What is Healing with Creativity, and Why do I Need it?
Healing through creativity helps you to explore your emotions, improve self-esteem, manage addictions, relieve stress, improve symptoms of anxiety and depression, and cope with a physical illness or disability.
"Creativity healed me. I don’t know that I could think of any word that I get more inspired by than the word healing." -SARK
Research shows that being creative can improve well-being by increasing positive emotions and decreasing negative emotions. It shows that creativity can reduce depression, stress and anxiety, and improve our ability to express difficult emotions such as grief and sadness.
Being creative gives us opportunities to try out new ideas, and new ways of thinking and problem-solving. Creative activities help us acknowledge and celebrate our own uniqueness and diversity. Creativity encourages self-expression, a way to create something from personal feelings and experiences.
Studies also show that creating stimulates the release of dopamine. This chemical is released when we do something pleasurable, and it basically makes us feel happier. Increased levels of this feel-good neurotransmitter can be very helpful especially if you are battling anxiety or depression.
"At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity." -Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
We often think about creativity as making something "Artistic", but in fact the root meaning of the word means 'to grow'. Creativity's by-products are some of the major achievements of civilization - from the invention of the wheel to our amazing technology we use today. Creativity is in everything we do, and all creativity is healing. But… if we create with intention the healing can be exponential.
Many people don't identify as creative and believe they won't be able to make “art”. The special surprise is that everyone is creative. No artistic talent is needed to participate in creative healing or to do creative activities on your own. Creativity is ‘technically’ inherited, but by everyone. It's more of a common human trait than a gift. In fact, a widely cited study by George Land found that children are born creative but lose their creativity as they transition through life and into adulthood.
Creating for the sake of creating, for the process, not the final outcome. Are you enjoying what you are doing? Do you lose yourself in the process? These are the things that are important.
Creativity forges a bond between mind and body, we exercise for body, we meditate for mind, and we are creative to forge the two, mind and body. As we are creative we move our hands while losing ourselves in the process. Creativity calms the nervous system. Creative activities are meditative, which helps soothe symptoms of stress, nervousness, and irritability. A calm mind is better able to process difficult emotions and experiences.
Being creative produces an output, which is basically an expression of you — even if you don't think it is! Over time and with a little practice, you can feel a lot more able to express yourself as you become more comfortable in yourself and the different techniques that you are drawn to.
"It is your ability as a creative person to envision positive change that will make a difference." -Patricia Johanson
Have an Amazingly Creative Day,
Larissa
