Join John Muir Laws and Celeste Palmer, founder and President of Bridging the Gap Connecting Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors, for a discussion of art, nature, and healing.
Art and nature are essential aspects of our being here on earth. Nature offers us peace and a rich place to learn; there is a healing power of being in nature, as spending time in nature reduces our stress and improves our mental outlook. Art is a creative way to express our inner feelings and observations; it broadens our perspective because it causes us to observe the world differently and focus more on the fine details in the environment.
We as a TBI community find a healing power of being in nature. Being outside renews our spirits, encourages us to look beyond our immediate circumstances, and have a sense of connection to something larger than ourselves. Combining nature with art helps us express our emotions and improves our self-esteem.
Celeste used art to communicate after her accident because she had total amnesia, couldn’t go back to her history, and had lost her alphabet. Her new normal was that now she did things differently than others and had to find a new way to make things work. To mend her body and mind, Celeste sat in the grass and at the botanical garden, and she would do nature journaling and drawings. Spending time with the basic things in nature, listening to sounds, the wind, feeling the warmth of sunshine, and looking at clouds are some good ways that helped her heal.
We are all different and we are all the same; combining art and nature can help us regain our positive energy.
Please learn more about Celeste’s work and organization at http://www.tbibridge.org