Creative arts and wellbeing.
It’s Sunday afternoon. I’m walking along the beach with my girlfriend, nursing a slight hangover, trying to decide what to do for the rest of the day. We walk past a budget, nick-knack shop and I am hit with an idea. Painting.
Thus began my next couple of months as an artist. I got started and soon realised just how much I enjoyed painting. Far beyond an afternoon hobby, it turns out that finding a creative outlet can have huge benefits on your personal wellbeing, and there is an increasing amount of scientific evidence which proves that art enhances brain function.
And, as my skill started to grow, I found myself falling into a state of flow and enjoying the process. Flow is a state that happens when you are engaged in a task with enough difficulty and you lose yourself.
Some aspects related to the advent of flow experiences are: clarity of goals, direct feedback, control and balance between the capabilities required by the job and those in possession of the person.
It has also been found that different people tend to fall into flow in different ways. A good way to start is finding out your ‘Flow Profile’ (safe to say, at this stage I realised mine is creativity).
In addition to the new sense of flow that was injected in my life, I also found that I was distracted from some habits that might not have benefited wellbeing, like binge watching Mad Men on Netflix.
So, now its your turn… Head to the cheap shop, grab some paints or even coloured pencils and just start. Start with something simple, put on some music, get into the zone and have fun with it.
To help motivate you get started, I want to share something that I will always cherish. The photo bellow, which was taken moments after I gave my favourite painting to my best friends family. You cant see it, but the looks on their faces will stay with me forever.
