Pursuit 365 Day 311: Ellen Bradley Cheung

I am on the right path. There have been bumps along the way, filled with trauma, heartache, and alcohol abuse; but I would not be the woman I am today without those experiences. Rather than considering myself as a victim, I have instead adopted the attitude that this was a part of my journey, and know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

I practised as an RN for 10 or so years when I stepped away from nursing to raise my two amazing daughters. I always thought I would go back to nursing, but as the years went by, my RN licence expired and I found myself at home full time. I recognized that I needed to do something else.

I feel inspired by so many women. I am inspired by the full-time working mother and the stay-at-home mother. I am as inspired by what a woman brings to the table in business as at a Parent Advisory Committee meeting. I feel our social fabric is held together by a community of women. When a woman supports another woman, I am lifted up.

I started to paint during my girls’ nap times. I have always been artistic and took this opportunity to dive in. In 2011, I started a painting business, and partnered with local cafes to let me have painting parties in their space. It started slow, but eventually these sessions would be sold out every two weeks. I also started to show and sell my art in cafes and then at Roam Gallery.

The painting party business I started was for myself but it ended up being much more. Mostly women attended, connected, shared their stories and formed friendships. I witnessed beautiful connections and healing through these connections. Two women who attended my painting parties discovered their abundance of talent and have far surpassed my expertise.

I no longer run painting parties but I do plan on putting painting tutorials on my YouTube channel: Healing Moments with Ellen. Here, I offer meditations with short and doable relaxation techniques that I have found to be very useful. The painting tutorials will employ a gentle approach geared towards using painting as a relaxation or meditation tool.

I also love the creative process of writing and performing. At 50 I performed my first stand-up comedy routine with Addictive Comedy. I continue to perform with Addictive Comedy. I love performing and recently we have expanded our creativity to include filmed sketches. I also help assist with www.Hilarapy.com, a combination of comedy and therapy.

At 52, I fulfilled a long-term dream and completed my yoga teacher’s training and later completed my Yoga Nidra(meditation) facilitator training. My yogi partner and I offer sound bath and yoga sessions.

I am also now in training for experiential counselling, and will graduate June 2022. I am excited to start my counselling practice. I love connecting with and helping others. I truly believe everyone knows what they need and I would be honoured to hold space and gently support people as they discover the beautiful humans that they are.