suffering « Lynne Farrow

Hot

By Lynne, on September 3rd, 2014

I’m hot! Not as in culturally with it or avant garde anything. Not because I’m piecing piping hot stars for a new quilt. I’m hot because the air conditioner has been broken for the last week and the mercury continues bubbling in the low to mid 90’s. I’m hot under the collar irritable . . . → Read More: Hot

Serenity

By Lynne, on January 22nd, 2014

Some art activities are just soothing. They feel good, they smell good, they look good. Without too much effort. And sometimes they invite a kind of serenity because of what they express. That’s what I hoped when we introduced last week’s art activity at the Lighthouse, a year-long, faith-based residential treatment program for . . . → Read More: Serenity

Grateful Hearts

By Lynne, on November 27th, 2013

Thanksgiving is a season of gathering gratitude, spreading it feast-fashion around a table to be shared with family and friends…as well as the groaning table of festive foods that takes days to prepare and minutes to consume. It’s one of my favorite meals to cook. And one of my favorites to eat. But . . . → Read More: Grateful Hearts

Cinderella

By Lynne, on October 2nd, 2013

A recent talk I heard entitled Cinderella Revisited inspired last week’s art activity at the Lighthouse, a twelve-month, faith-based residential treatment program for women recovering from substance abuse. The essence of the message was that Cinderella was dead in the enslaved environment of her life with a wicked step-mother and two ugly sisters . . . → Read More: Cinderella

Anger Sort Of

By Lynne, on September 18th, 2013

Sometimes I set up an art activity and everything goes as planned. Other times? Not so much. That happened last Friday at the weekly therapeutic art workshop at the Lighthouse, a twelve-month, faith-based, residential treatment program for women recovering from substance abuse. The group of women currently in the program is largely new . . . → Read More: Anger Sort Of

Gift

By Lynne, on September 11th, 2013

A surprise gift appeared in my mailbox last week. The large manila envelop from clear across the country contained the newly publish memoir of friend Martha Jane Petersen. Sweetly inscribed to “a sister on the artistic path,” this soft-bound volume Imaging My Inner Fire – Finding My Path Through Creating Art, is proving . . . → Read More: Gift

Soul Care

By Lynne, on July 10th, 2013

The recent Breathe Conference in Switzerland was all about soul care… in its many forms – worship, good teaching, rest, counseling, massage, medical attention, rest, tasty meals with lively conversation, chocolate, recreation, beautiful views, leisurely walks and vigorous hikes, rest, more chocolate, saunas, and my personal favorite, art making. Many of the guests . . . → Read More: Soul Care

Breathe

By Lynne, on July 4th, 2013

I’ve been on the road the last two weeks. And in the air twice for long, uneventful flights. In a beautiful part of the world between two gloriously blue lakes connected by a turquoise meandering river. In a village near Interlaken. Near the highest point in Europe reached by train. In the Alpine . . . → Read More: Breathe

Raw

By Lynne, on April 17th, 2013

Raw emotions. Red for ANGER. Green for ENVY. Great black looping CONFUSION. Periodic EXPLOSIONS. That’s the mask Ashley describes wearing because she believes expressing her anger is a stronger position than crying although her tears are just beneath the surface. She knows that needs to change….in a safe place…in a safe way…at a . . . → Read More: Raw

Anger

By Lynne, on March 27th, 2013

Nobody had a problem drawing the first picture – what their anger looked like in the past. Everyone could remember their version of bottled poisonous rage that eventually exploded all over the place. But I think they were more than a little surprised when I shared with them what I imagined doing with . . . → Read More: Anger

Hot