Hello everyone! And welcome back.
If you remember, I am taking a class this semester called “Expressive Arts Therapy” and this week’s class, we particpated in play and sand tray therapy. The directive was for the class to create their own world in the sand tray. In the art building here at Maryood, there is a sand tray room, so this is where we got our materials to create our worlds.
This room has sand trays, different types of houses and structures, fantasy figures, humanistic figures, religious figures, animals, ocean plants, coral, vehicles, rocks/crystals, jewelry, shells, and more! We had free range for the matierals that were in the room for this directive.
There were no other directions, which made this a little more difficult because there wasn’t much direction. I took this opportunity to make my own world and create a space that can be loved by everyone.
This is my personal world that I made.
I have living, forest, ocean, healing, and loving as separate spots throughout my world, which are all surrounding a water fountain.
My house is a small fairy cottage, and then to represent me I have a fairy with a dog. That is the “living” portion of my world is. Then, rotating clockwise, I have a tree, a bird, a butterfly, and flowers. This is to represent the “forest” or “nature” space of my world. Then there is some sea shells, rocks, and coral to represent the ocean part of my world. The crystals are next, these are meant to represent the “healing”, “sacred”, or “safe” space. Finally there is the “loving” space. In my mind this is where someone I love is or a place where I feel the most welcomed.
I personally used clear marbles to represent “seats” as in whoever lives in this world, can bring someone along with them or share their space with someone. I made this world be a generalized world where others can also see themselves in. The waterfountain in the middle was one of the last things I added, origianlly I thought my world would just look nice with something else in the middle; but the more I think about it the more I feel like it can represent the constant flow of life.
Water is known to flow constantly; it always finds a way to flow. Even a lake that is surrounded by land, there is movement created by wind, animals, and other things. Water doesn’t sit still, it is constantly moving and so is a waterfountain. It is continuously moving and that is how life is. Whether you slow down, rush, or stop completely, life is still going on. I think adding a water fountain in the middle was a nice reminder that life keeps going, no matter if there’s bumps, always find a way to keep going.
Ask yourself: would you live in this world? If not, what would your world look like? What would be in your world?
That’s all for now, until next time!
~ Emma 🌏︎