Community | Sheila Collins

Another Visit From a Butterfly

by Sheila Collins | Oct 12, 2023 | Art & Life, Book Excerpts, book promotion, Celebrations, Community, Environment, Gatherings, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Women, Girls & the Feminine, Writing

I only had one assignment from my writing coach when I left Pittsburgh last week to spend 5 days in Belize at a women’s retreat. My intention was to step away and have some time for reflection, but our project is at the place where we need to establish a launch date...

Estrangements in Work and Career

by Sheila Collins | Oct 4, 2023 | Community, Duality, Environment, Grieving, Institutional Loss, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Resilience, The Art of Grieving, the Big Body

Forty percent of people will lose a job at least once in their lifetime and 23% of people will lose a job three or more times, according to data from Intoo and the Harris Poll. In being fired, laid off, or furloughed, 73% of people will experience anxiety. This easily...

How About Looking to Music as Medicine

by Sheila Collins | Sep 7, 2023 | Art & Life, Community, Family, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Play, Songs, Story-telling

Grandsons Ethan and Will were nine and six years old, respectively, when I watched their mother interrupt a fight they were having. She had clearly done this before, and I saw that she had some skill in getting the boys to each look at the situation from the other’s...

Poetry and Grief’s Gift

by Sheila Collins | Aug 30, 2023 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Community, Gatherings, Grieving, the Big Body

Yesterday was National Grief Awareness Day in the U.S. It’s goal–to encourage open communication on loss and bereavement, and better inform the public on the facts of grief. As a grief advocate, I am always on the lookout for art tools that help us understand grief...

How the Arts Help Us Grieve

by Sheila Collins | Aug 24, 2023 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Community, Duality, Environment, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, Personal Stories, Rituals

I’m in that stage of life when family gatherings are more likely to occur around funerals and memorial services than weddings, holidays, or birth celebrations. We family members promised one another at the recent gathering for my sister’s funeral that we’ll plan and...

Eulogy for a sister Mary Jane Smith

by Sheila Collins | Aug 16, 2023 | Community, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Personal Stories, Spirtuality, The Art of Grieving

I insisted on speaking on behalf of my sister Mary Jane because I am the only one in the room who was there at the beginning. For me, her life began a t the votive candle counter in a Roman Catholic Church. I’m 5 years old and the lights sparkle as mother supports me...

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Learn the Many, Magical Ways Art Transforms Grieving!

(No art skills required.)

Loss is inevitable, yet too often we bury our grief, pretending we're OK when we're not.

In my new book (COMING SOON), I'll share some uncommon notions about grief and how the arts, and art-making, have transformative powers that take us to the heart of the matter.

Another Visit From a Butterfly

How About Looking to Music as Medicine

Poetry and Grief’s Gift

How the Arts Help Us Grieve

Eulogy for a sister Mary Jane Smith

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