Public – ArtBeat Art Therapy

The Art of Preparation

Morgan Reinsbakken — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:26:38 +0000

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.

Building Healthier Habits

Morgan Reinsbakken — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 06:43:45 +0000

With 5 months cigarette-free under my belt, all the major withdrawal effects had eased (e.g. sleep changes, touchy digestion, sensitive skin, circulation issues, etc. — for more information about the physical effect of quitting smoking check out www.healdove.com) and my new orthotics were being utilized on the daily. I still wanted to actively help my healing along so I booked an appointment with Susie Price, RMT.

My appointment with Susie was unlike any other massage appointment I had ever experienced. Because my purpose was for support around smoking cessation it made perfect sense that she targeted my lungs and liver to stimulate detox and help loosen all the tar and crap lingering in my body. We also talked a lot about my body (mainly my posture and largest organ, my skin), current physical limitations and my hopes and goals for the future. I found this discussion very helpful in the weeks to follow — it influenced my intention and personal awareness, the bottom line being building healthier habits.

Around the same time I was finishing up a class at a local pottery studio (see above images, completed pots included) and I started a new series of Hatha Yoga classes, with Susie’s observations fresh on my mind I set out to make daily intentions to bring more awareness around building healthier habits in my life. I could see the importance of building healthy habits at the pottery studio, but what about just for me?

The journal entry below was my resulting image(s) from the yoga series and it really helped me answer that question. I felt the weekly themes, the teacher’s words and presence, and the physical practice complimented my current intention and focus well. In those moments I craved a ciggy-break, my journal was beginning to hold many comforting and inspiring reminders that I didn’t really need it anymore.

Inspired by the final session in the yoga series, I took the opportunity to reassess my priorities in life. Taking time to reassess periodically, like re-grounding or re-centering, is never a bad idea. Using the same rainbow bulls-eye image (above) I filled each layer with a focus; starting with myself, each layer slightly larger than myself, all guided by the question, ‘Who/what do you practice for?’

The entry above is just for you. My bulls-eye was for me and mine only but I found it such a helpful and informative activity I had to share it. Curious to see what occupies your Priorities Bulls-eye?

Integrative Support

If you’ve ever wondered what the ‘integrative’ of Northwest Integrative Healthcare Centre looks like, here’s one glimpse. In my last acupuncture session with Dr. Griffith she mentioned that if I booked an appointment with Susie I should book a follow-up with her. I gave permission to both Dr. Griffith and Susie Price to chat about my case. The result was several 20-minute nebulizer sessions in a quiet private room at NIHC. The image to the right is the resulting doodle completed during one session.

Have you ever leaned over a pot of boiling water, thrown a towel over your head and inhaled the steam? A nebulizer treatment is essentially the same thing, only it’s a mask and a machine to get a straight shot of medicine to your lungs. My nebulizer treatment contained Glutathione (a sulphur-based chemical found naturally in the liver) and a herbal remedy for inflammation, pain and my lymphatic system. The sulphur smell was barely noticeable and, with my journal to doodle in or a book to read, the sessions went by quickly. The above drawing was not significant in itself but the image drawn on the other side left a transfer of bright colours over the poem I wrote to accompany my nebulizer-doodle.

What was the image drawn on the other side? Well, in the context of change, I had been trying to experience life with radical openness, a willingness to consider environmental and/or social feedback that I may need to change. This required courage and was the opposite of complacency, passivity or resignation. It was freedom from being stuck, it was finding my edge, and gaining confidence to make active and empowered choices.

During this time the buzz phrase going around NIHC was:

The colourful transfer that occurred after this wellness entry felt like a creative gift and it made me smile. So too the environmental and social feedback I was becoming aware of. At the beginning of my journey the idea of living life without cigarettes was terrifying. Now, I was not only living my life without cigarettes, I was learning to be aware of and open to feedback and change in a positive and bright new way. Not a bad start to building healthier habits, eh?!

“Creativity takes courage.” Henri Matisse

Thinking About a Strong Foundation

Morgan Reinsbakken — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 00:29:14 +0000

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.

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.