Finding Heart in Art

It’s been said that art has the ability to heal wounds.  By exposing our inner selves to true beauty we can treat emotional scars and promote wellness.  But can art actually help alleviate feelings of burnout?  My husband, Dr. Shawn Jones, thinks it can in his new book, Finding Heart in Art.  Using basic principles that apply to a wide variety of fields, he shows how engaging with art and beauty can help you maintain or regain your emotional health.  The book is available at Amazon.

“This powerful exposition daringly reveals the struggle of an erudite healer proficient in helping others, but ill-equipped to save himself.  In his own journey of self-discovery, not unlike the conversion of Ignatius de Loyola, Shawn experienced a transformative epiphany that restored to him a life nearly lost.  As an emergency physician reflecting upon my own experience, Shawn’s story strikes painfully close to home.  In this time of growing clinician disillusionment and burnout, this timely work is valuable both to healers seeking their own journeys of redemption and their family, friends, and patients who love and rely upon them.”

–  Steven J. Stack, MD

“Finding Heart in Art is more than a book, it is a channel of grace that my save your life.  For those experiencing burnout or a numbness to life, rediscover what it means to connect with yourself, to be human made in the image of God, and to embrace beauty, creativity, and imagination all over again.  Dr. Shawn Jones has provided a map for your journey filled with personal stores, captivating art, solid research, and exercises for reflection.  Come and be transformed.”

–  Zach Fay,
   C.E.O. and creator of Lightgliders, St. Louis, MO

“Dr. Shawn Jones describes an intimate journey about his loss of self and subsequent redemption.  With the support of his family, Shawn explores concepts of self-awareness, faith, spirituality and the healing power of art, all while painting a narrative that is both familiar and contemporary.  Poignant in nature, his story serves as both a cautionary tale for the initiate on their passage to becoming a medical practitioner and a healing guide for those who measure their self-worth and individual identity based upon their career.”

–  Scott D. Duncan, MD, MHA, FAAP
   Professor and Assoc. Chief, Division of Neonatal Medicine, Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Louisville