Art Therapy with Jane

Good one!

RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

When I was at one of the lowest points in my life, even getting out of bed felt impossible. I had no energy, no motivation, and was barely surviving.

Once a week, I’d drag myself to therapy. But during one session, I had nothing to say. My therapist asked how my week had been, and all I could muster was, “I dunno, man. Life.”

He wasn’t satisfied. “No, what exactly are you struggling with right now? When you go home after this session, what will be staring you in the face?”

I hesitated, embarrassed by the answer. I wanted something more meaningful to say, something bigger. But the truth was so small. Finally, I admitted, “Honestly? The dishes. It’s stupid, I know. The more I look at them, the more I can’t do them. I’ll have to scrub them first because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand there and scrub.”

I felt ridiculous. How could a grown woman be undone by dishes? But my therapist didn’t judge. He just nodded and said, *“Run the dishwasher twice.”*

I started to argue that you’re not supposed to, but he cut me off. *“Why not? If your dishwasher sucks and you don’t want to scrub, run it twice. Run it three times. Who cares? There are no rules.”*

His words blew my mind in a way I can’t fully explain.

That day, I went home, threw the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and ran it three times. It felt like slaying a dragon. The next day, I took a shower lying down. A few days later, I folded my laundry and put it wherever it fit. Suddenly, there were no arbitrary rules holding me back, and I could start accomplishing things again.

Now that I’m in a healthier place, I rinse my dishes, I shower standing up, and I sort my laundry. But back when living felt like a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned one of the most important lessons of my life:

THERE ARE NO RULES. RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

✍️🏻 Author | Kate Scott
🎨Pinterest | Ctto
By: A Friend

Good one

Yay!! I’m so excited that we are having another retreat!!! We had such an amazing time in the spring. I can’t recommend this retreat highly enough!!!

True

Last chance to join me for the whole online series of 5 fun and creative sessions using SoulCollage! We will make meaningful collages representing the wonderful parts of you. By the end, you will have your very own Oracle deck of 5x8 cards that you can use to tap into your inner wisdom for years to come. Each session will stand alone, so if you can't make it to all 5, come for as many as you can. The workshop is open to teens and adults. We will meet Mondays beginning July 15 through August 12. Contact me if you are interested and I will be happy to provide more information.

www.ArtCenteredTherapy.com
[email protected]
text 540-200-8006

I am excited to be offering this 5-week series on SoulCollage & IFS (Internal Family Systems). We will be having fun exploring our inner parts (kinda like Inside Out characters in our brain) while making 5x8 collages to add to our personal SoulCollage Oracle Deck. Take a break on your Monday from 11:30 - 1:00 EST and join me. The cost is just $125 for 5 sessions or $30 for individual sessions.

Please help spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in joining.

Home Wi******er Therapist. Jane Brajkovich is a Therapist in Wi******er, call today (540) 200-8006!

JOY broke down too.
She got angry.
And then sad.
And she lost hope.
But she got it back.

Because that’s what Joy is.

Joy is finding peace of mind in both happy moments and troubled times.

You could say being joyful is being delusional too.

Because how could you stay positive even in terrible situations?!

Ugh, you can’t but you have to.

When I was young, my dream was to be happy. (It was legit in my yearbook 🤣)
But now, it’s to be joyful.

🟡 And to let JOY always take the lead —

1️⃣In building my sense of self

I’m embracing the bad parts, but I will no longer let them define me.

2️⃣In holding on to my true self

When my emotions are all over the place,

And I'm slowly losing myself.

I’ll re-focus on joy.

She always holds on to it for me! (Comforting, right?)

3️⃣In knowing that my belief system changes

We can’t really be defined by ONE set of beliefs.

We grow.
We change.
We learn/do/find new things.

We’re dynamic and so is our belief system.

That’s why we have to intentionally choose joy over and over again.

Hard to do, but it gets easier when you build your faith.

To my other emotions, I haven’t been suppressing you. 👇

🌀 Thank you, ENVY for kicking me hard whenever I’m super complacent.

You keep me growing.

🟢 Thank you, DISGUST for sounding the alarm whenever my boundaries are being stepped on.

You help me speak my mind.

🔴 Thank you, ANGER for kicking the lid of the bottle.

I’m not bottling you up anymore, but I’ll slowly let you off AND with grace.

🌸 Thank you, EMBARRASSMENT for holding me back.

You make sure I don’t go over the top.

🔵 Thank you, SADNESS for keeping me company.

On days when it’s hard to be sunshine-y.

⚫️ Thank you, ENNUI for keeping my cool.

You give me rest and help me regulate my energy.

⚪️ Thank you, NOSTALGIA for remembering.

You teach me how to be more present.

And as my kid said the moment you showed up,

"We have been spoiled!" lol

🟣 Thank you, FEAR for keeping me safe.

I’ll surely do foolish things without you.

🟠 And most of all, thank you, ANXIETY for the cardio.

HAHAHA.

I used to dread you.

Well, I still *kinda* do.

I know you have good intentions like Joy.

You just overdo it all the effing time!

We’re now friends,

But I’m taking the console from you and handing it over to JOY.

JOY is my strategy.

— One of my recent new beliefs has just taken a whole new hugot.

Thank you,

thanks to sadness for reminding us that everything we feel is valid, that it is okay to cry, it is okay not to always be able to handle everything and that only by accepting our feelings is it possible to heal and shine again. 🩵

There’s a line from the film Inside Out 2 that resonated with me so deeply. You’re likely to miss it if you don’t pay close attention.

It’s the scene where Sadness shyly asks Joy if she can go down into the memory pool with her. In response, Joy takes Sadness hand into hers and says to her friend, “Of course! Remember Sadness, wherever I go, you go too.”

When I heard that, I remembered how some people like to say that they are afraid of being so happy because they know that after the happiness, sadness follows. That’s really no way to live, and neither is it true. One doesn’t follow the other because they always travel together, side by side, hand in hand.

Joy and sadness are like the railroad tracks. Even on the saddest of days, if we look hard enough, and allow ourselves to experience it, there will always be some joy to be found. Likewise, even on the most joyful of days, like the birth of a child, a wedding, a graduation, a championship, or a promotion, when we remember that someone or something is missing, there will always be that tinge of sadness.

So when we say that we are grateful for life, we cannot just be grateful for the joyful moments, we must be grateful even for the sad parts. We must be grateful for all of it. Joy and sadness carry us (or we carry them) as we move forward from one season of life to the next.

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