Rebecca and Gioia in Australia Last Years Happy Holidays!  Just a brief note to wish you all the joys of the season and to thank you for contributing so much joy and sense of connection to our loves.  We are so grateful and appreciative. Know that we are sending you virtual hugs this holiday season.  Here’s hoping that you have …

Happy New Year! Click to Read Post »

Gioia–Nurture the People in My Life Rebecca recently had to get her vehicle registered in Arizona.  She’d postponed going to the DMV because of dreaded long lines, complicated forms, burnt-out government employees, and the fear that she would not be able to complete the process despite all of her efforts to have her ducks in a row.  When she got …

Superheroes in Disguise Click to Read Post »

Gioia–Have Faith When we first started writing this newsletter 5 years ago, Hurricane Sandy had just devastated New York and New Jersey.  In the span between then and now, we’ve seen many global tragedies–the Pulse shootings, Manchester, Charlottesville, Paris, Harvey, the refugee crisis, threats of nuclear war, violent political extremism, wildfires and earthquakes.  And we in the aftermath of the …

Standing at The Gates of Hope Click to Read Post »

Gioia–Time We were recently asked to do a presentation on “Digital Detox”.  When we researched this phenomenon, we found that there was a tacit presumption that frequent exposure to digital devices interferes with our ability to connect with others and reduces the quality of what little contact we do have.  The recommended solutions usually involved some sort of restriction or …

Deconstructing Digital Detox Click to Read Post »

Rebecca’s Sketch for the Positive Art Therapy Book We, Gioia and Rebecca, have recently written a textbook on the way we combine art therapy and positive psychology.  Thankfully, it’s in the last stages of publication and all we have to do is go over the final proofs and pick a cover. Initially our publisher gave us a library of images …

Tortured and Joyous Click to Read Post »

Rebecca’s Photo of Her Mother Lee Climbing to Do the Zipline Earlier this month, Rebecca’s mother, Lee, visited Miraval, the Arizona resort where Rebecca is an art therapy specialist and wellness counselor.  After a day of rest, Lee decided to “stretch” herself by trying out some activities that were outside of her “box”.  For the next couple of days, she …

What Happens When You Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone? Click to Read Post »

Joan Sadler–Photo of the Bay Rebecca’s Aunt Joan–whose blog Joan’s Stones was the topic of our newsletter in March as well as many other newsletters on creativity and aging gracefully–passed away last month.  Although it may sound odd, she died what we would describe as a “good death”. The last days of Joan’s 95 years were spent overlooking the San …

A Good Life and a Good Death Click to Read Post »

Rebecca–Happy Bear When Rebecca’s brother, T (short for Theodore), was in his teens he decided he was going to be a millionaire by the time he was at 25.  He left the east coast for California with long straggly hair and not much of a plan, just the mindset that he wanted to be wealthy.  He tried his hand at …

A Happy and Fulfilled Life Click to Read Post »

March 2017 Rebecca’s 95 year-old aunt Joan’s tenacious creativity has inspired yet another newsletter.  A couple of years ago, we wrote about her blog, Joan’s Stones, which she started at the age of 90 to keep her creativity alive when she was becoming less mobile (to see that newsletter click here).  Joan’s “stones” were posts in which she responded with a …

Tenacious Creativity and Connection Click to Read Post »