These colors make me so happy.
It’s 2019 and pretty cold here in Northern California today so I’m on my Pinterest page looking for inspirations for a new flower bed come spring. I’m playing with color in a way I haven’t before. Here’s a link to my inspiration board on Pinterest if you want to see what I’m doing.
I’ve resolved to nurture my creativity this year, both as a resource for coping with stress but also in order to help cultivate resiliency in my brain. Something I discovered through recent writing and researching is that just about every study on resilient people identifies creativity as a key trait, behavior, or disposition. Here’s why: Creative processes enable us to see the root of a problem or see a situation in a different light. This allows us to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena and gain new perspectives. What if you could draw on additional resources within yourself to figure out new and innovative ways to deal with everyday issues? Focusing on your creativity might allow you to do that.
Another argument for indulging in creativity: It’s good for your brain because it stimulates alpha waves, signals in the brain that closely correlate with states of relaxation. Scientists have found that when people are relaxed, they’re much more likely to have big aha moments when impossible problems seem to solve themselves.
So I’m going ahead and nurturing myself. Indulging in creativity because it is our birthright. Human beings express themselves creatively; creative expression is a part of who we are. You won’t find a single culture in the world in which people don’t create expressions of beauty. In the same way that I hope you tend to your body and care for your emotional self, I urge you to nourish your creative spirit, and I assure you, it’ll make you more able to deal with the stressors of every day living.