The Untrapped Butterfly - Underdown, Kay

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Résumé :
This short book, The Untrapped Butterfly, contains a small collection of the author's reflective and poetic writing on life, together with photos with meaning. It demonstrates, by example, a way in which aspects of our lives and learning can be represented in a creative book without revealing the full story. When the book is shared with others, it may lead to different life stories being told by the author each time and may inspire the listener or reader's own life story writing projects. It conveys some of the author's own personal learning and insight by the sharing of the selected reflective writing, no doubt influenced by her coaching and wellbeing background. The Untrapped Butterfly is also the name of a poem within the book that emerged whilst journaling. The book itself arose from a clearing and decluttering process when it was decided that an earlier poem from several years ago, The Trapped Butterfly, was no longer needed. It was torn up and it felt like the two poems, along with the decluttering, had contributed to a healing process - demonstrating the powerful benefits of journaling and creativity in dealing with life's challenges. The book also represents a way of performing art for the non-artist. Creating the book was both a therapeutic process and a joyful artistic one. It is hoped that others may be inspired to use creativity themselves in relation to their own unique life stories, whether just for themselves as part of personal development, or as a way to share their memories and life learning with family and friends....

Biographie:
Kay Underdown is a self-published author who lived for a while on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, England after she graduated as a mature student with a BSc Hons in Social Sciences at the University of Kent. Her dissertation was on sense of belonging in relation to people, place and memories using qualitative research methods in the form of creative workshops. Her route to University was via a Creative Writing course in the community and she believes in the value of creativity for wellbeing. She gained accreditation as a Life Coach with The Coaching Academy and later the Sue Stone Foundation.In 2015, while a student, Kay was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of acute myeloid leukaemia, spending many weeks of that year in hospital. During her treatment she started her Wordpress blog www.wavesandpebbles.blog and eventually published her first book Life Happens Live Happy with the aim of inspiring others to use creative and positive approaches to help in living alongside a cancer diagnosis. After graduating in 2017, Kay went on a road trip with her youngest daughter around the UK and this is when she briefly met the Scottish fine artist Stewart Morrison. Their first book Drawn by the Sea arose out of a long distance friendship based on their creative interests and their connection with the sea. Kay was carrying out qualitative research at Stone Bay in Broadstairs for a post-graduate visual sociology module and a series of texts and telephone conversations during this time inspired the book. The lockdowns of 2020 impacted Kay's creative pursuits in relation to the development of her own approach of life story writing. Drawn by the Sea 2020 was a memorable collaboration with Stewart and his friends that continued during that time and resulted in its publication the same year. Kay has now moved northwards and lives near the beautiful Peak District National Park. Whilst missing the sea, she is able to enjoy stunning countryside views and retains a sense of belonging in relation to the sea from afar through her continued connections. She continues to work in the field of supporting people in relation to their mental health and wellbeing, and is resuming her own work facilitating workshops and small groups to inspire and motivate using creative approaches to help overcome personal challenges, based on her own approach of life story writing (see Writing Back to Happiness for more information on this approach).