Monica Doreen shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Monica , it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
Strength to move forward each day after my partner and best friend passed away in December of 2023 (days before Christmas). A 10 year deep soul connection was ruptured suddenly and without warning. I have built a collection of things I can do to support myself and propel myself forward in some way, even if moving means just cooking a meal. I have built, little by little, the ability to let go of guilt which I have learned may just be a desire to believe we have some sort of control over something that can never be controlled. I have built, little by little, a desire to live each day even when sorrow and despair appears as a physical weight on my chest. I have built, little by little, the courage to face the pain, panic, and uncertainty that the human condition ineviitably brings — at any moment we can lose anyone in this world. I have built, little by little, the ability to appreciate and be grateful for the beautiful parts of life I can and do experience daily, letting go of control and trying to plan too far ahead. I have built, little by little, more comfort in the connection I feel to loved ones on the other side. I am most proud that I have survived this loss and continue to find my footing after such a bewildering, disregulating, and disorienting event.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am an art therapist, artist, and founder of Looking Up Wellness, which provides therapeutic wellness paintings to patients who are healing or transitioning into end of life. The paintings emulate skylights, glow in the dark and mount over patient beds. The windows to the sky appear as daytime scenes, but at night emerge as starry sky-scapes. They charge daily from any light in the room and glow the entire night. The paintings have been successful with at-home patients, and now I am working to expand into the public at no cost to anyone. This expansion is in the form of an indirect art therapy program, for patients, caretakers, and survivors. In this program, therapeutic wellness paints will be mounted above patient beds in elderly care and prints of the painting the patient and loved ones spend time under will be provided for the caretakers and survivors to take home. A large body or research has found that patients who have art in hospitals heal faster, need less pain medication, suffer less, and experience less anxiety and depression than those without art. Additional research in quantum mechanics and how energy moves through and emits from artwork, posits that printing art does not have the healing capacity like hand drawn artwork’s ability to instill safety in a patient as an “energetic companion”–they are not alone. We know that when the patients experiences less anxiety and depression, the caretaker also feels less distress, experiencing a relief that the loved one’s suffering is eased. Research in neuroaesthetics found something called “embodied cognition.” This happens when the viewer of art fires the same neurons in the brain that the artist fired while creating it. Thus, the intention that the artist holds as they create the work can actually be felt by the viewer. For this reason, I create the wellness paintings with the intention of love and serenity, so that is emitted and felt by those viewing the work. For more extensive research and benefits of the paintings, you can refer to my website. Essentially, I have combined research in art therapy, quantum mechanics, and nueroeasthtics to create an indirect art therapy program to help patients and the grieving process of survivors. Right now I am in the process of making Looking Up Wellness a non profit organization to receive funding for public facilities. A memory care unit in Cincinnati, Ohio eagerly welcomes 40 paintings for their entire unit, and I am positioning the organization so that it can receive this funding from grants. I was inspired to begin this work after my father passed in 2017 working privately, and after my partner passed in 2023, have desired to make the indirect art therapy program a public service.
I don’t just stop at “Looking Up,” which engages me in the practice of meditation and staying present, but also have a series called “Looking In” and “Looking Out.” The series “Looking In” is comprised of intuitive theapeutic works where I use art therapy techniques on myself to heal as I overcome life’s challenges. Because this work can be very heavy, “Looking Out” is where I decompress in nature and take time to paint transformational experiences I’ve had in national parks. “Looking Up” teaches me how to just be, while “Looking In” heals the hard stuff, and “Looking Out” helps me rejuvenate from the hard work. All three series are crucial to function as a responsible and healthy human in the world. Additionally, I create portraits of pets and people, often to honor those who are now deceased.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
In my experience, what breaks bonds between people is judgment, invalidation of emotions, minimization of pain, unapologetically crossing boundaries (abuse), and a lack of ownership/accountability. I believe what restores bonds is acceptance, unconditional love, empathy, understanding, self reflection, ownership of hurtful behavior and apologies without “buts” or stipulations. What restores bonds is self responsibility, to self reflect and do inner work on the pieces that are unhealed inside and flare up in relationship. It is crucial to be able to see that a triggering interaction isn’t about the other, but about what is unhealed inside oneself.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Gratitude, compassion, perseverance and self forgiveness. I have learned that suffering is only defined that way because of one’s attachment to a certain outcome or expectation of what life should be. In the words of Ram Dass, suffering can be a catalyst to help our hearts open and trigger a desire to help. After my experience of unfortunate circumstances in life, I now know that it is not my right, or my job, to take anyone’s “suffering” away, but only to remain a supporting present consciousness that provides a space that allows another to shift their consciousness.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think the societal idea of “smart” often refers to only academia and ignores the spiritual and intangible parts of living. I think where we get it wrong is asking “science OR spirituality” rather than to see them both as one; science AND spirituality. The visible spectrum of light for humans is a small piece of the entire spectrum that exists. In other words, many things exist that our human eyes cannot register. We feel things that we cannot see. Everything is made of subatomic particles known as photons which emit light. We know that those particles do not become solid until they are observed. Things only exist when one places focus on it. In this way, quantum mechanics actually explains how prayer and meditation work. Prayer and meditation places focus on particular topics and the intention sets it into motion. Prayer and meditation does not have to be to a higher power or deity, for example, in atheism prayer takes the form of expressing wishes, intention/goal setting and meditation is a practice for mindfulness, self-awareness, and mental/emotional balance. So, even in a framework where God is not acknowledged, certain practices are still used to express one’s spiritual being. Holistic psychology see the entire human comprised of four categories, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It is no surprise that prayer and meditation is a common denominator for all spiritual and religious ideologies around the world. When the majority of humans across the planet come to the same conclusion on something, perhaps we could ask if it goes beyond perspective and reaches into a law of the universe. It appears to me that science does not ask if the spiritual aspect exists, but rather, how it functions.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
Most importantly I want to be remembered as a human who was kind, loving , and compassionate. Someone who put people before profit and encouraged humanity to do the same by living that reality. It’s not my legacy I’m focused on, but rather, the impact I make on helping to raise the consciousness of humanity by holding and spreading the light through love. For me, I don’t think my impact on this plane ends once I Ieave the earth physically. For example, since my partner passed, I have drawn portraits of deceased pets, and all the owners have noted that “it feels like my baby is looking back at me in the drawing.” Could it be that the soul connection I have with my partner is allowing me to tap into the other side and bring it forward in this plane/dimension?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lookingupwellness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monica_doreen_art/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicadoreen
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonicaDoreenArt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI_W-PRVarM
Image Credits
All photos taken by Monica Doreen Dick.
1st 3 photos are “Looking Up” example
“Looking In” – “Transition” (Owl) Acrylic and metallic powder painting;
“Silence” (purple and black with orange acrylic/ metallic powder)
“Looking Out”- Zion National Park Oil Painting “Kayenta”
2 Portrait examples.
One artist portrait with oil painting “Wings; There is No Window” from the series “Looking Out”
