Marya Mann : Blog : The Power Of Art & The Love Wave

The Power of Art & the Love Wave

Hey everyone. Aloha kakahiaka!

I am feeling good, like a major love wave is washing over me with Ho’oponopono, bringing things back into balance.

The love wave came out of an encounter with a ten-year-old boy who had been hateful one day before, but who made the turnaround from bully to artist on Day Two of our Peace Arts Intensive at Kealakehe Elementary School.

Transformations and metamorphoses happen all the time during an ArtWavEs’ experience, but it usually takes until Day Three to see such reversals. Mindful play, arts explorations, and kindness circles for world peace inspire the next generation of parents and leaders with more than motivation and meaning. ArtWavEs opens the doorway to AWE, and for a traumatized child, its a life-changer.

Students were asked to draw what makes them feel peaceful and happy. To realize they deserve to be inspired and happy again after what some children have gone through – wars, family addictions, poverty, displacement, violence — it’s a life-changer.

We were lucky with Danny (not his real name). With his alert brown eyes and lop-sided smile, he wore a T-shirt that read, “It’s fine. I’m fine.” But he really wasn’t fine. Demanding and demeaning, he was tense and refused to listen.

AWE’s incredible mentors about whom you’ll hear more later — Ana Beth Webb, Jaime MacDonald, Kandie Kato, Bri Torres, and more — had finally convinced him that “everyone can draw,” and encouraged him to sketch on paper, but it wasn’t turning out the way he wanted. Many of the children in his fifth-grade class were frustrated, not just with the art, but with the last three years that the pandemic robbed them of just being children. School closures, isolation, lost learning, and limited social time – it had shaped a stubborn streak where innocent enthusiasm used to be.

In our AWE group yesterday, the love wave came after Danny refused to move his drawing from the paper to the silk banner. He was so intent on not doing it wrong that he’d concluded it was best to not do it at all.

I sat down next to him at eye level and looked at him. “Are you okay?” I asked. He seemed shocked, like no one had ever asked him how he really was. Tears brimmed in his eyes. Quietly, he said, “No.” And that small admission was the beginning of his shift from the bristle of anger into a gentle flow of creativity.

Someone cared, he was free to express himself, and that was an opening for him to be honest, with himself mostly. Listening to his concerns opened space for creativity to arise. Without being judged, he could return to the best version of himself, and soon, he was drawing and painting on the banner that will be part of the mesmerizing exhibit of 30 new Peace Banners at a celebration of Peace on Earth on May 25th at Kealakehe Elementary.

When a child discovers the innate power of inner truth, they gain access to the creative “flow state.” They also realize that they can be vulnerable and still be safe, and that they can be an artist activist for peace rather than a hotbed of hostility leading to violence at home and war in the world.

In that moment of connection, the love wave rises up for more than just student and teacher, though. It rises up for the healing of our planet, for Ho’oponopono.

Do you know this beautiful Hawaiian word? Ho’oponopono. It roughly translates to “cause things to move back in balance” or to “make things right.” It’s a very zen-like concept that we hold in our hearts while sharing the ArtWavEs experience, giving children the knowledge and care they need to create and live in a world at peace.

That’s the kind of peace that will turn our world around.

Wouldn’t you prefer Peace Arts Exhibits to violence, shootings, and war?

If that’s true for you, please join our effort. We invite you to help us engage and inspire the children as Peacepainters and Earthkeepers. It’s simple!

Here’s how:

WATCH this 90-second video from Pacific ArtWavEs and please SHARE WITH FRIENDS! ArtWavEs Mission

GIVE your tax-deductible donation now, here: Contribute to ArtWavEs

Through the AWE process, children tap their highest potential and move us all toward the healing of our planet. Don’t you want to be a part of the positive destiny you envision for children and the Earth?

And if you want to bring an AWE workshop or AWE Care Package to your community, please get in touch with us now! We have program events scheduled in North Hawaii, South Kona, and Utah for this summer. Your support is essential to our continuing this work. Thank you so much for all you do!

Mahalo for your big heart!

Marya and the AWE Team at ArtWavEs
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