At the heart of almost every film and book is the hero’s journey. This is the classic storyline in which the main character has to overcome various trials and tasks and then returns home transformed. Along the way, the hero is usually accompanied by friends. There will be a teacher or mentor to offer wise advice and an adversary who will challenge and push the hero to their limits.
I find watercolours very satisfying. Sometimes only playing with colours and not necessarily creating anything in particular works for me. During the lockdown, I used to do a daily 15-minute watercolour practice, and it felt great. I’m trying to return to this, even if not every day. I try to find a couple of minutes to myself to relax and watch the pigment spread on the paper.
Studies show that people who read a lot tend to empathize better with others.
I hope this finds you safe and well. This month we combine the celebrations of books with the month, which serves as a reminder of gender inequality (to us, also a prompt to think about moving away from the idea of binary gender altogether towards kinder humanity). People of all genders have used storytelling for centuries. Some stories were published, others written on paper and sent by post or noted in a personal journal, but the idea of writing our story and using the stories for inspiration and healing feels central to who we are as a species.
Another benefit of bibliotherapy is that the books we read can provide us with language that we need to voice our feelings
What is truly liberating in bibliotherapy is the fact that reading books helps us externalise our problems
Another aspect of bibliotherapy that can be healing is building an emotional connection with book characters and plots
What helps the healing process or the process of finding solutions to our challenges is literary thinking