Rituals | Sheila Collins

How Celebrating Religious Holidays Help Us Grieve

by Sheila Collins | Apr 25, 2024 | book promotion, Celebrations, Community, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, History, Rituals, Uncategorized

I overheard a Christian neighbor ask a new Jewish neighbor, “Should I wish you a “happy” Passover celebration?” A discussion ensued over understanding the correct way for non- Jewish people to recognize the current religious holiday that Jewish people are...

Family Reunion

by Sheila Collins | Jan 4, 2024 | Celebrations, Environment, Family, Gatherings, Health and Wellness, History, Our Children, Personal Stories, Play, Resilience, Rituals

The sign that greeted visitors to the house we’d rented for our family reunion in Palm Springs read, “Welcome to Paradise.” As family members arrived by plane or auto or rental car on the various days of the 9-day holiday, the sign reinforces the notion that we were...

Using the Arts to Prepare for the New Year

by Sheila Collins | Dec 28, 2023 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Dances, Family, Gatherings, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Rituals

A hummingbird just fluttered by, reminding me, that besides all my relatives that have arrived or are about to arrive, or who are catching a nap on the patio alongside me here in Palm Springs, I have winged relatives too. I’m most likely gonna need some of that...

The Art of Change

by Sheila Collins | Nov 16, 2023 | Art & Life, Community, Environment, Family, Gatherings, Personal Stories, Rituals, Self-Care, Self-Care for Caregivers, Spirtuality, Women, Girls & the Feminine

I’m just back home in Pittsburgh after spending time in Oakland CA and at a woman’s retreat in the woods of East Texas. One of the known values of travel is to appreciate your home in a new way and, though it’s not to be counted on, this glorious mild, sunny weather...

To Change Our World

by Sheila Collins | Nov 2, 2023 | Art & Life, book promotion, Celebrations, Community, Dances, Duality, Gatherings, Grieving, Personal Stories, Rituals, Songs, Story-telling, The Art of Grieving, Women, Girls & the Feminine, Writing

When I was in high school, I read a newspaper article about a new kind of therapy. What I knew about mental health therapy at that time was that it was an expensive individual process, often taking years, where a person worked on their own behaviors and attitudes with...

Pittsburgh Understands the Art of Grieving and Practices it Well

by Sheila Collins | Oct 26, 2023 | Art & Life, Institutional Loss, Noteworthy men, Past Events, Personal Stories, Resilience, Rituals, The Art of Grieving, Uncategorized

It was the spring of 2018. A group of leaders, educational institutions, and non-profits in Pittsburgh began working together to bring to Pittsburgh some of the 70 restored string instruments played by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. They wanted...

« Older Entries

How Celebrating Religious Holidays Help Us Grieve

Family Reunion

Using the Arts to Prepare for the New Year

The Art of Change

To Change Our World

Pittsburgh Understands the Art of Grieving and Practices it Well

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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.

TOUGH INTO TRIUMPH

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