There's a part of you, of me, of everyone, who knows what to do.

Maybe you forgot how to hear it - I know for me it's a process of remembering and re-remembering. Sometimes weeks or months go by when I just don't hear. It's an easy thing to do, forgetting how to listen to the part of you who knows. The world is full of voices telling you to listen to them, instead. Buy this, follow my ten step process, take these pills, read this giant pile of self help books. The external voices are loud.

The internal voice, the one that knows, can be quiet. And sometimes it tells us things that don't make sense in the context of capitalism.

What if you were a landscape?

A place, deep and wide, full of weather and tides?

How would it feel?

Did you know you could go to the future and meet your future self?

How far in the future is up to you. A week from now. A decade. Longer - what if you met yourself after you'd passed through the veil from life to death? What stories would that version of you have to share?

Our future selves know things we don't know - these challenges we're living through? They've already found their way around them. And if we go to meet them, we can ask them how they did it. And they can offer us perspectives and paths that we can't see from where we're standing.

What if you were a tree?

Humans are creatures made of stories - it’s how we make sense of the world and of ourselves. We use all kinds of metaphors to communicate our experiences. I slept like a log. I’m feeling kind of batty. They’re keeping on the straight and narrow. It’s raining cats and dogs.

Art therapy is a great way to explore, understand and change our metaphors and stories. Read on for more…

Have you ever tried drawing a mandala? Mandalas have become known as beautiful symmetrical circular patterns, but that’s just one expression of them. Mandala means ‘circle’ in sanskrit - so really any drawing in a circle could be a mandala.

The medicine wheel is a circle. The full moon. The yin-yang. These are all examples of circles that hold so much meaning.

So when we’re drawing our own mandalas, the circle can hold our meaning, too. Our stories. Our feelings and experiences and fears and curiosities. Our expression of who we are.

There’s something magic that tends to happen when you create with others - often, the positive effects are amplified, because you’re not just doing something creative, you’re also part of something creative.

So here’s your gentle encouragement to find a friend or several friends and spend some creative time with them. Read on for more ideas…

Colouring in is good for your brain. Here’s a few reasons why you might want to give it a try, particularly if you’re like me and find that other kinds of meditation are more frustrating than helpful!

Here’s an art therapy exercise you might like to try - a body map.

A body map is good as a check in – it’s a way to pause and notice: where are you right now, how are you feeling, and what might you need?

This can be really useful, as can help you to notice patterns you might not be aware of otherwise.

Art can be healing, and can be used as a therapeutic tool - but when you’re just getting started (or when you’ve been doing the same old thing for a while) - how do you know what to draw?

This is the first in a series of posts offering some suggestions. We’ll begin with spontaneous drawing. These suggestions are written as if you’re going to draw in an art journal, but you can give these a go on a piece of loose paper, on a wall… whatever you have to hand.