Turning Pain Into Possibilities Into Purpose

September 27th is the BlogCatalog Bloggers Against Abuse challenge. I posted a story over at ThemBonez about child abuse. I also published a post yesterday in my political blog, part of which was about anger, the kind of anger we carry around inside of ourselves as a reaction to unresolved abuse issues. So, for this post, I would like to blog about someone who works tirelessly and joyfully to help people who have been abused, specifically, children and at-risk youth.

I've known Robert Miley since about 1992, when he was selling his fine art through my girlfriend Sharon Stetter's gallery at The Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, Arizona. I've spent some time with Robert and his partner Fran, and love them both. Robert is a gregarious, energetic and extremely talented painter and sculptor, who has always had an intense desire to help people with and through his art. Fran is Robert's loyal partner, has gotten me restaurant jobs in time of need, and is my favorite Reiki master.

Robert believes that the opposite of hate is empathy, and empathy can solve the world's problems, one person at a time, through art:

"I believe hate, and its actions, all start with a thought, and the Arts can shift that thought, to a new open awareness."

So he has developed a workshop curriculum for abused children and at-risk youth, to discover themselves and gain empathy for others, through art. The goal: Turn Pain Into Possibilities Into Purpose.

Robert once told me that some of the abused children he had worked with never spoke in the workshop, but painted beautiful and amazing scenes when the time came for the group art project. This alone gave me hope for those kids. Here's another worthwhile story:

For one of the workshop activities, participants were asked to reflect on who was their Hero and why? One of the students had a tough time trying to identify who they could consider their Hero and was reduced to tears, and left the room. One of the "Release the Fear" supervisors used the opportunity to discuss what a hero means with the student, who revealed that his family had absentee parents, as well as adult family members involved in gangs and drug dealing. The discussion turned into a positive one, and ultimately the student recognized that he could be his own Hero.

And a recommendation from one of the schools where a workshop was held:

“Robert Miley['s] ... hands-on activities are engaging and inspiring. I think what I admire most is that he doesn’t ignore the difficult kids. Instead, he seeks to fold them in and understand them on a different level. Not only was he a dynamic speaker and teacher, but he served as a positive peaceful male role model for our students. He demonstrated intelligence, skill, creativity and compassion."

--Lesley L. McKinley, StarShine Academy

The images above are examples of some of the collaborative art pieces that students create at the end of the workshop.

Robert asked me to add this quote from one of the girls at a detention center where he performed his workshop: One student said that she realized that she was not as bad as what she has been told all of her life (therefore being able to let go of that baggage and move forward in life).She was 15 years of age

I found a document on Robert's Release The Fear website called "Foundation Supported Workshops, Final Report 2007," which was interesting if you are a school administrator, since it's full of statistics from the workshops, recommendation letters from school administrators and great comments from the kids that attended. But the thing that blew my mind the most was the poem that one of the kids wrote. I don't want to copy it here in the post because it is his art and I don't want it bouncing around the net without giving him credit. So, I'll make you dig for it. Click here (pdf) and then go to page 10.

Oh...and by the by...that's me in the background of page 4, with the baseball cap on, writing Harmony Is Harmless.

ROBERT J. MILEY STUDIO

Main Website
Release The Fear Website
Aquaequus Website

Mission: "To impact the world through an empathetic understanding of self and surroundings,
to bridge healing and awakening humanity to a more peaceful place through my art."