A Rainbow in Ireland

Original art work from 2nd grade

As I was cleaning my room, I happened upon a story I wrote and illustrated when I was in second grade: 

A Rainbow in Ireland:
We went to Ireland last year.
I saw a beautiful rainbow. The colors were pretty. It had diamonds on the rainbow. My mom saw the rainbow too.
Bridget, Mom, Dad, Patrick, Orla, and I were at the park.

Then I saw some leprechauns.  There was a pot of diamonds and a pot of gold.

The next morning the rainbow was gone. The leprechauns were still sleeping.  I was looking everywhere for the pot of diamonds and the pot of gold.
Then I found a haunted house. The haunted house was moving. Then I climbed up the stairs. One of the stairs broke. I saw the witch sleeping with all of the diamonds and gold in her room.

I got all of the diamonds and gold back before the leprechauns woke up. Then the leprechauns let me have some of the diamonds and some of the gold. They had a lot of gold and diamonds in the pot.  Then I went with Mom, Dad, Bridget, Orla, and Patrick. We all went home. I said goodbye to the leprechauns.

After reading this story, I couldn't help but notice all the "thens" I used in the story. My family use to laugh at me whenever I told any story...I'd always say "Then" or "And Then" in the beginning of every sentence.
But besides all of that, where I really wanted to go with all of this is that I was reminded of the time I spent in Colorado. I've never seen so many rainbows in my life as I did while I was there during the summer.  There is just something about rainbows that brings me such serenity.   It's amazing how such simplicity can create such beauty- sunlight and a raindrop.

 I love the following quote:
After every storm, comes a rainbow.
Just because your storm may be a little longer,
or have more thunder and lighting,
doesn't mean there will be no rainbow.
The rainbow always comes.
You just need to find some shelter
and wait until it arrives.


As I was/am going through my own treacherous storms within the past few months/throughout my life- I lost sight of all of this.  When in the depressed mind frame, it's so hard to realize that the feelings you are experiencing are only temporary and that  sooner or later the sun will start to peak through and a rainbow will indeed form. It's so easy to forget that there is still a sun beyond the dark clouds.
Today while in my day program, I attended two art therapy classes. In the first class, we did mindful breathing and painted freely. Usually, I'd be so caught up in my mind on what to paint that I'd overwhelm myself and begin judging myself. It was so great to do mindful breathing before this exercise, because I just let the water colors and the paintbrush work its magic. I ended up painting a rainbow surrounded by dark clouds (see below); on the bottom of the page were mountains with the sun peaking through.  On the rainbow, I painted an OM symbol and on each side- I attempted to do some calligraphy. I have no idea what characters I painted, but in my mind I painted love and peace.

Colorado

For the second class, we were to create a piece of work that represented what we are  grateful for.  For this piece, I chose water color and painted a landscape of a pasture in the spring.  I'm grateful for the spring for many reasons- fresh air, the fragrant smell of flowers, the warmth of the sun hugging my body, the sight of butterflies and hummingbirds, but most importantly, it's usually during the spring time where my depression lessons and I can live again and appreciate the rainbows.

Thank you for reading!