Conscious Reflections of the Past Year

Written by Samantha Davis

Congratulations on having made it through yet another challenging year - oscillating change, levels of lockdown, stages of load shedding, loss, overwhelm, more change and of course all the unknowns that accompany such change.

We spend a lot of our year thinking, waiting or planning for the end of the year with an expectation of actually slowing down and optimistically having fun. With the Xmas rush and Covid fatigue – it gets quite challenging. Here in Cape Town life and plans actually seem to be dropping with a domino type affect as more and more people need to either isolate or quarantine as the season unfolds.

Endings

For many people, endings can bring up a combination of feelings, associations and expectations. There may be apprehension or excitement, relief or overwhelm or even dread around end-of-year arrangements and relationships with family and friends, or being alone at this auspicious time of year.

As the year draws to a close, there are endings for all of us both personally and professionally. This could be the end of a work, school or college year as well as the end of cultural or recreational groups etc. Because it is the end of a year we often pass through these endings without thought or reflection as beginnings and endings are just a part of the annual cycles in our lives. But then what then is the difference between one year and the next? Are we learning, growing and changing?

What can be really meaningful is to bring about some ‘consciousness’ or awareness around the ending of your year. This can be achieved through mindful reflection. Here are some questions around what the approaching end of year means for you…

(You are invited to journal or even set aside some time, put on some lovely music and draw or paint with these reflections in mind… the pic at the top of this blog is the image that I came up with around endings at the time)

What have you experienced, achieved, gained, learnt and lost this past year?

What would you like to still let go of?

What would you like to make space for?

Who can you show more kindness toward?

How can you be gentler and kinder to yourself?

Even if your answers or images don’t feels life changing, it’s a beautiful opportunity to pause… get still, be in the moment, reflect and acknowledge your year’s journey. Accessing these type of opportunities provides a sense of integration and purpose which also leads toward having a more conscious and meaningful life.

So, what is a conscious Ending and how does it relate to Art Therapy?

In Art Therapy, we aim to work as much as possible with a ‘conscious’ ending. What I mean by this, is having the ‘awareness’ firstly knowing when the sessions/groups will terminate so that the therapist and client are able to count down the sessions together. This is especially helpful for a child who does not yet have a sense of time as adults do. Further, to be able to explore what endings mean for each different client/group on their particular journey. This allows the client to pace themselves toward the ending through reflection and hence integration of the work already done and to work with whatever comes up for the client in the last couple of sessions around the ending or endings in general.

The opposite of a conscious ending would be the not knowing, not acknowledging and not working with an ending – such as a sudden ending where there is no opportunity to say goodbye or have any form of closure. Endings that are avoided, not thought about, discussed or explored, and where feelings about the ending are denied or repressed are not conscious endings.

In many clients’ previous experiences there may not have been an opportunity to say goodbye to a person or relationship through circumstances (often beyond one’s control) such as loss, abandonment, premature endings or even death. Hence, addressing endings can be an uncomfortable process in that it can bring back painful, difficult or unresolved memories of previous 'endings' in one’s life.

The therapeutic relationship needs to be a reparative experience that is different to past experiences, whereby termination is a ‘conscious’ process. Here the ending is firstly known, acknowledged, discussed and worked with in the weeks leading up to the ending.

Often clients or groups may wish to end Art Therapy with an exploration of all their art work created over the course of their Art Therapy process and reflect through the imagery on their journey as a means of closure. Sometimes a particular ritual is chosen by a client to aid their process of reflection and closure. This of course will be different for each person in terms of their age, length of time in Art Therapy as well as capacity for reflection and feelings and needs around their ending.

Changes in client’s behaviour around endings

An Art Therapist needs to be aware of possible changes in behaviour with clients. With children, for example sudden acting out may be the child’s form of expressing a difficulty unconsciously with endings. In the last session with a boy child recently, he wanted to suddenly play a factual game of knowledge, one that he played with his friends. Something ‘familiar’ was needed by this child in order to support his saying goodbye, something firstly that he did with his friends which was part of his moving back to outside his therapy space, as well as turning away from the creativity and playfulness (of the right brain) and a return to the known and structure (cognitive left brain) which felt safer for him in his ending.

Raymond Lindquist says that "Courage is the power to let go of the familiar". In Art Therapy sessions or group work, children may often turn away from using art materials and rather play with toys or objects in the therapy room as a means of re-establishing their defences and preparing themselves for ending both therapy and hence the relationship with the therapist. Artwork often changes during endings in that children may doodle, create cartoons, or try to play games such as ‘naughts and crosses’ or ‘hangman’ as a form of distancing or separating from the therapist or therapeutic process. This moving away from spontaneous play and more into structured play is not a bad thing as it is a means of re-establishing one’s defences and preparing oneself for the ending and allows for individuation back into the 'real world'.

Changes in behaviour with adult clients may include coming late, cancelling of sessions as ‘too busy’, or frantic wanting to complete images in time, just wanting to talk and not create or use art toward the ending, or packing up early instead of staying in the creative process. These are all pretty natural normal and basic unconscious defences around endings to often avoid feelings… When it occurs in an Art Therapy setting it can be thought about together and reflected upon without judgement, to learn about ourselves and how to manage life better. This leads me to the next sub-heading…

What are the aims of a conscious ending?

Why bother with this fuss of making the ending conscious you may ask?!

Having a reparative opportunity of managing endings in a safe space with an Art Therapist enables the client and his/her feelings to be seen, shared, heard, acknowledged, held and contained. This helps clients to begin to manage and heal from painful experiences. Clients can then more easily deal with feelings and emotions and develop more effective coping mechanisms with renewed resilience. Conscious endings can also help model healthy boundaries and a natural and appropriate end to a relationship. This is all super important for personal growth, development and transformation.

Although endings may feel scary and uncertain, they can also be wonderful opportunities of transitions to the hope and potential of what lies ahead before a new beginning.

Wishing you all a conscious ending of 2021 - may you take time to slow down, pause and enjoy the little things this holiday season.

Thank you all for your loyal support, feedback and interest as we have also faced on-going uncertainties and hence keeping groups to an Online Art Therapy version during Covid-19.

Best wishes,
Sami x

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Conscious Reflections of the Past Year

Endings

So, what is a conscious Ending and how does it relate to Art Therapy?

Changes in client’s behaviour around endings

What are the aims of a conscious ending?

Curious about Art Therapy?

Art Therapy Courses / Workshops in South Africa

Art Therapy Courses / Workshops in South Africa

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