Creativity and Healing

Creativity and Healing are known to be beneficial. Scientific research in the area of brain health is providing evidence that many physical and emotional issues are the result of the brain not functioning properly. Signals (neuropathways) between cells can be damaged by countless physical and emotional traumas.

When this sort of damage occurs, neurons cannot communicate properly with the appropriate cells or neuropathways. The neurons ‘misfire’ as they try to connect with each other, producing poor signals or no signal at all. This defective wiring in the brain can cause something called a ‘noisy brain’ where there is a lot of activity, but the activity is unregulated and chaotic. As a result, the body experiences various levels of disharmony in its ability to function in a healthy way.

This leads to the brain (and thus the body) functioning in a state of dysfunction or stress because the sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight system) is stuck on. If you are interested in learning more about this, I highly recommend The Brain’s Way of Healing by Norman Doidge. Healing occurs when we can calm down the sympathetic nervous system and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the calming and relaxing system).

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How can we do this? Well, meditation, walking in nature, listening to relaxing music are a few possibilities, but creativity is a fun and powerful way to relax. There are so many great resources out there to support using creativity to calm the body and mind. Art Therapy is provided at the professional level, but there is so much you can do on your own. The Artist’s Way and The Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron are two well-known books that are a great guide. The Creativity Cure, by Carrie and Alton Barron, and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert are great books too.

I have a great tutorial on How to do Intuitive Healing Painting here, and this is a wonderful process to help unpack and process negative experiences or emotions.

While resources like this can help inspire and support you as you explore the power of creativity and healing on a physical, spiritual, and emotional level, you can also simply sit down and create! Create anything! Just take time and allow yourself to be playful and create without judgment or expectations. Whether you doodle, color, crochet, paint, write, cook, carve or weave…all creative projects will evoke a calm and peaceful state of mind (so long as you keep the judgment out). Spending time in this place is where healing occurs.

Creativity activates the parasympathetic nervous system and relaxes the sympathetic nervous system. This is the key! So, allow yourself to be playful, to do something you love. This could even be as simple as doing a puzzle. You don’t have to paint a big canvas or make something substantial, you don’t even have to make good art! Just take time out to do something creative. Your mind and body will be very grateful!

I have all sorts of creative projects here on my blog, and while crochet is the main form of creative work I share, there are many other creative ideas. I also have some guided meditations which can support the healing process as well. Take a look around my blog and see what inspires you! Creativity and Healing are a powerful pair!

I also have a book I wrote called Healing Through Creative Expression on Amazon. Check it out!