Gifts Of Compassion

Gifts of Compassion is a new project started by Sung-Hee Regina Hong, who was inspired to create something that would benefit the people whose stories she had featured on her blog The Beauty Of Sorrow .

The project, now in its beginnings, consists of an Etsy shop  featuring art created by those people – all of whom live with chronic illness, depression and/or disabilities or have healed while moving through major life challenges.  Our art has enabled us to move through our challenges with grace, gifting us with healing and keeping us connected to ourselves and the world around us.

It’s Regina’s dream; our dream; to be able to share those gifts, and facilitate them within you,  and to give each of you a simple, healing way to connect with the people in your life.

 It’s also our dream to nurture and build a form of income for ourselves.  For some of us, our challenges have affected our ability to have, and keep, mainstream employment.   This is especially true for me.  For others, it is part of who we are, to want to earn an income doing something we love so well; that we can put body, heart and soul into our work and offer it to you from our hearts.

There are currently 37 postcards available through Gifts Of Compassion, highlighting the work of seven very different artists, with five more artists being added in the very near future.  Each artist has a title, such as King of Sorrow or King of Lupus.  I’d like to introduce them here and if you click on their names, you’ll be able to read their stories on the Beauty Of Sorrow blog. 


Sung-Hee Regina Hong - King of Sorrow

"...a creative way of looking at pain, healing by sharing sorrow, and letting people know that they are not alone and that we are there for each other."

Jijo Jacob - King of Faith

Keri Colestock - King of Lyme Disease

"My art was my saving grace as staying home in bed was not an option."

Ady Almanza - King of Friendship

Nancy Baumiller - King of Woman/Women

"We have choices...and choosing to be happy is the greatest one! Self-love!"

Lainey Parker - King of Artistic Depression

"There are statistics that show a higher percentage of artists, writers, and other creative souls deal with depression more so than other types of people."

Cynthia Hanna - King of Fibromyalgia/Disabilities

"Art connects me with my intuition and provides me with a symbolic, visual language…a way to process whatever comes up, whether it’s joy, pain or any or the myriad things between. And sharing the process of learning, experimenting, healing is healing in itself…"

We invite you to watch the video (above), to visit the Gifts of Compassion shop, and to share both our art, our shop and our purpose with others - and of course, to purchase our healing, uplifting art for yourself and others in your lives.

Antique/Ethnic Inspiration Board

After my Grandad passed, I was helping my mom clean out his storage shed.  I found two beautiful, antique picture frames.  I didn't have a clue what I would do with them; I just knew that I wanted them. 

I also had a wall tapestry, hand embroidered and purchased in India and given to me by my ex inlaws, 30 years ago, when they first came to the U.S. as refugees from Afghanistan.

I hadn't displayed the tapestry in years.  Not because I didn't like it, but perhaps because there were so many painful memories associated with it.  I never contemplated getting rid of it, yet it just sat among other things in my cedar chest; neatly tucked away and seldom looked at.

When I decided that I needed an inspiration/bulletin board, it just seemed natural to combine the two.  Who would have known?  One of the antique frames with a portion of the tapestry.  Antique married to ethnic, and I've always loved the bright colors and motifs in ethnic handcrafts.  A blending of generations and culture, even sorrow and joy.

The project itself became a way and a space for healing both the loss of my grandparents and some of the pain I still held from my marriage.  It gave me, first of all, an awareness that those parts existed deep within me as wounds still waiting to be healed.  And, it gave me a way to honor both the pain and the healing.

This is the finished project and it now holds a central space above my desk, next to an altered art vintage window frame.   I wasn't able to capture the vibrancy of the colors, but here it is:

Putting my inspiration board together was fairly simple.  I measured the back opening of the frame, then added two inches to each side and cut the tapestry to measure.  I cut a large piece of foam core board to fit the back of the frame.

With the fabric laying face down, I centered the foam core board on it.  Using a hot glue gun, I attached each edge separately, taking time to miter each corner and checking the tautness of the fabric before proceeding to the next side.

To insert the fabric panel into the frame I simply turned the frame over.  Using the glue gun, I attached one edge of the panel at a time, face down, being careful to keep the panel centered. 

The results, I think, are beautiful.  I'm totally happy with my new inspiration board and love having it hanging above my desk!

I may use the rest of the tapestry fabric to make a cushion and covered armrests for my desk chair.  Maybe a protective mat for the top of my scanner. Or maybe you have an idea or inspiration for me?

An A-musing Tale

In 2010, when I began my ARTbundance coach training, one of the exercises I did involved meeting my muse, developing a dialog and creating a representation of her.  I really was skeptical, so you can imagine my surprise when my muse came through loud and clear!  And not only via dialog, but with a perfect picture of her in my mind.

The only collage I had done up to that time had been a vision board.  I hadn’t drawn since I was 17; had never used a paintbrush or watercolors.  I don’t think it was coincidence that, soon after meeting her I not only created collages, but also dabbled in mixed media for the first time and created a large altered art Vision window as my final project.  Over the past year I’ve been exploring mixed media and art journaling as well.

Discovering and communicating with your Muse can be life altering and liberating in so many ways!  It’s having a short cut and direct line to the wisdom we all hold within ourselves.  It acquaints us with our intuition; that deep inner knowing that so many of us have learned to ignore; in a way that is gentle, non-threatening and uplifting.  Our Muses can bypass all the conditioning and the old, worn out negative beliefs that might be chanting in our subconscious minds.

It’s been simple, for me, to connect with Calliope.  I find a place of calm within myself, focus my mind and then open the conversation.  I could do this wholly in my imagination, but find that I really prefer the written word.  I write letters, or notes, sharing my issues or questions and then wait for an answer.  I don’t judge or doubt.  I simply write down the words that come to me.  And I am always amazed at the answers!

I’d like to introduce you to her!  Her name in Latin means “beautiful voice”.  She is here to nurture my creativity, to en-courage me, to whisper ‘you can do it!’ in my ear when I’m full of doubts, to remind me to ‘keep it in kindergarten’ when I over complicate things, and to foster my ability to heal – myself and others – through my creativity.

The Calliope that you see here was created using a paper doll template and a vintage graphic.  She has affirmations written over the majority of her body.  Her dress is a combination of paper, fibers and beads.  The lace is hand colored.  She has an Angel sitting on her shoulder (as stubborn as I’ve been in discovering my creativity, she’s needed an Angel all her own!).  She has a brad on her throat (5^th Chakra) symbolizing turquoise, a hand of light on her abdomen and points of light on her hands.

I later discovered that turquoise is believed to have the properties of wisdom, serenity, wholeness, self expression, creativity; symbolizes a time to be honest with yourself and is a reminder to share your vision and walk your talk!  The hand of light represented on her abdomen is said to carry energy assisting in healing and spiritual growth. Wow!!

Are you in touch with your muse?   I'd love to hear about her and how she affects your creativity, if you're willing to share in the comments!  If you haven't yet introduced yourself to your muse, is it something that you could see yourself doing - or do you think that I'm more than a little bit crazy and 'woo-woo'?  I invite you to share that too!  For now, I need to chat with Calliope about my latest project and the block that I've run into...

When Life is Overwhelming…

I really debated whether or not to make this post; to bring out something so personal.  But my journey isn’t just about me.  I’m not alone in living with chronic illness, with having multiple life and health challenges, with being a survivor of sorrow and pain.  Perhaps what I write will speak to you with whispers of hope or intimations of healing.  It is my heartfelt wish that, in sharing our journeys, we can share and support each other in our healings as well. 

We may not have the details in common, but the underpinnings of our lives will always have commonalities.  We share the human experience and are connected in so many, many ways, both seen and unseen and we are NOT alone.  We are never truly alone.  Hang on to that thought – embrace it, believe it!  You are NOT alone!

One of the outcomes of my dealing with fibro, disabilities, and loss of all income has been a huge grieving process and the brief dissolution of my already shaky self-worth.  Overwhelm??  Definite, absolute and mind boggling overwhelm!  My tolerance for all things outside of myself telescoped to the extent that being around anything even mildly stimulating – people, conversation or noise, too much input or information – would trigger feelings of being overwhelmed.  As though my body and mind were screaming “Enough!  Enough already!  I’ve already got too much on my plate and I can’t digest any more!”   

I’ve always been an introvert, but this is like being the mother ship of introversion!  At a time when I most need to feel connected, to feel involved with life, my being seems to experience overwhelm and simply starts to shut down.  And that overwhelm translates into disorientation, anxiety, exhaustion, sometimes as panic and often as fibro fog.

All my life I’ve considered myself strong and resilient; I’ve always bounced back.  Through childhood, through multiple miscarriages, through divorce, through homelessness and so much more.  Like a soap opera heroine, I’ve always triumphed over the dark.  Until recently. And I’ve been hard on myself; I’ve judged myself weak and lacking. I questioned and doubted so many things that I believed about myself.

While meeting with a counselor yesterday, I had several “Aha!” moments.  The biggest one came about when he asked me how I had dealt with the level of abuse that I’d experienced while growing up.  I responded that I often had out of body experiences; that I disconnected from what was happening.  And that doing so helped me to survive; helped me to keep my core – my spirit and my heart – safe.  And I realized that that is essentially what I’m doing now.  The abuse isn’t there, but so much of life is overwhelming, and I’ve brought into play tools that worked for me in the past – that disconnection, the disorientation. Simply having that insight has been profound, allowing me to be compassionate towards, and more gentle with, myself.

I know that there are better tools; there are ways to address all of the things I’m experiencing.  The evolution of my life and my spirit require tools that do more than simply allow me to survive.  I also need to grow and thrive and continue transforming myself and my life in ways that are meaningful, uplifting and affirming.  With  40 or so added years of living, I’m more than ready; more than willing!

I’m discovering that there is a positive side to overwhelm, and how I experience it depends on the focus that I choose.  For me, part of the answer has been reconnecting, in new and wonderful ways, with my innate creativity.  Collage, altered art and most recently, art journaling; they’ve all played a part.  Remembering to “keep it in kindergarten” and not worrying about what others think of what I create, but simply creating for the joy of it!

 The connections that I’ve made via my creativity and the warmth, support and encouragement that I’ve received are such tremendous gifts too!  Even being gifted with this blog and learning how to be here; remembering how to write, having this special space to connect and communicate is part of the answer.  My steps may be small and halting, but how I dearly treasure every one of them, knowing that those steps will become strides.

I’m looking forward to discovering even more tools and techniques to wrap around my soul, to bring more vibrancy, energy and healing into my life.  A new adventure; new discoveries; new ways of being.  And I’m so very grateful to have you here.  Every word, every wish, every interaction, every touch of your humanity, heart and wisdom are wondrous things to me.   

That I am still here – and yes, still alive - is testament to the light I’ve found within each of you.  This is the kind of overwhelm that I can live with – the gratitude and grace that you engender in me.