Welcome to a brand-new feature of the Alexandria Art Therapy blog: reading recommendations! Laura, our resident bibliophile, offers a book recommendation every month that might be of interest to you.

Why offer reading recommendations? Reading can be a great self-care practice: to help distract from intrusive thoughts, to learn something new, understand yourself a little deeper, or find connection in others’ stories. Laura emphasizes that anyone can connect with reading; it just takes a bit of searching sometimes. Try out different genres, different writers, different styles. There’s something out there for everyone!

More from Laura —

My first recommendation is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (the same Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame). This is one of my favorite books to recommend because it is applicable to almost anything you’re doing or experiencing in your life.

Have you ever had that spark of an idea, something that came to you out of nowhere? Gilbert calls those moments Big Magic. She says that if you choose not to explore those moments, they may find another person’s mind to wander into. Hold onto those ideas and pursue them, she writes, because those moments offer vast opportunity. If we’re brave enough to be curious, we can let go of things that hold us back. That bravery creates Big Magic. 

This practice might sound like it belongs exclusively to “artists” or “creatives,” but that’s not the case. Does your work involve ideas? You have Big Magic. Do you dream about changing something in your life? You have Big Magic. Are you passionate about something? Guess what – you also have Big Magic!

Big Magic involves pursuing an idea without regard for what the outcome might be.

Creating something purely for pleasure, without intending to master it or profit from it, is a joyful and wild experience. What if we let go of fears around creating? What if we let go of fears about ourselves? What would we discover that we’re capable of?

Listening to your intuition, trusting yourself, and exploring new paths are all integrated in the therapeutic process. Will you choose curiosity, bravery, and magic? 

Note: The link included in this blog to Old Town Books is not an affiliate link.

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