How Sparking Your Creativity Keeps You Healthy
Most of us respect creativity. A number of us also think that creative men and women are somehow different -- obsessive, talented, and tortured somehow -- a stereotype that is often perpetuated by our culture. Letting go of those ideas could allow people to get the health benefits of creative activities, while also dispensing using a myth.
There is a persistent trope on display, in books and outside, that it is elusive, something which just a handful people can tap into, and that creativity is the result of a fated convergence between talent and mental sickness or obsession. It dates back centuries, but for modern examples, consider Carrie Mathison was taking a break from her bipolar disorder medicine to solve a puzzle in Homeland's "Super Powers" episode or Javier Bardem's recent look as absorbed as a crazed poet "Him" in Aronofsky's movie Mother!
Beyond these notions of art and anguish, there's a link between creativity and mental health. Earlier this season a study found that GPs prescribing arts actions to some of their patients could lead to a significant fall in hospital admissions. The effect that art therapy can have on helping returning soldiers has also been documented in recent years, providing additional proof that imagination can be therapeutic regardless of your mental condition.
In other words, we could all gain from using our imagination -- if it is drawing, singing or dancing, poetry or baking it is not that significant. However, you decide to express yourself it doesn't have to be perfect to have a purpose.
In The Taste of Blue Light, a book about a 17-year-old artist called Lux whose life unravels after she suffers a blackout, It explored a setting where art is all, but through the eyes of a person whose mental health makes a living up to this dogma all but hopeless.
In writing the novel while unwell myself, I had been forced to face the notion that to be a valid person you ought to be busy in your artistic field every day and that art should be prioritized above all else. It's a notion that's impractical and amorous at best, and exclusionary at worst. I also have professional creativity's capability to heal us first hand -- composing and (unskilful) painting help me to manage a migraine, synaesthesia, stress and obsessive thoughts.
A quick survey of friends reveals two camps: the "Yes, I am creative" individuals; and the "I do not have a creative bone in my body" group. There do not need to be two separate tribes. Many folks don't find it that way -- although all of us are creative daily -- we shoot photos, find fresh approaches to solving issues, make jokes, tinker with all recipes.
We need to remind ourselves that imagination can be as straightforward as doing things differently, so that we give ourselves permission to open up the doorway to other pursuits and usher in all the benefits that come with this -- out of time to reflect or overcoming perfectionism to communicating or simply having fun. This manner, composing emails or building sandcastles can be a gateway to a pottery class or keep a diary or write a poem.
Imagination should be for everyone. If we let go of the notion that artists are somehow "other" and that we could only reach that part of ourselves when under stress, we can all be more creative.
