A beautiful young woman once shared with me how she used her talent for art to channel negative emotions.

It was a normal session. We talked for about twenty minutes, and then she began searching through her purse. She eventually found what she was looking for and pulled out three of most beautiful paper cranes I had ever seen.

I was mesmerized by their beautiful colors and then before I knew it, she began to unfold the cranes until they were their original square shape. She held them up for me to see.

Each square revealed a work of art expressing dark emotion. The pictures were dramatic and even a little scary. While in the shape of a crane, the horrifying images were completely undetectable.

I asked her if she was hiding her emotion metaphorically behind a pretty picture, or if she was releasing her demons into flight. I…