodie Buonopane Freid is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor living and working outside of Boston, Ma.  Jodie is in private practice specializing in women’s care and general adult mental health.  Whether in the trenches of parenthood or not, Jodie’s passion lies in supporting women to remember that they matter, too.  Self-care, mindfulness, relaxation and stress reduction, exercise and nutrition, and teaching ways to improve sleep are her areas of passion and expertise.  Jodie is also a mother, wife, and animal lover who enjoys spending time with her two boys, making art, being outdoors, and taking care of her four pets (a dog, two cats, and a Russian Tortoise).  Jodie spends her “me time” doing pure barre, growing her practice, and writing or creating something!