Just finished reading The Dance of Fear by one of my favorite authors Harriet Lerner. Her ideas about how to deal with other people and our own anxieties are really practical and make a lot of common sense.

I loved the section on workplace anxiety. She takes systems theory and applies it to the workplace, making the point that someone is always going to dump anxiety on you, and you can either pass it along or make it stop with you.

Also she doesn’t say that you should get over or move beyond your fear, but that you should recognize it, feel it, and that it can be a sign. It’s important to recognize your intuition, which women are often taught to ignore, and watch out for danger in many cases. But in others, it’s a sign that you need to do the thing that scares you because it will help you grow. And next time you probably won’t be as scared.

Woo hoo! I have been accepted to the Creative Arts Therapy Certificate program at the New School! I just registered for Training in Art Therapy and Art Materials. I’m very excited!

The Giant Pink Bunny. I really want to climb on him and relax on his belly. via chrisdiclerico.com

I’m reading The Great Influenza and what is most striking about it to me is what was going on in America during WWI under President Wilson. If we think things are bad right now with Bush, which they absolutely are, it was ten times worse in 1918.

Anyone that spoke out against the war or the government could be put in jail, and many were. There was a horrible plague of influenza striking all across the country and killing millions but the newspapers only reported that great strides were being made with vaccines (which was really false) and that fear is the greatest enemy and not to panic. Bodies were piling up in the morgues and almost every family had a death from influenza but the newspapers just said “don’t panic” because they didn’t want morale and support for the war to go down.

A great book although gets a little too in detail with the science of Influenza for me. But it was fascinating to see how Wilson turned America into a war machine with no room for dissent. It’s scary to think how this could totally happen again today. The government would not be able to deal at all with an epidemic of this magnitude again.

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History

In our vending machine at work, there are these weird cupcakes that look so artificial it’s staggering. They are so brightly colored and so processed and so filled with preservatives. So why are they called Mrs. Freshley’s?

So my co-worker just put out an album on his own label! He’s a singer-songwriter and the stuff is really good. And he’s also a really sweet, great guy. Really bare bones singing and acoustic guitar a la Nick Drake. Very moody and melodic. Check it out here:

neilshah.com

Welcome to Divergentart. This will be a space to discuss art, mixed media, art therapy, life in general, grilled cheese, and other fun musings. I’ll be talking about my own creative process and how to make art a part of your daily life.