Sand Tray Therapy Class Assignment7-Day Sandtray Journal (Days 6-7)--Student #2

by Sand Tray Therapy Student

Day 6: June 18, 2013

“It’s time to party” is the theme of today’s sandtray for my sand tray therapy class assignment because I am celebrating completing a lot of school work. I decided I wanted to use yellow as my main color in this tray because yellow is my favorite color. It reminds me of sunshine and happiness. The first miniature I placed in the tray was a smiley-faced ball that I centered in the back of the tray. Next I added a miniature that reminded me of a swimming pool to represent having fun at the party. I placed a yellow duck and a nice yellow dinosaur that can swim in the pool.
Next, I created a hot spot in the back left corner consisting of 4 yellow balls, a yellow victory flag, and Mickey Mouse with yellow shoes to represent having fun golfing since the school work is finished. In the back right corner, I created a hot spot consisting of a princess, her mother, a stove, and a table with cupcakes on it. The mother and daughter worked well together to create this delicious treat for the party. I would be happy if this were my daughter and me baking together.
In the right front corner, I placed a large mostly-yellow praying mantis. I used a yellow golf club to stand up the praying mantis so that it is watching over everyone in the sandtray and has a view of the party. This represents God watching over me and giving me strength and perseverance to finish the school work. I placed a book in front of the praying mantis which represents the Bible as a tool to help me to learn. The book also represents the knowledge I am gaining as I work toward my Masters degree. Originally, I had the book and the swords near the back of the try but realized they needed to be moved to the front near God. Finally, I placed all of yellow swords around the Bible to protect it and show that in the Bible, it is called a “two-edged sword.” Messages from the Bible can build us up and also convict us to make positive changes in our lives. There happened to be 12 swords which is the number of apostles that Jesus had.
Last, I decided I wanted the smiley-faced ball to get more attention so I turned over a cup and placed the ball on top of it so that the ball would be more of a focal point for the sandtray. I feel happy after creating my world today.

Day 7: June 19, 2013

Today, I created a whirlpool with the sand and placed an “anxious-looking” miniature in the middle of the whirlpool. I am the anxious-looking miniature and am sitting in a raft that is larger than the hole at the bottom of the whirlpool so I will be safe from drowning. Next, I created a walkway out of the whirlpool to remind myself that I have help to get through the stress of getting enough hours for internship and keeping up with the work and learning all that I can at my internship site and in two other classes. I added helpers alongside the walkway. Two of them are directing the way from the beginning of the walkway and two of them are at the end of the walkway. In the middle are firefighters that will drown out any ideas of uncertainty. At the top of the walkway, I placed 2 miniatures: a woman who represents one of the case managers at my internship site who is helping to supervise me and an Indian who represents my husband who is very supportive of my working towards the Masters degree. In the left back corner are 2 additional helping people who are holding up their hands and through their megaphones are cheering me on saying, “You are doing well. Keep persevering.”