Activities you enjoy that are not harmful to others are good for you. Creative activities are of particular benefit because they help you to nurture a healthy brain and a more flexible mind.
Real strength lies in flexibility not rigidity. Thinking flexibly enables you to deal with life’s challenges in more innovative, healthy ways.
My research into the therapeutic benefits of knitting has shown an important link between creativity and wellbeing, creative thought and psychological flexibility and the ability to self-manage life’s inevitable challenges or the symptoms of medical conditions.
If you are thinking creatively you will have more options open to you. Your world will be more varied and interesting. Being able to think creatively is important for success in the workplace too.
It can be surprisingly easy to lose your creative spark. If you’re feeling a bit stressed or overworked and short of time, creative activities and enjoyable pastimes can be the first to suffer. You may find your mind becomes stuck on problems or negative, stressful thoughts that serve only to close down your world and your perceived available options.
Modern life is full of ‘ready made’ options that can easily rob us of an everyday need to be creative. The workplace has ‘systems’ set up to improve speed and accuracy. Our homes have ‘ready made’ meals and TVs that are so easy to slump in front of after a busy day. It’s even cheaper (and easier) to buy our own clothes rather than get the sewing machine out.
Opting for the quick fix route isn’t always good for our health or wellbeing. We all need time to ‘stop’. An opportunity to jump off the ever-faster roller coaster of life to enable us not only to heal but also to discover hidden opportunities down unexplored avenues.
It can be really helpful to schedule in time every day to ‘be creative’ even if it’s only in a small way to keep those creative thoughts flowing. Allow yourself to become absorbed in an activity to give your mind a break from negative issues enabling it to think expansively and vibrantly.
If you find your creative ability has disappeared then take a graded approach back – you may find it difficult being faced with a blank canvas. Fear of failure, reluctance to waste time or to simply allow yourself to enjoy the process may prevent you from getting started. Instead choose an activity that you know you’ll be successful at with a little effort. An activity that has a ‘safe’ framework within which your creative ability can grow and develop to a point where you are happy to experiment and explore.
Certain hobbies and crafts have a natural framework. For example, knitting and crochet have the framework of a simple pattern but it also enables you to progress within the framework to a point where you can begin to alter and remove it to explore your own design skills.
Most activities can be started in a graded way so start small and grow from there.
If time is a problem, find a portable activity and do it during your lunch break on your commute to work or when you are waiting for the kettle to boil. There is always time to squeeze in five minutes here and there and gradually build up as your enthusiasm and motivation returns. You’ll soon find being creative reignites your spark to literally and metaphorically make your world a more colourful place.
Everything you do in life affects your health and wellbeing. Keep your world open, learn to explore new skills to nurture a healthy brain. It will benefit your work, family and social life, even your problem solving skills.
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