Connecting To Your Inner Creativity
/By Debra Boblooch, LCPC, LCPAT, Licensed Art Therapist
Engaging in creative activities provides an outlet for emotional expression and regulation, enabling individuals to process and manage their overwhelming emotions effectively. In addition, cognitive flexibility is fostered through creativity, encouraging flexible thinking, problem solving, and the exploration of alternative perspectives. These cognitive processes enhance individual’s resilience, adaptability, and coping skills, thus promoting positive mental health outcomes. Here are some ways to connect with your inner creativity:
5-Minute Mandala journal: Set aside a few minutes each day, using paper and a blank circle template, whatever art materials you have on hand. Using lines, shapes, and colors put whatever “feels right” into the circle.
Create a new playlist: Music can reduce stress and anxiety and enhance concentration by lowering cortisol levels.
Connect with nature: Go for a walk in nature and allow your senses to activate. Find “treasures” (rocks, sticks, leaves, acorns, etc.) and challenge yourself to create using natural objects. Add plant life to your office space. Hang paintings of nature. The more connected you feel with nature the higher your creativity will be.
Set daily creative challenges: Challenge yourself with daily small, creative tasks. This could be sketching something in your surroundings, writing a 100-word story, maintaining a success journal by writing down your achievements.
Collage: Using a magazine and/or found objects create a collage or vision board.
Doodle: Give yourself creative permission to play! Pull out a piece of paper, art materials and get lost in the process. You can also try and use your non-dominant hand!
Blind contour drawing: This technique involves looking intently at the at the subject rather than the paper while drawing, which encourages you to trust your hand and eye to work in unison. Pick a subject to draw, this could be anything from a still life set up, a object, or even your hand. Position your drawing material and subject so you can see the subject comfortably without glancing at your paper. The key is to not look at your drawing at all until you are finished.
Whether you consider yourself a creative individual or not, art/creativity is a universal language that connects us and we all have the ability to unlock our creative selves. Cooking or baking, dance, design or building, gardening, art and music, poetry, and even exercise can be considered a creative outlet. Individuals are often labeled early in life as creative or not, and these labels heavily influence those areas that we strive for. The labels do not define us and so we must understand a few important things about creativity and the ability to connect with our inner creativity:
Any choice you make in your life is creative, so embrace it.
Every person is creative.
Creativity is a habit, not a skill. It is a process. If you use it more, it grows and becomes better. It is a conscious choice to evaluate each decision and put creative twists on them, a choice that eventually becomes a habit.
So what action step can you take to build on your creativity or tap into your inner creative side?
Looking for creative outlets?
Check out this one-day workshop hosted by Cintra Harbold, LCPC, and Debra Boblooch, LCPC, LCPAT, Licensed Art Therapist
