Why depression can lead to more positive things & how to access the dreaming.
The result of this painting was a total surprise, it came out of the blue and was quite unexpected. I have already painted two other black dogs and nearly finished a third one but it wasn't until I finished this painting that I realised what it was.
I think I have already said that often, when I paint, I let the energy move through me and do not think about what I am creating too much. I also listen to a lot of music so this can sometimes have an affect on what I am painting at the time, I paint as I listen and it inspires me greatly.
This painting is about the state of our sleep when we have depression and how this can affect our dreams and our lives.
When we are down, sometimes our dreams are better than our reality & so we hide in sleep, sometimes we have nightmares instead, which makes the reality very much worse. Yet always when we are awake, our heads are usually too full to cope. Our issues might be included in our sleep as well as our waking state and leads to inactivity and procrastination, I have included some self-help links at the end to help kick these habits into touch.
When someone suffers from depression, they will sometimes hide in sleep. On a temporary basis, this can alleviate any suffering but only for a short-time. If the person hides, refuses to wake up & sleeps more than he or she should, it can make things worse.
Sleep has the benefit of getting us relaxed enough to connect with our inner self, this is what this woman has done, her dreams are colourful where she has made the connection. The colours are vibrant and there is a smile on her child-like face. She is innocent and in total trust as she connects with the ancient one; She who represents her own hidden wisdom. If we can reach a state of self where we can talk to who we are inside, more often or not we can access our dreaming & find a possible way out of any one situation. I am not saying this works with everyone or with every situation, but most of us, when we have had a really rough day, we feel better for a good nights sleep and this sometimes works with certain depressive states.
However, by hiding in sleep, this can exacerbate any situation & can lead to nightmares. These can always be hovering on the edge of your mind when you are depressed anyway and you can invite these in when oversleeping. This is depicted by the abstract form of the Black Dog and woman on the bottom of the painting. The Black Dog isn't actually black, this is because it is a dream and nothing is ever as it should be in dreams of any sort. The Black Dog is connected to the vibrant colours, I have found that if you turn everything upside-down, the key to freedom from our misery is held within the malady itself. Our ancient self knows what we must do, and often so does our Black Dog, often the two are intertwinned and if we look carefully, we can work out where the problem might lie.
If we don't, what should be a refreshing sleep can turn into a heavy load, we all know how bad we can feel after we have over-slept and that this sort of sleep is far from refreshing.
The answer to this is learning how to meditate, we can still access our inner-self if we can learn to still our mind. Meditation took me years to learn and that was because I was doing it wrong. I have been lucky that I have been able to practise some meditation but it became a much easier process when a friend introduced me to mindful meditation. In mindful meditation, we still our minds by acknowledging other influences, inside of ourselves as well as on the outside but then we let these all go. Often in many meditation practises, we are taught that we should totally ignore any outer or inner stimulus, refusal to acknowledge other influences can make meditation a daily battle instead of what should be a path to inner peace. If done correctly, meditation gives the mind the rest and enables us to let go of those things that bother us, there are many different packages out there but I have included the link that helped me to learn how to do it properly.
The metabolic side to this painting is in reference to our diet. When we are depressed, many people will eat junk food or just the wrong types of food. What we put into ourselves will have an affect of how we are and how we feel. The metabolic side also refers to the facts that certain foods and beverages cause sleep disturbances, so whatever we put into our mouths not only affects our mental health but the quality of our sleep.
The definition of metabolism is the chemical and physical processes within all living beings that produces, maintains and destroys materials thus producing energy within any one living organism.
I am not going to break down the symbols and shapes that I have painted, they will mean different things to different people and symbols in our dreams can often be the key that opens the door to our own personal freedom. Although dreams and sleep can help one recover, it is best if we can learn to get on with our lives by including practises such as meditation and a healthier life-style into our lives, it helps us to get over the hurdles our mind has set us. At first, we are really resistant towards this, because we feel we should be able to do this all by ourselves with no outside help or, even worse, that there is nothing wrong with us. This is when we become truly overwhelmed with everything. The refusal to face ourselves head-on and ask ourselves what is wrong and more importantly, because sometimes we don't know the answer, what we can do it make it better, what we can do to help ourselves, is profoundly important to our well-being. If we do not ask ourselves these questions or accept there is something wrong and something must be done about it, we can make ourselves so much worse & hinder any progress that we could make.
Suggested Links and Reading:
http://tracdaviesartist.blogspot.fr/2015/02/emotions-accepting-rough-with-smooth.html
http://marc.ucla.edu/mindful-meditations
These were the first mindful meditation I tried. They are all guided meditations and work well and as soon as I hear the voice guiding me through, I start to relax. These meditations help you acknowledge body, thought processes, emotions and outside stimulus and help you let go of these things after that initial acknowledgement but in a positive way.
http://99u.com/articles/19327/get-over-yourself-how-your-ego-sabotages-your-creativity
A very good blog helping one to recognise and deal with the traps that our ego sets us from time to time.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16306/top-5-procrastination-behaviors-what-they-say-about-you.html
I am an awful procrastinator, I will find anything else to do before I do what I need to. I have started getting out of this behaviour, reading this helped but also reading the next blog.
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/04/how-to-feel-great-every-morning/
These little tips do tend to help but the one that helped me over my procrastination issues was one called Eating the Toad!
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/06/the-important-connection-between-diet-mental-health/
Diet is always important, if you put rubbish into your system, there is a good chance that this is what you will feel.
https://sleepfoundation.org/bedroom/taste.php
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/ss/slideshow-sleep-foods
These two links gives a breakdown of certain foods and beverages that aid sleep or lead to sleep disturbances
There is also something called the REACH method, I have been trying to find the original website for this that was given to me by a friend. It got me off the starting block so to speak and it a way of life rather than anything else. It is empowering but it means you have to go into the darkness of yourself and own your stuff before getting to the light. The original website was on an old computer, that has since died but there is a lot about this method on other websites. If I can find the website I was given, I will update this blog with the details.
My work can also be viewed at:
http://www.artfinder.com/trac-davies
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TracDaviesArtist
http://www.redbubble.com/people/tracdavies
http://tracdavies.deviantart.com/
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/tracdaviesartist
https://www.facebook.com/TracDaviesArtist
https://twitter.com/tracdavies
https://www.tsu.co/TracDaviesArtist
Trac Davies - Artist ©
When we are down, sometimes our dreams are better than our reality & so we hide in sleep, sometimes we have nightmares instead, which makes the reality very much worse. Yet always when we are awake, our heads are usually too full to cope. Our issues might be included in our sleep as well as our waking state and leads to inactivity and procrastination, I have included some self-help links at the end to help kick these habits into touch.
 |
| The Black Dog - Metabolic & Abstract Dreaming - Trac Davies© |
When someone suffers from depression, they will sometimes hide in sleep. On a temporary basis, this can alleviate any suffering but only for a short-time. If the person hides, refuses to wake up & sleeps more than he or she should, it can make things worse.
Sleep has the benefit of getting us relaxed enough to connect with our inner self, this is what this woman has done, her dreams are colourful where she has made the connection. The colours are vibrant and there is a smile on her child-like face. She is innocent and in total trust as she connects with the ancient one; She who represents her own hidden wisdom. If we can reach a state of self where we can talk to who we are inside, more often or not we can access our dreaming & find a possible way out of any one situation. I am not saying this works with everyone or with every situation, but most of us, when we have had a really rough day, we feel better for a good nights sleep and this sometimes works with certain depressive states.
However, by hiding in sleep, this can exacerbate any situation & can lead to nightmares. These can always be hovering on the edge of your mind when you are depressed anyway and you can invite these in when oversleeping. This is depicted by the abstract form of the Black Dog and woman on the bottom of the painting. The Black Dog isn't actually black, this is because it is a dream and nothing is ever as it should be in dreams of any sort. The Black Dog is connected to the vibrant colours, I have found that if you turn everything upside-down, the key to freedom from our misery is held within the malady itself. Our ancient self knows what we must do, and often so does our Black Dog, often the two are intertwinned and if we look carefully, we can work out where the problem might lie.
If we don't, what should be a refreshing sleep can turn into a heavy load, we all know how bad we can feel after we have over-slept and that this sort of sleep is far from refreshing.
The answer to this is learning how to meditate, we can still access our inner-self if we can learn to still our mind. Meditation took me years to learn and that was because I was doing it wrong. I have been lucky that I have been able to practise some meditation but it became a much easier process when a friend introduced me to mindful meditation. In mindful meditation, we still our minds by acknowledging other influences, inside of ourselves as well as on the outside but then we let these all go. Often in many meditation practises, we are taught that we should totally ignore any outer or inner stimulus, refusal to acknowledge other influences can make meditation a daily battle instead of what should be a path to inner peace. If done correctly, meditation gives the mind the rest and enables us to let go of those things that bother us, there are many different packages out there but I have included the link that helped me to learn how to do it properly.
The metabolic side to this painting is in reference to our diet. When we are depressed, many people will eat junk food or just the wrong types of food. What we put into ourselves will have an affect of how we are and how we feel. The metabolic side also refers to the facts that certain foods and beverages cause sleep disturbances, so whatever we put into our mouths not only affects our mental health but the quality of our sleep.
The definition of metabolism is the chemical and physical processes within all living beings that produces, maintains and destroys materials thus producing energy within any one living organism.
I am not going to break down the symbols and shapes that I have painted, they will mean different things to different people and symbols in our dreams can often be the key that opens the door to our own personal freedom. Although dreams and sleep can help one recover, it is best if we can learn to get on with our lives by including practises such as meditation and a healthier life-style into our lives, it helps us to get over the hurdles our mind has set us. At first, we are really resistant towards this, because we feel we should be able to do this all by ourselves with no outside help or, even worse, that there is nothing wrong with us. This is when we become truly overwhelmed with everything. The refusal to face ourselves head-on and ask ourselves what is wrong and more importantly, because sometimes we don't know the answer, what we can do it make it better, what we can do to help ourselves, is profoundly important to our well-being. If we do not ask ourselves these questions or accept there is something wrong and something must be done about it, we can make ourselves so much worse & hinder any progress that we could make.
Suggested Links and Reading:
http://tracdaviesartist.blogspot.fr/2015/02/emotions-accepting-rough-with-smooth.html
http://marc.ucla.edu/mindful-meditations
These were the first mindful meditation I tried. They are all guided meditations and work well and as soon as I hear the voice guiding me through, I start to relax. These meditations help you acknowledge body, thought processes, emotions and outside stimulus and help you let go of these things after that initial acknowledgement but in a positive way.
http://99u.com/articles/19327/get-over-yourself-how-your-ego-sabotages-your-creativity
A very good blog helping one to recognise and deal with the traps that our ego sets us from time to time.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16306/top-5-procrastination-behaviors-what-they-say-about-you.html
I am an awful procrastinator, I will find anything else to do before I do what I need to. I have started getting out of this behaviour, reading this helped but also reading the next blog.
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/04/how-to-feel-great-every-morning/
These little tips do tend to help but the one that helped me over my procrastination issues was one called Eating the Toad!
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/06/the-important-connection-between-diet-mental-health/
Diet is always important, if you put rubbish into your system, there is a good chance that this is what you will feel.
https://sleepfoundation.org/bedroom/taste.php
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/ss/slideshow-sleep-foods
These two links gives a breakdown of certain foods and beverages that aid sleep or lead to sleep disturbances
There is also something called the REACH method, I have been trying to find the original website for this that was given to me by a friend. It got me off the starting block so to speak and it a way of life rather than anything else. It is empowering but it means you have to go into the darkness of yourself and own your stuff before getting to the light. The original website was on an old computer, that has since died but there is a lot about this method on other websites. If I can find the website I was given, I will update this blog with the details.
My work can also be viewed at:
http://www.artfinder.com/trac-davies
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TracDaviesArtist
http://www.redbubble.com/people/tracdavies
http://tracdavies.deviantart.com/
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/tracdaviesartist
https://www.facebook.com/TracDaviesArtist
https://twitter.com/tracdavies
https://www.tsu.co/TracDaviesArtist
Trac Davies - Artist ©
