For you to learn methods of self-care.
Zines (pronounced “zeens”) are self-published booklets that anyone can make. You can make them different sizes, and put anything you’d like inside them. Below is a prompt to make your own mental health zine, instructions on how to create it, and four examples of mental health zines created by The Strange is Beautiful’s staff.
There are many different ways to meditate that have been proven to calm your anxiety, depression or other mind obstacles, and to ground you. Some people like guided ones, where a person is speaking for the entire time and tells them what to do or visualize. Others enjoy practicing in silence, and simply letting the mind journey and wander to wherever it needs to explore. “Processes: A Meditation,” a zine by Terra Olvr (she/they) that I bought at their San Francisco Zine Fest table in 2018, is an inbetween option.
For each set of pages, there’s one philosophical sentence on the right-hand page that seems to both acknowledge daily mistakes and struggles, and to encourage taking healthier choices of self-love. And on the left-hand page, there’s a drawing representing what it would look like in a meditative physical form or “how the verses live in the body,” said Olvr.
November 26, 2018 — Besides alternative medicine such as yoga and meditation, or using energy healers, tarot guides, or curanderas, sometimes we need the help of Western medication or talk therapy as well. It can be hard for those who identify as LGBTQ+ or POC (myself included) to find a therapist that they connect with and trust, because if the therapist doesn’t have experiences being LGBTQ+
My affirmation flag started in an art therapy group I participated in last fall. We were encouraged to create our own affirmations or choose from a list. I found the process of choosing resonant affirmations and creating something nurturing for myself incredibly therapeutic. On top of that, at the end of the process I was able to take the project home with me, allowing me to revisit the feelings of self-nurturing whenever I needed to. I kept my favorite affirmations on a list, and I continue to add and modify them. My flag is in my bedroom, and I also keep a digital version on my phone so I can access it wherever I go.
Liliana Solorzano is a 28-year-old tarot guide and magic practitioner living in East Los Angeles. Tarot and magic have been an integral part of Liliana’s life since she was young, and she views it as a way to connect with one’s innermost thoughts and feelings, and to care for her spiritual and mental well-being. Learn more about how Liliana uses tarot and magic for self-care, spiritual healing, and to care for her mind obstacles in the interview below. Also, download her free PDF guide on tarot for beginners, and experience a 3-card reading Liliana did for The Strange is Beautiful readers.