Never Quit Trying to Quit – ArtBeat Art Therapy https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com DBT Skills Practice Through Art Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:12:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-Asset-1@4x-8-32x32.png Never Quit Trying to Quit – ArtBeat Art Therapy https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com 32 32 The Art of Preparation https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com/the-art-of-preparation/ Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:26:38 +0000 https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com/?p=7710 Never quit trying to quit – I am living proof of this! Quit attempt number 19 or 20, honestly I’ve stopped counting or caring about the number. My mindset has shifted from I’m a smoker that sometimes doesn’t smoke to I’m a non-smoker that sometimes smokes to I’m a non-smoker that cannot smoke anymore. 

All these mindsets are okay and to each their own on their journey to healing, health and wellness. For me, this current mindset is a motivator and best believe I’m busting out my DBT skills to cope ahead and set myself up for success. 

Pre-contemplation: I’m ignoring my body, treating thoughts and opinions like facts, and giving in to every urge to smoke. 

Contemplation: I start noticing what smoking is doing to my body, I make an appointment to talk to my doctor to discuss my options and make a plan. And I’m still giving in to almost every urge to smoke.

 Preparation: I gather all the tools I need (whether its the patch, gum, an inhaler or mouth spray, medication or any other non-nicotine product or counselling service that helps you, it’s your choice). I set a quit date, make a plan to reduce my daily intake, and tell my support network because they help hold me accountable. Turns out, this time around I have a couple others that are joining me on this journey! Yay!

To make the most effective decisions moving forward, I need to know and understand… well, myself! My triggers (vulnerability factors, the things that make me more likely to smoke), I need to think about and make a plan for all the risky situations that I’m likely to experience urges/cravings moving forward. My daily routine, the people, places and things in my life, and my emotions. It’s not just about the nicotine, folks!

The Art of Preparation: I open my sketchbook to a fresh page and start Mind-mapping my triggers (I’m sharing an outline of what I explored, you know you best so add all the categories you want/need) – trust me, it’s not as scary when you know and understand what you’re working with.

Then, on the next page, I draft a poster of Top 5 reasons for quitting smoking (I’m sharing two of mine just to give you an idea) and I share it privately with a couple friends because I trust and value their support and feedback, and they help to hold me accountable. They also reminded me that taste gets better after quitting as well, and they’re not wrong!

Now I’m ready to create my Visual Path to cope ahead and plan for all the triggers. Of course, there’s no way to know and plan for everything but I can work with what I know now and what I’ve experienced in the past (I’m sharing an outline of my Quit Smoking Visual Path to give you an idea, yours should reflect all the categories you explored in your Mind-map). When it comes to emotions, I challenge you to ask yourself, ‘when I’m feeling this, what other emotion is typically close by?’. We know from those super cute Inside Out movies, emotions work as a team. What colour are they? Got down all skills and activities that help you to change or reduce triggering emotions.

I take my my time and I’m mindful to add colours and images that bring me joy and happiness. This visual-thinker is quite happy with the results AND I had fun doing it! I know I’ll refer to these pages a lot in the first couple weeks and I may add/change things as I go.

 

 

]]> Thinking About a Strong Foundation https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com/thinking-about-a-strong-foundation/ Sun, 05 Mar 2017 00:29:14 +0000 https://artbeatarttherapystudio.com/?p=5058

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At this point it had been about 4 months since my last cigarette. In my early yoga practice my coughing was pretty evident and I felt shaky and weak. Four months into it my movements and stretches felt stronger and my focus and attention felt actively grounded in breath, with very little coughing. It was both a refreshing and humbling experience to learn how to breathe again and to find a new appreciation for my breath. This was not something I planned but in hindsight it makes sense that this would be valuable within smoking cessation counselling support. I often caught myself grounding my feet and taking a deep breath periodically throughout my day – not a bad substitute for ‘going out for a ciggy’, right?!

Meanwhile, I booked an appointment with a Chiropractor to have custom orthotics made. ‘Why orthotics?’, you might ask. Well, the write-up they gave me stated that individual biomechanical deficits are reduced, while restoring a symmetrical foundation and enhancing shock-absorbing capacity. But I was sold after hearing that Stabilizing Orthotics support whole-body wellness for a lifetime, from the ground up! The way I was feeling at that point, its exactly what I needed to hear. All-in-all the entire appointment took about 20 minutes, it was quick, painless and extremely informative. When my orthotics arrived I was given a few sheets with very informative visuals about my skeletal structure – this 3D thinker was quite appreciative of that – and a booklet on how to take care of my new orthotics.

Not-so-oddly enough, I took advantage of my ceramics practice to help explore the concept of a strong and balanced foundation. The break-in period for my new orthotics was 45 days – around the same amount of time Eastern practices of wellness suggest authentic change takes place, btw – and at this point I was about 20 days into it and my mind, body and soul felt sore and tired. Through trimming the foot of recently thrown vessels, I not only thought about and visualized a strong and balanced foundation, but I was able to shape that curve with my hand and push into the clay to practice this concept as well; all guided by two supportive teacher-artists (as well as breathing guidance close to mind) and a studio full of creative women from my community. Not every attempt was successful – another mindful practice of love and compassion, it felt great to laugh at my mistakes and my attempts to correct them were the best I could do in that moment.

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Closer to the end of my orthotic break-in period I felt like my throwing and trimming skills were slowly getting stronger; I could really feel myself getting grounded and centred. Not like my art-school days, but closer to something that honoured who and where I was in that moment. Being able to see, touch and experience this difference was refreshing and enjoyable. Similar to how I used to feel about smoking a cigarette… and now I was feeling this with alternative healthier habits. Needless to say, I was really excited to continue this creative journey.
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