Paint yourself happy
July 27, 2005
**EDIT** I keep forgetting to do this, but though it's very belated, Happy Birthday to Mr. Inkwell, who turned 26 last Wednesday!
I'm in an exceptionally good mood these days despite various events that could put me on the other end of the scale. The bombings, for one, and the fact that as I was walking home from work today, I heard a loud boom and some girls screaming. I turned around to find a group of construction workers laughing - it seems that one of them had set off one of those little firecracker thingies. Thanks, yo for fraying very fray-ready nerves. That shook me for a few minutes. It was the little girls' screams more than anything else. For the first time ever I'm actually worried about living where I do. But only marginally.Also, men are seriously baffling nutters. I know that this well-known fact doesn't even really deserve a mention, but lately I can't get over how baffling, inconsistent, and ready to lie to themselves they really are. I still love you boys, but frankly I have no idea why.
But, getting back to the good mood part - on Monday I attended an "art therapy" session with the daughter of an old family friend who is hopefully, steadily becoming a good friend of mine. Oddly enough we discovered how much we have in common at a funeral, and it's been happy times ever since. Perfect timing as well, since Mini, Di, and PG are all out of country, and while I'm enjoying the time to myself, it's also nice to have someone to call up every now and then.
So, Hoda, the new friend, teaches kids with learning disabilities, and one of the activities they do is to meet with an Egyptian shrink for art therapy a couple of times a week. Basically, children and parents and/or guardians and teachers go and spend however long they want painting, and the doctor analyzes those paints. Seeing as it's summer and a lot of the kids are vacationing with their parents and not attending the sessions as much, Hoda has started inviting friends to join in the fun.
The doctor only spoke to me for about five minutes when I first got into the rooftop studio where they hold the sessions - just long enough to find out what I'd studied in college and how long I'd been back in Egypt - and then put on some easy listening and told everyone there to just let go, stop thinking, and have fun. Well, that was obviously easier said than done, but by my third painting I had really let loose.
Dr. M said that judging from the three paintings I did [a tree on a hill, a bird's head surrounded by random swirlies, and a wild and colorful finger painting] I was independent and hated being told what to do (uh, check); I hated being smothered by a romantic partner and was not interested in a knight in shining armor (yeah, check); I got harassed a lot on the streets, and had an internally violent reaction to that harassment (hell, yeah); that I had a hard time saying no to the people I care about, and that this was very problematic for me (yeah, pretty much); and that I was very rebellious, but keeping it in check (uh, sure, maybe. I guess). He said that it was really unhealthy for me to keep that rebellion in check. I asked him if he didn't want to come have a talk with my parents.
Aside from the fact that the doctor was able to see so many things about me from those 3 paintings, and knowing nothing else about me, the whole process was also just very soothing. There's got to be something subliminal going on here, because I've been in a resilient, great mood ever since. I can't wait to go back next week.