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Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open - Elmer G. Letterman

SOONVolume 41 - November 2010IR Home

Seriously Optimistic Online NewsletterSeriously Optimistic Online Newsletter

In this volume...

• Bears

• Funky Fish

• Mirror

• Christmas SOON

To contribute to SOON email us at:

soon@innovativeresources.org

When one thinks of Nepal images of the Himalayas immediately spring to mind with their snow capped peaks and pristine beauty.

But like any society Nepal has its shadow sides.

One such shadow in Nepal is the active trade in sex trafficking.

Many women who are sold into prostitution in Nepal are illiterate and poor.

If they fall pregnant and have children often the children are also subject to abuse and trauma.

Lydia Tan is a Nepalese woman whose Shakti Samuha project is devoted to the support and training of survivors of sex trafficking.

Recently one of our authors, Carla van Laar, Bereaved Mothers Heart joined with Lydia to run a series of creative arts workshops for these women and the hard

working staff at Shakti Samuha.

Innovative Resources was very pleased to be able to equip Carla

and Lydia with a range of our conversation building materials that we know easily cross many cultural boundaries. Central in these resource packages of course were sets of The Bears our most international, multicultural card set.

Lydia wrote to us after Carla’s workshops:

‘The cards were incredibly effective as a cross-cultural tool, and I have a sense that they will be utilized a lot here.

The packs that were given out were to the three trafficked survivors shelters in Kathmandu, Shakti Kendra, the Working Girls Hostel, and Shakti Milan (For survivors of HIV/Aids) and also to shelters in Bara and Mokwanpur.Each of the counsellors

see about 20 or more clients a month’.

To find out more about Lydia’s programs and the Art2Healing Project check out the website: www.theart@healingproject.org

go trekking in NepalOur Bears

St. Luke’s

St. Luke’s

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Feelings from the deep....

A new Innovative Resources card set designed to help people of all ages explore ‘Oceans of Emotions’ looks set to make a seriously optimistic splash early next year.Funky Fish Feelings features 48 vibrant and unique cards, including 47 expressive fish, and one contemplative seahorse, all illustrated by talented New Zealand artist Kate Northover.

Production of Funky Fish Feelings is progressing well, with the cards and accompanying booklet due to roll off the press in autumn next year.

The fish (and seahorse!) in Funky Fish Feelings have a simple but important task—to provide people with an alternative way of communicating their feelings. For this reason, the

expressions on the faces of our aquatic friends have been carefully crafted to reflect human emotions. Collectively our fishy friends provide myriad emotions to investigate.

Finding the right words to accurately describe how we’re feeling can sometimes be tricky. This can be particularly true when we’re experiencing more than one emotion at the same time.

As Russell Deal, Creative Director at Innovative Resources, writes in the booklet which will accompany Funky Fish Feelings, ‘We make huge assumptions at times in our conversations that we

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing - Abraham Lincoln

Feelings from the deep....have a clear understanding of others and that they understand us when emotional descriptors are used’.

Visual metaphors, such as Kate’s wonderful array of fish characters, can be very useful in helping people to pinpoint and describe their feelings.

Kate also illustrated the Can-do Dinosaurs for Innovative Resources, a card set created to help children develop skills and build competencies by focusing on their strengths.

As with Kate’s Can-do Dinosaurs artwork, we expect the fun Funky Fish Feelings images to prove popular with children.

As you can see from the sneak-peek of the Funky Fish Feelings illustrations on this page, Kate’s bubbly and inspiring pictures are overflowing with colour and imagination, sure to engage children and adults of all ages.

Innovative Resources will drop a line with more Funky Fish Feelings news to SOON subscribers, including information about how you can order a copy of this wonderful resource, as publication date draws nearer.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

MIRRORTwo diverse cultures, countries and families are linked with warmth and charm in this two-in-one picture book.This innovative picture book comprises two stories designed to be read simultaneously – one from the left, the other from the right.

Page by page, we experience a day in the lives of two boys and their families. An Australian family, whose way of life strikes a familiar chord, and a family from a far away country with a way of life that differs more than one can imagine. As we read we discover the simple truth that despite these differences we are all the same. We are the mirror of each other.

The cleverly crafted dual-book format beautifully communicates the shared experiences and values of these communities, despite vast geographical and cultural differences.

The exquisite collages depicting scenes from the Valley of Roses

in Morocco and Sydney, Australia, convey powerful messages of family and community. The narrative is conveyed wordlessly, with a short introduction and concluding author’s note in both English and Arabic.

Well known author, Jeannie Baker, has written and illustrated a number of children’s picture books, including the award-winning Where the Forest Meets the Sea.

Her characteristic use of mixed media to create detailed and elaborate collages is stunning and unique. She lives in Australia and this is her first new pub since 2004.

RRP: $39.95Author: Jeannie BakerNumber of pages: 48

Publisher: Walker Books Australia Pty, Limited

Format: Hardcover Language: English/Arabic

Dimensions (cm): 25.7 x 27.9 x 1.7

ISBN: 9781406309140 ISBN-10: 1406309141

www.innovativeresources.org

NEWPICTURE

BOOK

The notion and practice of gifting is intrinsically and enchantingly linked with the magic of Christmas and is a tradition which, of course, dates back thousands of years. Today, the custom of presenting a friend or family member with a lovely and often carefully chosen gift as a way of communicating to them your feelings is often saved for special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries.

The ritual of gifting can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make it; it can also be as innovative as your imagination allows. Gifts from the heart come in all shapes and sizes and often, a simple but thoughtful gift can be more meaningful to a person than an extravagant gift.

Some of the most beautiful gifts involve an investment of only the giver’s time and imagination. Here at Innovative Resources we often hear stories in which the central theme is gifting. One such story involves a bride and groom who received a stunning collection of 1000 beautifully folded paper cranes on their wedding day. In many cultures, the gifting of 1000 paper cranes is well-known and significant, and is believed to help ensure that the wishes of those receiving the cranes are realised. On this occasion, the cranes were a gift from the bride’s mother who spent some six months carefully folding the delicate gold- and pastel-coloured birds. The rainbow of paper birds, each delicately woven onto a strand of thread, was suspended as a captivating mobile high above guests at the wedding reception, and became a focal point throughout celebrations.

If paper art inspires you, we have one copy only in stock of Bo Nile’s deliciously motivating book

Paperie, The Art of Writing and Wrapping with Paper (marked down from $75 to $29.95), which is no longer available for us to order. Our new card set by Jane Bennett titled Girltopia ($62.50), designed to help adolescent girls experience healthy self-esteem and positive relationships, also features intricate paper artwork images by artist Robyn Spicer and children may enjoy model building using Flying Pig Paper Animations ($8.90).

Other examples of powerful gifts from the heart include the writing of a heartfelt letter to someone special, a carefully composed card, a handwritten poem, a beautifully sung song or a handcrafted quilt. Gifts which encourage creativity are always appreciated. For the budding writer, there is no better gift than a beautiful journal comprising page after page of inspiring white space, or a bundle of gift cards in which to pen original works. If you like to combine art with journalling, The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn ($27.72) and Art Journals and Creative Healing ($30.80) by Sharon Soneff offer unique journalling ideas.

Children are naturally creative

and our Klutz range (from $10) will help them to hone their drawing skills.

Little Affirmations cards are often given as gifts from the heart, designed to inspire and uplift. Titles in this series include Up the Garden Path, A Box of Birds, Seeds of Truth, Guiding Light, Wise Words, Happiness, Friendship, Jewels of Wisdom and Every Dog has its Day ($14.95 each), to name just a selection. Anecdotally, we have heard of these delightful cards being gifted for use as bookmarks, positive affirmations for display on children’s notice boards and of single cards being included inside birthday or Christmas cards, as a little something extra.

Gina McLean’s Note to Self ($44.50) cards have proven popular as an inspirational gift which encourages self-care, while Edna Reinhardt’s book Creative Yoga for Teenagers ($34.95) is a wonderful resource for gifting to adolescents. Olivia Miller’s The Pre-Natal Yoga Deck and The Yoga Deck ($29.95 each) also encourage self-care of mind and body.

Picture books frequently contain

Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street - Elbert Hubbard

Christmas is coming....

Adopting:Parent’s Stories

Adopting a child can be a journey of great joy but the path is never without

challenges. NOW $15.00

Angels with Attitude Greeting

CardsOur Greeting Cards and sticker packs for Angels

with Attitude are still available

NOW $14.95

Concert for East Timor

Melbourne Concert Hall. Australian World Music Compilation CD. Artists celebrating Australia’s

cultural diversit NOW $10.00

Fish Cushions Assorted

100% hand woven fabric, 100% hand made, 100%

natural fibres. Swiss dyes used are non-toxic

and colourfast. NOW $55.00

DON'T FORGET OUR SPECIALS BUTTONYes, at the top right of our web page we have a little button marked Specials' with some value

packs, backlist stock and end of run items like:

If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.

Anonymous

positive messages and nowadays are read to inspire adults, as well as children. Some of our best-loved titles include Sometimes Love is Under Your Foot ($27.99) by one of our favourite authors, Colin Thompson. We Are All Born Free ($34.95), published by Amnesty International, illustrates and celebrates the articles laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and A Little Bit ($19.99) by Christine and Peter Maniaty is all about the way our lives are constructed from ‘a little bit of this’ and ‘a little bit of that’.

If you are keen to encourage co-operation within a group or family this Christmas, consider gifting a non-competitive board game. Unique strategy and adventure games such as

Earth Game ($52.10) in which players look after fictional nations, managing resources and solving the emergency problems, Deep Sea Diver ($36.70) which allows players to embark on a real-life adventure game about diving for treasure, SOS ($39.30) in which a cruise ship is sinking fast and it’s up to you and the other players to organise the rescue mission, and Mountaineering ($29.50) in which you’ll be part of the team trying for the summit are fun and help build connections between people.

If you’re looking for some more ideas for inspiring gifts from the heart this Christmas, visit www.innovativeresources.org

This unique 3-day interactive workshop is designed for all human service workers who are passionate about writing…and those who would like to be more so!

When so much professional writing - reports, submissions, case notes - is laborious and purely instrumental, it is easy to overlook the transformational power of the written word when enacted with creativity and flair.

Creative writing can help bring alive our mundane everyday writing but it is also being rediscovered as a powerful tool for engaging with clients in counselling and in groupwork, with colleagues in supervision and strategic planning, with communities in teaching and presentations, and with ourselves through our own critical reflection and self-care.

These three full days include a wide range of practical, readily-useable ideas, skills and prompts to bring writing alive in some very novel ways:

We will also go beyond these skills to think about ways to connect our writing to our sense of being. So we will explore themes such as longing, identity, dancing with depression, the power of place, savoring the moment, and noticing transitions and turning points in our lives.

It is hoped that participants will take away some touches of inspiration and rediscovered creativity for enriching their personal and professional lives, in addition to the practical, fun activities.

Most of us in our professional practice constantly send our writing out into the universe, often without being conscious of its actual or potential impact.

Equally, we can forget the potential of creative writing to refresh our spirits and be part of our repertoire of self-care strategies.

The beautiful and picturesque setting of the Garden Room at Buda in Castlemaine is, in itself, a great catalyst for learning, reflection and inspiration.

www.innovativeresources.org

The Literary Therapist:Creative writing for personal growth, healing and social change

• Journalling

• Moon writing

• Collaborative stories

• Sentence starters

• Memoirs

• Listing

• Dialogue

• Visual listing

• Fiction

• 6-word stories

• Graphic novels

• Nano stories

• Collage

• Micro-stories

• Poster design• Short stories• Letter writing• Poetry• Client feedback• Walking into A Word• Unsent letters• Dear You letters

When: 28, 29 and 30th March, 2011Where: Buda Historic House and Garden Castlemaine, Central Victoria

DON'T FORGET OUR TRAINING IN 2011

The Literary Therapist is in the calendar for next year and we will

finalise the rest of the calendar shortly.

CLICK THRU TO OUR WEBSITE