Project Dandelion
A Recovery Based Communal Book Project of Creative Art and Writing
By Folks in Recovery
These beautiful "puffballs" are made up of the many seeds of the dandelion, ready and waiting to be dispersed throughout its environment, giving life to as many as 2,000 new purposeful and vibrant dandelions. These fuzzy seeds are often wished upon by people and then blown out into the world in hopes that their wish finds life, just like the dandy seeds. There is an interesting parallel between this and recovery. By the time we finally admit that we are powerless over our addiction, many of our positive qualities and behaviors have "curled up" and taken a back seat to unhealthy qualities and behaviors. Also, we often stop "being purposeful and vibrant," we stop doing things that we enjoy doing, as we lack the mental and physical capacity to do them because our addiction has taken over. In recovery, it is absolutely crucial to be resilient after we let our good qualities perish and to plant the seeds of a healthy lifestyle and healthy behaviors so that we can give rise to a new and improved way of living that doesn't involve the darkness of addiction. Let us hold tight the perishing dandelions of addiction and plant the seeds of a happy, fulfilling, sober life!
How Your Work Will Help Others
The experience, strength and hope that you share surrounding the book's themes (healing, growth, inspiration, enlightenment, and empowerment in recovery) will provide an opportunity for the book's readers/viewers to enhance their understanding, awareness and personal connection to any and all of those elements that you incorporate into your work. If said opportunity is seized, you are, quite literally, enlightening and helping people!
There is a very good chance that what you share is something that another person, whether only 1 other person or 1000, has not yet heard, seen, or had the opportunity to personally engage with in some form. One of the first important things to understand when pursuing a healthy recovery is that you are not alone. Once someone understands that they are not alone, it helps them to become more open minded and eager about exploring issues that are otherwise difficult and uncomfortable to engage. What you share WILL make a difference.
As for the visual work, a picture speaks 1000 words.
When it comes to your own, original visual art, you can be certain that no one else has seen it before, making it a purely unique potential source of inspiration for another. Even if it is a theme that has been covered a million times, original creative work will always be, in one way or another, unique. Inspiration is critical in recovery, as the journey is full of one uncomfortable obstacle after another. It can be emotionally draining, and even downright dreadful. We need emotional outlets of support and inspiration to pick us up during those rough times.
Project Dandelion aspires for the book to be an outlet that people can pick up whether the waters are rough, or to simply add more goodness to their day.
Why Only Active Recovery?
There are 2 main reasons participation is restricted to those in active recovery only. First, we want to encourage individuals to get clean and free their minds from the darkness of addiction in order to begin the healing process. Secondly, we want the creative works in the book to come from minds that are influenced by optimistic, high-spirited, empowering, healing energy rather than by minds that are influenced by the bleak, gloomy oppression of active addiction.
The Financial Incentive Program
In an effort to encourage participation, create as much of a community and team atmosphere as possible, and excite people to exert their best efforts, Project Dandelion is implementing a sales profit percentage based incentive program. This system is what allows people to participate for free while reaping the rewards from the project's success.
60% of the book sale profits, for the first 10 years of publication, will be evenly split between the entries chosen for publication.
20% of the book sale profits, for the first 10 years of publication, will be evenly split between 5 highly qualified, hired professionals to evaluate submitted works.
20% of the book sale profits, for the first 10 years of publication, will go back into Project Dandelion to compensate employees and cover all the costs involved with the creation, development, management, growth, and promotion of the book.
After 10 years of publication, 100% of the book sale profits, for the remainder of the book's life, will go to Project Dandelion to cover all the costs involved with the creation, development, management, growth, and promotion of future editions of the book, and any other Project Dandelion services and endeavors that may be created along the way.
Contracts will be no longer than 10 years in order to limit any potential legal complications that could threaten the livelihood of Project Dandelion, whether reputably or financially, in turn threatening the livelihood of everybody's relationship with Project Dandelion. People have asked, so we will provide one example; death of the artist. When compared to a one time fee, 10 years within this sales profit percentage based incentive program is more than enough time for both the creators and evaluators to take advantage of the book's communal success and be greatly compensated for their work and efforts.
Further details will be outlined in the 'Artist Commission Contract' that folks will sign after their work has been evaluated and chosen by the Project Dandelion team for publication in the book.
Why is it Called Project Dandelion?
Dandelions are one of the most resilient plants out there, they can flourish even in the harshest of environments. Many people consider them a weed because they are a nuisance, but they are actually an amazingly beneficial herb with health, holistic, and medicinal values! Project Dandelion represents the final stage of a dandelion's life when all the purposeful and vibrant flower petals curl up and are replaced by a white and fuzzy sphere as the plant perishes.
All About Project Dandelion
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Sections:
~ What is Project Dandelion? ~
~ What Do We Mean by Creative Therapy? ~
~ How Your Work Will Help Others ~
~ The Financial Incentive Program ~
~ Why is it Called Project Dandelion? ~
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What is Project Dandelion?
In one sentence, Project Dandelion is a recovery based, communal, creative art and writing book project with broad therapeutic aspirations and a financial incentive. It is being created by people who are in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, for people who are in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. There are extremely beneficial recovery values to be taken advantage of by both the creators and the readers of this project. This page outlines many of them, but the theme of the book includes the most important of them; Healing, growth, inspiration, enlightenment, and empowerment. If you are in recovery, whether you have 24 hours, 24 weeks, or 24 years of sobriety, then you may participate. There is no financial cost to become a member, qualify to get published, or make a percentage of the book's sales profits.
Many of us struggling with addiction are intellectual, intelligent, insightful and creative. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming shadow cast by addiction, some folks have lost touch with those sides of themself, some folks don't realize they have those sides at all, and many aren't aware of the benefits of exercising those traits to express themselves. This is where creative therapy comes into play, as the benefits are plentiful! (see more on that below)
Addiction is a dreadful mental and physical prison, and there is only one way to overcome; that is recovery. Folks in recovery go through a strenuous reflection and rebuilding process that demands rigorous honesty and a scrupulous morality check. We enter a life long process of becoming the best version of ourselves that we can be, rendering us a uniquely strong breed of people with a great deal of wisdom. Use this opportunity to celebrate that process, share your wisdom and experience, and empower your journey!
A portion of the public has a habit of disregarding those who struggle with drugs and alcohol, and so many people "lose their voice" behind the stigma and oppression involved with active addiction. This is an opportunity to express yourself in a powerful, fulfilling and healthy way. Find your voice again by using visual and literary creativity to share your experience, strength and hope with not only the recovery community, but the whole world. People will take notice, especially those in recovery going through a similar situation who will provide support. Having your voice heard, especially after having it taken away, breeds feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and empowerment; all critical for a healthy recovery.
There is a shortage of creative outlets within treatment centers and Project Dandelion aims to fix that. We hope this grows into a movement within the recovery community and helps to raise awareness about the need and benefits of creative therapy for those struggling. We aspire for it to become a known treatment center "coffee table book" that generates many editions and opportunities, furthering awareness and providing inspiration and hope on a regular basis to recovery newcomers and addiction treatment centers.
Submit your original poems, paintings, stories, drawings, sketches, photography, comics, cartoons, computer graphics, journal entries, crafts, sculptures and any other form of creative art or writing! Create a combination piece! For example; draw/paint/sketch/color a picture to go with your poem or story.
Be creative!
What Do We Mean by Creative Therapy?
When a person creatively expresses themself in a manner that transcends only thought, it forces their deepest, most innate human workings to come together and forge a connection between their mind, body, and spirit. It is a uniquely therapeutic and resonating experience that is truly one of a kind. It is no wonder why creative expression is woven into the fabric of our society, particularly through the creation of art, craft, and literature.
The benefits of creative expression are plentiful, starting with the fact that you don't have to be "good at it." There is no good or bad when it comes to healing and growth; only good! So, what are the therapeutic benefits?
~ Relaxation; mental, emotional, physical break ~
~ Reduce stress and anxiety ~
~ Explore and process uncomfortable emotions in a healthy way ~
~ Stimulate self-reflection ~
~ Foster and enhance self-esteem ~
~ Foster and enhance self-awareness ~
~ Practice and enhance mindfulness ~
~ Develop and enhance insights of all types ~
~ Process current social conflicts ~
~ Process past and present tribulations~
~ Cultivate emotional resilience ~
~ Relieve personally unique PTSD symptoms ~
~ Reduce/resolve unique psychological conflicts ~
~ Improve interpersonal skills ~
~ Reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness ~
~ Sense of accomplishment ~
~ Sense of social connection, acknowledgement, and gratification ~
~ Enhance Spirituality ~
..and more!