Unplugged !

Imagine being tethered to a stake in the ground like a dog. You do move around some but not much and of course it is always something you must work around.
Your internal psyche is telling you that when it does a systems check that this does not belong.....disengage. It almost reminds me of the old program 'LOST IN SPACE'. If you remember the robot would go around saying..'DANGER WILL ROBINSON,Danger!'. Well that's about the way it is for me when I am on this chemo pump for three days.
My body is saying this doesn't belong here. So what does that have to do with 'Unplugged'? Well it is always a glorious day when I get this needle out of my chest and leave this pump with them....the doctor.
My system, if you will, resets itself and after little while the whole world starts to look different again and I am FREE AT LAST! THis is the day for my unplugging and then in a few days we repeat it until something changes. GOD IS GOOD!
Talk to you soon, til then get to journaling or doing your art because it promotes all types of healing.
Well I'm back and it's 4:25pm CST. My CEA test numbers were back from the lab and the tumor count went up to 9.1. They want it between 0 and 2.5. Praise God it wasn't a higher number. I'm off to draw and paint something....see you soon.

Taos Rhododendron 1

Taos Rhododendron 1
Originally uploaded by Ricky Holtman

Here's one of my sketches from vacation. This is done in one of my little journals. Can you see how much I was enjoying myself with the watercoloring of this flower? Let the healing begin...God is good. Now go do some journaling or copy this flower for your own enjoyment. Use colored pencils, crayon or whatever floats your boat.
God bless
Ricky

Vacation!!!!!

Hey friends,
I got unplugged again from chemo yesterday and my doctor said my platelets are really low and the only way to get them up is give me some space between treatments.
As you know it is every 14 days for 3days 24/7 for me but he said don't come back for 3 weeks....Praise the LORD.
I've decided to try and make it to Colorado, and spend time at Taos and Santa Fe. I haven't been able to go there for 2 years so I am excited.
I plan on getting some art material and just RR with the wife. You know the colors and vistas are going to be so special this time around....Excited I am!
I'll post when I get back....so don't leave me..
God bless
Ricky

Visual Language ?

I hope all are well because after another night of glorious rain the air is clean this morning....birds are so loud ........and the grass so full of chlorphyll and water I think the green could almost rub off on me. Oh well that's not all bad. What I really want to do is take my shoes and socks off and walk out in the wet grass just to feel it like a kid again.......ok?
Let's talk Visual Language because medical field has found out that words are a secondary language for us.....you heard it correct.........a secondary language.
Our primary language is visual inner imagery. This is how we communicate inside of ourselves between body and mind.....WHOOF! That's a lot to take in until you meditate on it for a while and then it starts to make sense.
This is why doodling along with journaling gets the inner language into an expressive language (writing and art) that we can start to see what our Holistice self is saying on a daily basis. In other words we are starting to listen to our bodys in a way that can HEAL us!
That's all I'm going to say today because this is very important info to digest and it will take some time.
Praying for each of you and I'm off to journal some and doodle.....are YOU?
Happy trails until we meet again........God bless.

Art and Healing

Hey Friends,
On the heals of Memorial Day and watching the people in the cemeteries etc. it was a real eye opener again of what we are trying to accomplish here. We need to be dedicated to what we do and get the word out to others. We are all hurting and under stress one way or another.
Stress is the direct cause of over 40 major diseases as of today.
Below I have copied a few sentences from a special book of mine.:
Title: Art and Healing, author is Barbara Ganim. copyright 1998.. ISBN 0-609-80316-6. I don't know if it is still in print or not. But if you want to dig deep into this subject it is a great book and just one of several I have studied over the years and apply.
Read it and meditate upon what is said here by her, a medical professional.
Happy Trails until we meet again.....Ricky

"Through the ages, artists have known intuitively what others are just beginning to discover: creating a visual image on paper or canvas, with clay or through any art medium, can produce physical and emotional benefits for both the creator and the viewer. And now thanks to extensive research in the fields of split-brain functioning, visualization, and psychoneuroimmunology (study of the emotions on the immune system), we are finnally able to understand how this powerful healing tool can be used by anyone, even those without the slightest trace of artistic ability, to create profound changes in their lives and activate healing at the deepest levels. Psychotherapists, medical caregivers, and educators have rediscovered art as a way to heal the emotional wounds created by our internal feeling of fragmentation as well as by our sense of separation from others. Medical science has revealed that when we heal our emotional woulds, we also heal the wounds of the body.
As a result, art is being used successfully to reduce the physiological stress that causes immune system dysfunction by enabling patients to connect with negative, painful, or fearful emotions that are known to trigger that stress. Once these emotions have been accessed through guided visualization, the emotions can then be released by expressing them in imagistic form through drawing, painting, sculpture, or collage." These are just a few ways. "The mere act of releasing these emotions through art enables the immune system to return to a state of full functioning."

Faith?

How many of you trust this journaling thing? Well let me talk about this for a minute. When you walk into a room and proceed to sit in a chair, you don't give it a second thought that it will hold you up.....WHY? Because of experience of sitting in chairs and they have worked for you. Now there may have been that rare instance that a chair leg has broken off or you tipped over, but other than that you trust them.
This trust did not come except for your experience in this area. The same is with journaling and art.....You must get started and build the frequency of doing it before you can take notice that there is a change starting to happen inside of you that will finally come out and change your very environment. WOW that was a mouth full.
You must motivate yourself in the beginning with EXPECTANCY that journaling is going to perform for you and others and has and is right now. Let me say it this way. Expectancy of change or hope thru journaling is the gasoline that motivation is propelled by. Out of the doing comes the experience or trust in journaling [like the chair]. After a short while the whole thing will increase you Faith in what we are trying to promote on this site....journaling for healing. Your faith then takes over and actually increases the outcome of the process.
In other words....YOU have to start pushing the car to go and the inertia you have to overcome at the beginning will be strenous...BUT...once that car is moving it doesn't take much effort to keep it rolling.
I hope all of this makes sense and I am writing on the process of journaling because of some comments that came up on another site.
While mentioning comments be sure and post yours.........what you think about the above...your experience....how is your journaling going.....any questions about the art side...??
Remember you don't have to have had cancer to comment on this site....all are welcomed....cancer is just what is in the title of this site and is my ailment at this time. There are many ailments just as bad...so weigh in with your thoughts for day or questions. Tell your story right below this blog if you want.
Now get out there and get some healing going. Next we may chat on stress and how journaling helps in this area.
God bless and I leave with a line from one of my heroes..ROY ROGERS'...."Happy Trails To YOU Until We Meet Again".

BLessing for YOU!

Just yesterday we were writing about 'Choice', basically changing our thinking and attitude in a shorter time span. WHY?, because things change when we do.
We should always be LOOKING UP for things to happen to us in a good way. Have an aire of expectancy at all times for the good in our situation and our fellow man.
I woke up this morning to a great blessing to you and me. Chris Beck, a renowned artist, wrote about this site on her blog. WOW!
Since we are a new blog this benefits us all to get the word out. So people can learn what we are about and come together as a community that shares and cares.
I personally want to thank Chris for this.As you go to her blog and look at all the beautiful things she is doing leave a comment and become a follower. To own one of her paintings and be able to sit and meditate on it daily would bring great joy to your spirit. Her colors and composition are beyond believable. The blog title is "I'm painting as fast as I can." and the article title is "Journaling Through Cancer".
Please check out the comments under the article also, they are precious. Remember again, this site is not about me but US....your participation through comments and your art. Please leave comments and again please thank Chris for what she has done here. It was no small measure.
It's a sunny day and all is well.....amen. Now get those journals out and write about whatever or how this blog and Chris' blog has affected you.....then doodle something or draw a picture. If you use color, think about what colors and temperature we would want to express a wonderful experience such as this.
Please share this site with as many people as possible. The more input the better. I'm leaving a picture of mine for today. The primary colors show how I feel.
God Bless.

CHOICE

The day is rainy and I've already received 3 inches of rain and lots of hail in just 4 hours. WOW! How gloomy can it get....my healing from cancer, stormy dark afternoon [dark as night], government is going nuts, social security and medicare is going broke, blah blah blah blah blah..........man I am really in the dumps!
Is the above you? STOP IT! You are your own worst enemy! When you are thinking this way your body is putting out enzymes and junk that poisons you and feeds that cancer. Since you have a CHOICE in how you think lets start renewing your mind....this is scriptural...Jesus talks about the renewing of your mind with the truth.
This blog is trying to share the truth with you....if you aren't employing it in your life I and others cannot help you. Journaling gives you an outlet to renew your mind and practice giving your body a BOOST at the same time by being creative. Sound familiar to you?
NOW, on with the same question in other blogs.........have you started writing down your feeling and suggesting a color [see other blogs] to go with it/them? Let's get you to your SUNNY condition faster each time you have a moment, like in the beginning of this blog.
Everyone stews in their own troubles.....this isn't new. BUT it's how long you stay in that condition that we are working on. DON"T dismiss what we are sharing with you. Now get in there and write one sentence or a paragraph. If you want, start by complaining about me and this blog of giving you a stern little push. Remember we love you and have some experience in this area.
A friend of mine has her link on this site. Her name is Chris Beck and is a cancer survivor herself and now dealing with a father who has prostate cancer. Go look at the beautiful art at her sight.
Hopefully Chris will share her story with you someday.
God bless for today. GOD LOVES YOU whether you like or not...John 3:16

Art and Doodling

Here's a new little sketch of the Missouri River. It's approximately 6" X 8" at the most..
It doesn't take much for a quick sketch once you learn. This happens to be watercolor. Some people like using watercolor and others don't. Try colored pencils, crayolas, or just plain lead pencil. Whatever you find that works for you. There is no right or wrong and no picture is better that someone else...it's just different. Never compare yours to mine or others because our experience is different and just like our handwriting, no two are alike. Now get out there and get with it and leave a comment. God bless.