Rituals | Sheila Collins

War and Peace

by Sheila Collins | Mar 3, 2022 | Art & Life, Christianity, Community, Environment, Gatherings, Grieving, History, Rituals, Science, Technology and the Environment, Technology, the Big Body

On the road for six hours, I’d finally come to rest on a feather soft bed in a fancy New York hotel room a half a mile above the city streets. A hotel porter brings something my husband asked for and smiles when he sees me resting there. He looks out the broad windows...

Reflections on a Month of Winter in Pennsylvania

by Sheila Collins | Jan 27, 2022 | Environment, Family, Personal Stories, Resilience, Rituals, Story-telling

Looking out my sliding glass door at the Allegheny River and its expanding shoreline I have evidence that January 2022 is one of the coldest Januarys we’ve had since we moved here in 2005. Snow covers the river almost halfway to its middle, resting on the ice that has...

Awareness of Death and its Gift to Our Lives

by Sheila Collins | Nov 11, 2021 | Duality, Family, Grieving, Health, Health and Wellness, Personal Stories, Rituals, Spirtuality, The Art of Grieving

The short story writer and playwright William Soroyan died of cancer in a Veterans’ Hospital at the age of 72. His 1981 obituary in the Washington Post contained a quote from an interview he gave the Associated Press shortly after the onset of his final illness....

Crossing Over

by Sheila Collins | May 27, 2021 | Celebrations, Duality, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, Health and Wellness, Our Children, Personal Stories, Rituals, Self-Care for Caregivers, Songs, Spirtuality, Story-telling, The Art of Grieving

Michael rowed the boat ashore, Alleluia, Sister helped to trim the sails Alleluia. Our living room has turned into the dying room. Friends linger after stopping by to bring flowers or drop off food. One tells me, “There’s so much love in this house. it’s hard to...

Thanksgiving and Covid19

by Sheila Collins | Nov 26, 2020 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Environment, Family, Gatherings, History, Our Children, Personal Stories, Rituals

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I’m looking out my back-patio window at this morning’s rather muddy Allegheny River. The stillness I’m surveying matches a deep stillness in me, a gift Covid19 has granted me. It’s slowed me down these past nine months. It’s...

Finding Social Connection Using Posters, Microphones and Facemasks

by Sheila Collins | Jul 15, 2020 | Art & Life, Community, Family, Gatherings, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, ReImagine, Rituals

The soon to be 8-year-old held her handmade poster up to the camera proudly, its colorful bold letters proclaiming her fondest wish. The setting wasn’t a protest march, though that may be where she got the idea. It was my family-on-zoom birthday party arranged by my...

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War and Peace

Reflections on a Month of Winter in Pennsylvania

Awareness of Death and its Gift to Our Lives

Crossing Over

Thanksgiving and Covid19

Finding Social Connection Using Posters, Microphones and Facemasks

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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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