College of Education Self-Care

  • Participants at the self-care drum session
  • Sunset over water
  • Blue lens flares
  • Zen garden with rocks
  • Sunset over hills
  • Spiral staircase
  • Path through trees with autumn leaves

Self-care and the arts in apocalypic times

July 6, 2020

Dear COE faculty and staff,

As we continue the journey through truly apocalyptic times, we find ourselves in a critical moment to make changes for the better. Messages echo through the media, especially during this last weekend, of choices we can make to move our world to a better place. Some of the most poignant messages about where we have come from and how we can move forward can be found in the arts-videos, signage, paintings, films, and music. These messages plead for us to be better informed and to find our way to a place of peace, acceptance, equity, kindness, togetherness, and compassion. Self-care can involve emersion in the arts to inform and inspire us. An excellent example is the PBS 2 part video series called “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War” .

As another example, below is an inspiring YouTube music video about moving to a better place called “Walk On”  by the musical group U2, organically written at another apocalyptic time of 9/11, but still appropriate today.

Do you have other examples of inspirational art? Please share these with us!

And please continue to look at our self-care website for additional resources at https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education/self-care/articles-information-self-care

May we be open and inspired by the messages that surround us.

Warmly,
Shari and Josh