April 2021

Dear Kaibigan,

I’m drawn to the French word “atelier” because of its meaning - the workshop of an artist, and where a professional artist trains apprentices in the fine arts. You and your wellness are fine arts. Your galleries exhibit your traits of beauty and the wisdom you have collected through years of existence. Continue learning and playing with how you showcase yourself. Take up space in this world to be heard and seen. Connect with other women like you whose inner landscape is being enhanced through their intentional acts of decolonizing themselves and addressing unbalanced power dynamics as part of their process in nourishing their wellness.

Filipinx have scattered from the Philippines for decades and found places worldwide in hopes of opportunity and growth. For the majority, joining the diaspora was a means to a better life for their families and themselves. For others it may be to reunite with those who they love. The choice to leave a home or a homeland is made for varying reasons. Ask any immigrant, refugee, or traffic victim. Some are coerced out of their homelands by violence and terror. These individuals were not given a choice; they are compelled to figure out ways to survive in their situation. A common thread among those who left, either by choice or force, is that they had to adapt to the changes to survive.

The choice to stay in a new place is sewn together from the threads of those initial reasons to leave. You have your own set of threads that are sewn, knotted, unraveled, and resewn that lead to your decisions. To your life choices. To the place you are now. To the life you possess. Is it a life filled with your values? Is it a life that integrates the customs you have inherited from your family and culture? Is it a life that includes relationships that add instead of take away? Is it a life that allows you to change without guilt or shame? Is it a life that brings you ligaya? Happiness and joy? The Giving Well as an atelier creates community and discoveries through workshops to inspire you to be playful in showcasing yourself and to take up space in this world. We use our community to support the weaving into your life tapestry experiences that empower and bolster your values.

Carole King penned the song Tapestry with the opening verse, 

 “My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view
A wond'rous woven magic
In bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see
Impossible to hold”

Your life tapestry is one to be felt and seen even if it is impossible to actually wrap your hands around. Our pasalubong for you is a mindfulness (using your senses) activity on your life tapestry:

• How does it feel to live your current lifestyle? What are the textures of your reasons, your threads, for living the life you now have? How would you describe the way these textures feel if you were to use your sense of touch?

• What are the colors of your emotions you see that have emerged from journeying through your years of existing, witnessing, experiencing, and doing? What colors do you associate with feeling sad, happy, angry, anxious, and love?

• What are the sounds of the places you have visited? What are the sounds of the current environment in which you choose to be? 

•  What are the scents and aromas that elicit memories of a life being well-lived?

•  What are the flavors you have tasted that remind you of the experiences that feel joyful, inspiring, and calming?

•  How would you describe your life tapestry?

You will come to find that our workshops and other experiential activities interweave Filipino values and customs with Western ideas. These workshops are meant to guide you in enhancing your wellness and in adding to the tapestry of your life. One that is uniquely yours.

Happy weaving,

Angel, on behalf of The Giving Well