Blog archive
March 2025
About Senior Solutions
03/28/2025
Building a Bridge With Journey House, A Home Base for Former Foster Youth
03/28/2025
Come for the Knitting, Stay for the Conversation... and the Cookies
03/28/2025
Creating Safe and Smart Spaces with Home Technology
03/28/2025
Finding Joy in My Role on The Pasadena Village Board
03/28/2025
I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
03/28/2025
Managing Anxiety
03/28/2025
Message from Our President: Keeping Pasadena Village Strong Together
03/28/2025
My Favorite Easter Gift
03/28/2025
The Hidden History of Black Women in WWII
03/28/2025
Urinary Tract Infection – Watch Out!
03/28/2025
Volunteer Coordinator and Blade-Runner
03/28/2025
Continuing Commitment to Combating Racism
03/26/2025
Status - March 20, 2025
03/20/2025
Goodbye and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
03/13/2025
What The Living Do by Marie Howe
03/13/2025
Racism is Not Genetic
03/11/2025
Bill Gould, The First
03/07/2025
THIS IS A CHAPTER, NOT MY WHOLE STORY
03/07/2025
Dramatic Flair: Villagers Share their Digital Art
03/03/2025
Empowering Senior LGBTQ+ Caregivers
03/03/2025
A Life Never Anticipated
03/02/2025
Eaton Fire Changes Life
03/02/2025
February 2025
Commemorating Black History Month 2025
02/28/2025
Transportation at the Pasadena Village
02/28/2025
A Look at Proposition 19
02/27/2025
Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Pasadena Village Board and Its Role
02/27/2025
Beyond and Within the Village: The Power of One
02/27/2025
Celebrating Black Voices
02/27/2025
Creatively Supporting Our Village Community
02/27/2025
Decluttering: More Than The Name Implies
02/27/2025
Hidden Gems of Forest Lawn Museum
02/27/2025
LA River Walk
02/27/2025
Message from the President
02/27/2025
Phoenix Rising
02/27/2025
1619 Conversations with West African Art
02/25/2025
The Party Line
02/24/2025
Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
02/17/2025
Dreams by Langston Hughes
02/17/2025
Haiku - Four by Fritzie
02/17/2025
Haikus - Nine by Virginia
02/17/2025
Wind and Fire
02/17/2025
Partnerships Amplify Relief Efforts
02/07/2025
Another Community Giving Back
02/05/2025
Diary of Disaster Response
02/05/2025
Eaton Fire: A Community United in Loss and Recovery
02/05/2025
Healing Powers of Creative Energy
02/05/2025
Living the Mission
02/05/2025
Message from the President: Honoring Black History Month
02/05/2025
Surviving and Thriving: Elder Health Considerations After the Fires
02/05/2025
Treasure Hunting in The Ashes
02/05/2025
Villager's Stories
02/05/2025
A Beginning of Healing
02/03/2025
Hectic Evacuation From Eaton Canyon Fire
02/02/2025
Hurricanes and Fires are Different Monsters
02/02/2025
January 2025
At Dawn by Ed Mervine
01/31/2025
Thank you for Relief Efforts
01/31/2025
Needs as of January 25, 2025
01/24/2025
Eaton Fire Information
01/23/2025
Escape to San Diego
01/19/2025
Finding Courage Amid Tragedy
01/19/2025
Responses of Pasadena Village February 22, 2025
01/18/2025
A Tale of Three Fires
01/14/2025
Healing Powers of Creative Energy
By Karen BagnardPosted: 02/05/2025
While we all experience events and grief differently, for many, the creative process can be soothing and help us find our way through dark times.
Virgi Merriam, one of our Villagers who lost her home, and everything in it, in the Eaton fire suggests that we consider writing haiku, a Japanese style of poetry to “capture” the things we have lost… moments, items, feelings, sounds, etc. “Haiku is something I’ve been sharing with my granddaughter,” Virgi shared with me. "It seemed to be a good vehicle for me to release some of the pain, loss and grief I’m feeling.”
Virgi is also one of the Village Artists and is contemplating a series of “fire paintings.” She recently received some new watercolor paints and is considering using them for this idea.
For me, haiku is a way to remember. I never want to forget the coyote sounds at night; bickering squirrels; parrot fly-overs; the cacophony of early morning bird songs; my last look at the house I lived in for 51 years, dark and lighted blue in the moonlight of Tuesday, January 7, as I got into my grandson’s car to leave; baseball games at the nearby Farnsworth Park and so much more.
Music has healing power whether you are listening or making it. There is healing in the way it evokes emotion. It allows your imagination to take you away from the stress of life for a little while.
Creative energy is a soothing way to help you plod through all that needs to be dealt with in a disaster. I found myself drawing ideas of how to rebuild. I drew a door closing as another opened. I drew my house as I remembered it in the moonlight the last time I saw it.
On an evening recently, while feeling blue again, I simply wrote down what I was feeling. While I cannot see well enough to read what I write, it was as though the feelings came down through my arm, out to the pen my fingers were holding and escaped on the paper. I don’t need to read them. I felt good just writing them out of me.
For me and for many, allowing our creative energy to flow is what keeps us alive. It could be dancing, playing an instrument, gardening, drawing, painting, writing or any number of other things. Whatever it is, let yourself be free in it. It may be what you need through a hard time, as well.
*To See More Experiences With The Fire, Click on #LAFires