Making Art Out of Pain - Idayu Mumtaz Iskandar

A beautiful life is not always one that goes on smoothly. A beautiful life is when the soul finds a way to make peace with the rough edges of existence. A beautiful life is interpreting the whole spectrum of human experiences, through the lens of faith.

Fuelled by revealed divine verses and pressing personal reminiscences, this book coupled with vivid metaphorical watercolour artworks offers ten crafts to carry on when in the throes; to challenge what we perceive events in life to represent, how we respond to the unexpected, unfamiliar, and unpleasant, and what we choose to become in the face of everything.

 

CONTENT:

 

CHAPTER ONE : BRAVING PAIN

- Advocating for our own pain

- Enduring the battle

- Empowering the healing

- Growing beyond ourselves

- Remembering the promise

- Knowing that we are never alone

 

CHAPTER TWO : SKETCHING FAITH

- As everything comes and goes

- Let the Most High uplift us

- With hardship

- Comes ease

- Call upon the Always-Near

- The journey of making art out of pain

 

CHAPTER THREE : ASSEMBLING SELF-CARE

- Unlearning feeling unloved

- Improving with compassion

- Moving past the past

- On loving ourselves

- Clarity of our own voice

 

CHAPTER FOUR : SCULPTING FORGIVENESS

- Contemplating mortality

- The light of forgiveness

- The hurt others give does not define you

- Releasing resentment

- Repentance as a way of life

 

CHAPTER FIVE : CAPTURING TRUST

- The most precious currency 

- Testimony of trust

 

CHAPTER SIX : PAINTING GRATITUDE

- Take a moment

- Mercy, blessings, and indebtedness

- Spectacles of gratitude

 

CHAPTER SEVEN : DESIGNING CONTENTMENT

- First love first

- Knowledge fuels love

- To love is to communicate

- True richness

 

CHAPTER EIGHT : APPRAISING SIMPLICITY

- No shortcuts

- The timeliness cure

- Simplicity in fruition

 

CHAPTER NINE : WEAVING ACCEPTANCE

- You will find the strength

- You have got this

- You make the place

- You are born to build

 

CHAPTER TEN : EXHIBITING MEDITATION

- Writing as resistance