The sunlight was peeking through the cream linen curtains of the room. The glass was reflecting the warm halo. A well-lit room of a man bringing hope for his dim life circumstances. There’s a faded scent of paint in the room. A brightly coloured room that reminded him that situations are not as black-and-white, good or bad, evil or right, as they seem. In fact, being creative allowed him to understand humans can be vibrantly complex creatures. We may not always make the best decisions, we may experience uncomfortable emotions or states in our body, especially when we are healing. Sometimes we may have experiences that make us feel great and terrible at the same time, sometimes we may hate our reality and also be grateful for certain things of our lives. He now looks at humans as a whole spectrum, a kaleidoscope of colours that show their emotions and experiences. And you know what that tells him? To create more colours and dive more into art instead of a grey, dark, bleak world. Because aren’t we all artworks too?
You may often see psychologists loving the concept of mandalas, zentangles, doodling, painting, writing and journaling, crafting, sounds and music. Surely therapy and healing is not all rainbows and sunshine? Absolutely right. Healing can be very difficult and triggering sometimes. It may make us frustrated with not just ourselves but even the people around us who may fail to understand us or rise up to the same level of consciousness and awareness as ours. It’s definitely not a bed of roses. Then why do we love these so much?
The fast-paced world often focuses on concepts such as productivity, efficiency, instant gratification, instant results. Often in that race, we deny ourselves of our very humanness. Before the world was not that fast-paced or industrial, storytelling, making music, dancing together was the norm for many cultures. Generations upon generations heard folk tales of their ancestors because no one considered it wrong to take some time off, pause and exchange stories around a bonfire on a cold night. No one considered it unproductive for families to sing songs or dance together. The night wasn’t made for a night shift job, but for unwinding and laughing together. I am not saying that the older times have to be glorified, for each generation has improved and progressed immensely. We have modern medicine, better treatments, better living standards and reduced mortality rates. However, our vey humanness that loved art and expressing ourselves is now considered to be unproductive, or inefficient, therefore a waste of time. Though many modern jobs such as developing advertising campaigns, coding, graphic design, copywriting etc. require creativity.
Engaging in creative outlets such as writing, art, storytelling, theatre, doing puzzles, dance, music allows us to slow down in a world that always keeps us in a rush. Healing is not all rainbows and sunshine, but healing is not an instant fix either. Healing takes time. It is not linear which means that it may have ups and downs. And so does creativity. Sometimes we are very quick with our creative ideas and sometimes we have to slow down and develop our creative ideas. Sometimes the right brush stroke requires us to be slow and patient. Sometimes the best story needs plenty of silence around the writer to develop it. Sometimes crafts such as crocheting or embroidery may take mistakes and starting all over.
The more creative ways we try, the more we give ourselves a gentle reminder to get in our body rather than being stuck in the thinking mind. Do you know about left and right brain? Let me explain it simply. It’s a theory that says that the left part of our brain often performs functions that are related to logic, sequencing, linear thinking, mathematics, facts. While the right side of our brain is more abstract. It involves imagination, thinking from a broader perspective, intuition, art and rhythm, nonverbal cues, feelings, visualization. The world around us often emphasizes on rationality and logic being the end all be all. Which is very important for our survival. If we can’t rationally and logically think things through, we won’t be able to get through most of our day. But it doesn’t mean that we deny our intuition, emotions and looking at things from a broader perspective. Both parts are required for humans to live and thrive. Both parts work together. Neuroscientists say that if one part of our brain works on mathematical equations, the other part of our brain would be drawing out helpful comparisons and generalizations for the equations, working in tandem. 1
Can you guess that when we are being creative, which side of our brain is the most active? The right side. It allows us to be more mindful, more conscious and present in what we are doing. It allows us to disconnect and pause from our busy life, and engage in the present moment. This is where the logical, reasoning, thinking mind takes a back seat. This means that when you are truly immersed in writing or painting, or music, or movement of the body, or crafting, you are not overthinking about everything going on in your life.
You are not a project, that every time you approach healing and growth, you turn yourself into a critic. Analyzing and pointing out all the flaws of yourself like an English professor grading an essay. Healing does not have to only rely on creating schedules and to-do lists of how to fix yourself so that no one else can see your flaws. Healing is a gentle, slow process that allows you to embrace and integrate the parts of you that you may be embarrassed of. There may be an adult inside of you who is rationally dealing with the world, but also a screaming, crying child inside of you who wants to throw a tantrum. There may be a harsh parent inside of you telling you how you are not good enough, or a kind parent inside of you telling you that you are loved unconditionally. Integrating all parts of us is something that requires us to look at ourselves through a bigger frame. A wider lens. And being creative allows us to first look at our creative work through that wide lens. It allows us to view ourselves as a human rather than a machine or project. Have you noticed how artists and writers and bakers, decorators just get in that “zone” where they are so absorbed into their work? That’s calling achieving a state of flow, which helps us feel accomplished and happier.
Spending time on creative goals during the day is associated with higher levels of positive moods such as joy, happiness, and optimism. An art therapist, Kim Nyugen describes this process to be “the practice o releasing and letting go of what could potentially become toxic to our mind, heart, soul and body. Whether it’s through written words, physical or artistic movements such as interpretive dance along with our favorite melodies, splattered watercolor paints, pour acrylic paints, intuitive drawings and/or repeat patterns with Zentangle…etc.; all of these techniques help us to access the powerful tool of our mind – the imagination to heal ourselves.”2
When we engage in singing or playing the drum or musical instruments with others, we develop more positive feelings towards the people around us. This is because our oxytocin levels rise.3 This creates community where we no longer feel ashamed to be ourselves, but feel safer showing our true authentic self to others. This is where toxic shame about ourselves and others starts reducing.
When we engage in writing, or journaling our thoughts, emotions and experiences. We create this space between ourselves and our thoughts as we pen those down physically on a piece of paper, or type those on a mobile or computer screen. It allows us to not be our thoughts, but to observe our thoughts mindfully and integrate them in our analysis or narrative of the situations that we are writing about. We usually spend time immediately reacting to a bad news, or a conflict, but when we take the time to journal our thoughts and emotions, we are more aware and conscious of what underlying needs, emotions, fears are. This helps us respond better to our situations and build healthier, more consciously aware relationships with people around us.
So, as the sun dips below the horizon and the sunset casts a warm glow in the room, let us remember the story of brushstrokes of healing. Let us embrace the canvas of our lives and fearlessly paint our experiences, one stroke or ink or stitch or dance move or rhythm or puzzle piece at a time. In every color we choose and every melody we compose, may we find ourselves inching closer to a place of relaxation and inner peace.
