I recently had the opportunity to work with a doctor who admitted to being overwhelmed. 

Much like a tree sheltering so many various species, she is solid, supportive, caring, –whole ecosystems were drawing inspiration from doctor F. Indeed, in Life, at work, family, friends, patients …everyone else seemed to be generously nurtured by this woman –but at the cost of her own self care.

I thought a lunch break in a beautiful local park might offer some respite and a moment to attend creatively to how trees manage.

Since the doctor is also artistic, we paused by “doing”. I invited her to collect some observations from the trees and literally draw insight from the time we spent in the park. 

The result was a series of portraits of self as a tree. Relying on bark rubbings, the doctor sketched out several trees. Right handed, then left handed. She even used both hands.

Immerged in bright pastel colours to jump start the afternoon, Dr F confessed that she hadn’t found the time to make much art recently with her busy schedule and felt that this was exactly what she could not continue to miss. 

In short, concretely creating open spaces in her life for herself could be as non invasive as taking a break to sketch a little.