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Welcome to the Creative Soul Healing

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podcast where we talk about the connection between

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creativity and healing and how you're creative,

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and how creativity helps us heal mentally,

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physically and emotionally. Join us now

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Hi, everyone, Larissa Russell of Creative U

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Healing. And today I have with me Alice Wood.

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Alice is my assistant at Creative U Healing and

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helping out with things behind the scenes so that

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I can do more to help everybody else so she is my

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right arm, and an absolute godsend to me.

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Alice first got into watercolor painting following

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medical treatment several years ago, when she was

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offered art therapy as part of her recovery. She

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found that painting calmed her brain and helped

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her to relax. After that she never looked back.

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Alice likes to do cryptic crosswords, and lives in

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the northeast of the UK. And she regularly takes

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part in Create with Me! with me, on Tuesdays. We

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have to two days, and Thursdays it's the middle of

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the night for you? Right?

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So welcome, Alice. I wanted to introduce you to

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Alice. And that's why I'm having her on the show.

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Because she's such an important part, plus an

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amazing creative. And she's been taking part in

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some of our summits now, things like that. So just

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get to know her a little more.

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Yes, that was never on my, you know,

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agenda, you know, it was just, I'll just help you.

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But suddenly, it's like, well, I'll do a video on

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you know, and we'll do this thing for the Ukraine,

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and then we'll do this.

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A little bit here, a little bit there. I

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know. Because, you know, when you work behind the

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scenes, you're gonna go, I can do that. And you

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can do that. So, can you share some of your story,

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we did do your bio, that that's brought you to

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where you are today?

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Well, yes, where do we start? I'm in my mid

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50s, as you said, I live in the northeast of the

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UK, I didn't start out here, I've moved around the

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country quite a lot. Thanks to going to

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university, getting a job in a different place,

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getting a job in another different place. And just

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moving about, I've seen quite a lot of the UK. And

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a few years ago, I'd had the occasional symptom of

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you know, something odd happening here, something,

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you know, I had developed a heart arrhythmia, I

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had problems with my thought and this and that and

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the other, and never really joined the dots. And

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then Then one day, you know, I discovered a lump

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in a place where you're definitely not meant to

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have them and was eventually diagnosed with

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cancer. And all these dots started coming

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together. Oh, if you had that, and that and that

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together, you get this. So yeah, check your

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symptoms, folks. And I, you know, you go through

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the course of treatment, and you you get showered

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with hospital appointments, it's like being on a

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roller coaster. On a stormy sea. It's, it's, it's

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just overwhelming. And I was offered art therapy.

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And when you're in that situation, you take any

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lifeline anybody gives you? And I was like, Yeah,

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I'll do that I'll do anything. And quite frankly,

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you know, you want me to be a ballet dancer, I'll

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give it a go right now. And so I started doing

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this art therapy, and just once a week down down

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at the local art gallery. So it wasn't even in the

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hospital, which was great. Because it was

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completely different environment. And so I started

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doing that. And I thought oh, actually, you know,

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this is quite nice. And what I really liked was

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the first session we ever did. And we were talking

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about how we'd approached art when we were

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younger, you know, and I recall being told, Oh,

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you're doing it wrong, you make a mess and and the

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lady leading the session said oh, well there's no

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no such thing as wrong you know? And I thought

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wow, what a completely different way to look at

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it. There's there's no such thing as being wrong.

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Nobody's ever told me that before. And and I just

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started getting into it more and more and more and

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I bought myself a set of watercolors. Basically

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for the principle that if I spilt it on myself, I

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could wash it out. That was my whole raison

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d'etre. You know, watercolors will wash out. And I

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just started doing the odd thing here and there

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and I've got a sketchbook and then I got one of

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those adult coloring books now. I hold my hands up

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here guilty. I used to sneer at adult coloring

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books, something wrong. Who needs that, too? Yeah,

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I've got a huge stack of them now, I can't get

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away from them. Because they just taught me so

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much how to use the paint and, and different ideas

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you could get. And like you say, I just never

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looked back. And I thought, Oh, well, I'll try

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this. No, I'll try that. And that having, having

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the cancer, How many people have said this in the

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past? You know, it allows you to stop and think

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and say, Well, what is it actually, that I want to

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be doing here? You know, do I want to be in that

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nine to five rat race thing? Well, actually, it's

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not nine to five and Moses, it's more like so six

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to eight. These days, especially in this country,

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it's awful. And, you know, do I really want to do

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that? What do I want to be a bit more intentional

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about how I how I live? And so that's, that's what

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I tried to do now, you know, be a bit more

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intentional and helping you is a way of me being

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able to sort of pay a bit of that back, and then

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you can go and help someone else.

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Yeah, I love I love that. Because it's so

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true. Sometimes it takes a major life event for us

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to stop and go what is important? Yeah, yeah,

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exactly. Yeah. And self care, which I feel

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creativity is, is very important. And you don't

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often do that. Until you have something that says,

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you have to do that. Yes, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

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And I find it funny about that adult coloring

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books, because it's so many people who I have

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turned on to adult coloring books, have said, Oh,

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I don't need that. But you know, and then when

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they actually try it, whether it be paint or

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coloring, or whatever they're using them for?

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Yeah. It's such a great place to start. Yeah, yes.

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So you do a lot of watercolor? And what would you

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say then? Is your creative healing modality that

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you use the most for yourself? Is it watercolor or

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something else?

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Yeah, I'd say it's watercolor. And it's

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probably, it's probably the simplest one color by

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numbers. I just love the color by numbers box, you

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know, it's, it sort of takes the, when I'm really

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stressed, and my brain can't make a decision. You

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know, it just freezes. I'm a rabbit in the

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headlights. And so you know, the little color by

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numbers and number 13. And number 16. And just you

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need an orange here, this is a green, I'd say you

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could just create, and you know, that you're gonna

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like what comes out? And, you know, it's just,

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it's a thing unto itself. There's no purpose

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behind it. Other than you're just making the

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picture. I just, yeah, I find that so relaxing.

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And then that's when you can get into

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that flow, right? Oh, and

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yeah, yeah, I find like, if I, if I want to

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do some art, if I start by doing a little bit of

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that, you know, where I'm not making the decisions

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makes it a bit easier to sort of say, hi, okay,

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I've done that for 10 minutes. Let's let's try and

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move on to something else now. And, uh, you know,

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my brain is starting to get into that zone of

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flow. And, you know, make it being able to make

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the decisions, because it's already seen that oh,

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yeah, that really goes with dark green or whatever

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it is. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

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Do you think that you're trying to answer

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questions for your own self with your creations?

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And if so, what, what type of things?

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Yeah, I think, certainly, in the last few

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months, I've been trying to I've been looking at

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my own identity, or where I come from. I've been

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I've been looking back in my family history. And

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because I know there's a lot of trauma in my

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family history. And I've been trying to sort of, I

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can't I can't answer all the questions, because a

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lot of those people are dead. But I've been trying

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to sort of work out what the problem is, where the

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problem comes from, and try and get a handle on

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that and understand the part of my family history

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is the great hunger, the Great Famine in Ireland

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in the late 1840s. And so I've been trying to

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understand, like, what was behind that? What were

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the decisions made? Why did my my ancestors move?

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What forced them into that? I just just trying to

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see the events that happened. Now I could, you

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know, 1850s was over 100 years ago. I'm never

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going to understand completely what their life

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was, or why they're making these decisions. But

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I'm trying to get a handle on it and and see

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what's going on and and I have have managed to

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work out a few things. And that's really helped.

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So yeah, it's about, it's about looking inside me

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and trying to find me because I think through most

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of my life, I've been trying to help other people

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do things for other people. And I've been an

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extension of other people. And I haven't really

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known who I am.

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That is like, such a profound statement.

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As women, that is something that we do, right,

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we're always looking after everybody else and lose

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ourselves in in that right? Yeah, yeah. And so who

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are we? Who are we individually is such an

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important question. And so starting to delve into

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that is super important.

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Yeah. And I think I've been looking at my

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life and realizing that I'm responding to trauma

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that other people have felt. I've got people on

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both sides of my family tree, mom and dad, who way

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back who have lost mothers very, very early in

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their lives. My grandmother lost her mother when

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she was seven, my great grandmother lost her

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mother when she was four days old. Now,

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unfortunately, you know, back then, you could

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almost call it an occupational hazard. But those

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people have been responding to those events. And

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in my grants case, particularly, it was about

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being a perfectionist about having everything

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clean, having everything tidy, everything's just

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so. And so she was doing that, and it's been

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passed down and passed down and passed down. And

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it's only now I'm sort of looking at this and

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going hang on, don't need to do this. I've been

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taught this by somebody who was responding to

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somebody else who was responding to somebody else.

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And this has to stop. You know, and, and it's

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enabled me to sort of wake up and see what's,

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what's happening.

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Yeah, those ancestral traumas, it's, it's

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amazing. And, and we talk about it a lot. With

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like, well, here in Canada, we talk about it a lot

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with the indigenous people and what's happened to

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them. And absolutely, but we all have some form of

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ancestral traumas. Absolutely. There's, so many

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things have happened. And then that, like you

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said, carries through. And when we start to

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discover our part in that, or how it's affected

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us, so that we can maybe make changes as we need.

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Yeah, really important. Really important. So, when

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you're creating Do you Do you play music? And do

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you have different types of music for different

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types of creating?

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Do I play music? Yes, I sometimes it's an

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audio book. Sometimes I like to hear words, but

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But music Yeah, I, my dad was musician. So I was

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brought up with music, of almost all kinds. And in

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the last few years, I've been trying to explore

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some of the other kinds. My dad hated opera,

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because I remember him telling me that he once

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heard his grandmother, she was an amateur,

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operatic singer. And so you can imagine this, this

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rather portly lady that you know, your your

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typical cliche opera Lady of 60 something, trying

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to sing whatever it was that my dad just said, I

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put my fingers in my ears and ran out of the room.

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I'm sure she wasn't that bad, but I don't know. I

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wasn't there. So So he, he hated opera. So over

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the last few years, I've been trying to educate

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myself, you know, what does this actually sound

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like? Who are these people? What's, what's this

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all about? Because my previous experience of opera

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was was Bugs Bunny. Yeah, what's opera doc? Yes.

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That's it. Yeah, go go watch it. It's very funny.

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But you know, that's not opera. And And not only

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that, jazz. I've, at the moment, I'm listening to

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a lot of Northern Soul, which is a very niche

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thing. But it's something that I think I used to

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listen to when I was quite small. And it you know,

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I'm listening to everything today. This sounds

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familiar. I've heard this before somewhere. And

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I'm still trying to discover new and different

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types of music and yeah, you give me any kind of

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rhythm over time and I'm there I'll be tapping my

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fingers or painted on

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Do you think that affects the work that

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you do, like what you're creating, the different

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music?

14:53

Yeah, probably. Yeah, because some of it is intentionally or

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unintentionally it will be a commentary about the

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Yeah. And I think that, you know, music has so

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much emotion, whether, you know, depending on what

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position the songwriter was in. You know, your

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quintessential example is probably Bob Dylan. You

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know, he's commenting on his life as he sees it.

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And that's got to be reflected back in, in what I

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hear from whatever the songwriter is. And a lot of

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as well as Northern Soul. I've been getting into a

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lot of think of Two-Tone, which was a movement

15:24

over here in the UK and probably didn't get any

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further, but it commented on early 1980s life in

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the UK, and you know, this, this town is nothing

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but it goes down. All the clubs are being closed

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down, that were to town came from Coventry, there

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was a lot of motor industry, and it was all

15:46

closing down. And so you've got this gray concrete

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jungle with all these kids hanging about and all

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these people being chucked on the dole and this

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gloom and doom and the reflection of that in

16:01

Sheering's Yeah, it definitely comes up to me now.

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Having been, lived through that, you know, and I

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think oh, yeah, I remember that time. I'm and

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yeah, so some of it does come out in the art. Definitely.

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you like, or if you're a eclectic, like, I'm

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fairly eclectic, with my music when I do listen, I

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don't have like one. I mean, I have a favorite but

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not, you know, I listen to different things. And

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so I find, I need, you know, really upbeat, if I'm

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cleaning, if I'm driving, I can try different

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things. But like I said, I don't, like I said in

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my podcast, when you interviewed me, I don't

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listen to music when I'm creating for a number of

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reasons. But I do think it can really be reflected

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in the work that you do. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah.

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And do you have a favorite quote, that

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you'd like to share?

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Oh do you know I spent hours combing

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through. I kinda collect words, I've got scrapbook

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after scrapbook after scrapbook with quotes and

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cartoons. And also, the and I finally decided on

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Ralph Waldo Emerson is "What lies behind you, and

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what lies in front of you pales in comparison to

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what lies inside of you".

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I love that one. I don't think I've heard

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that one. Yeah,

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I do like Emerson. He's very profound.

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Yes, I have a number of his quotes around

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actually. I've always got different quotes. I

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think that's why I struggled to find a favorite.

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But yeah, that one, that's a good one. Is there

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anything else you'd like to add that we maybe

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haven't discussed today?

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Well, I think I would say, for people

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listening to this podcast now. Go do some art,

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whatever it is, whatever you define as art, go do

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something, and follow your heart. Follow what you

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are called to do. And don't think about, oh, I

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need to make money or Oh, it's got to look right.

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Oh, I can only use this color and this color or

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something. Or someone won't like it. Don't worry

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about it. Just get yourself a piece of paper and a

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ballpoint pen and, you know, draw a dot ted or

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something, go and do some heart.

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Absolutely. I wouldn't be here if that

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wasn't my mess. Go create something. I want to

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thank you so much for being here and for also for

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helping me each and every day. truly appreciate

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you.

18:50

You're very welcome.

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To our listeners. We will see you again

18:52

next time and in the meantime, I wish for you

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amazingly creative days. Thank you for listening. If you found the podcast

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of interest, we'd love for you to leave a review

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wherever you listen in