6 Ways to Incorporate Creativity into Your Daily Life: Life Kit: NPR

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Whether it’s woodworking, sewing, or sculpting tiny cupcakes from bright purple clay, making art is good for your mind and body.

The act of creation can reduce stress and anxiety and improve your mood, says Girija Kaimal, professor at Drexel University and leading researcher in art therapy. And being creative can give us a stronger sense of agency – the ability to solve problems by imagining possible solutions.

Making art can also be a great feeling, she says. Engaging in any act of visual expression activates the reward pathway in your brain, “which is perceived as a pleasurable experience.”

Artists say they often feel these positive vibes when they work. Trinity Escobar, a Filipino American graphic novelist and poet based in Oakland, California, says drawing “feels like a super power.” And Liana Finckdesigner for The New Yorker, says sharing his art with an audience is “the most cathartic thing in the world.”

But you don’t have to be a full-time artist to benefit from these health benefits, Kaimal says. All you have to do is simply create art. And the more you do it, the better. Here are six things you need to know to jump-start your creative art habit.

1. You don’t have to be an artist with a capital “A”

We tend to think that only people who are very skilled in art can call themselves artists, but in reality, anyone can be an artist, explains Kaimal.

“Everyone is capable of expressing their creativity,” she says. In fact, his own research has shown that there is no difference in health between those who identify as experienced artists and those who are not. So this means that no matter your skill level, you will be able to feel all the good things that come with creating art.

Christianne Strang, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, promises that if you stick with it, you’ll enjoy it. In her 30-year career as an art therapist, she has discovered that “99% of the time, people discover that if they let go of the idea that they are not good enough, if they let go of judgment , creating art seems really enjoyable to them. GOOD.”

2. Determine your mode of creative expression

Start with what you love – maybe something you’ve done before, maybe something you loved as a kid. But keep an open mind.

“Anything that engages your creative mind – the ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagine new ways to communicate – is good for you,” says Kaimal.

You can do this through a myriad of activities: finger painting, cooking, baking, collage, oil painting, weaving, knitting, crochet, screenwriting, scrapbooking — the sky is the limit. And don’t feel like you have to stick to just one thing, art therapists say. Mix it up – do whatever you want.

3. Focus on achievement and let go of expectations

Once you have your art supplies, here’s the fun part. Act like a fool! Let yourself get lost in the process and just play. Because it’s the physical act of creating art, Kaimal says, that induces these feelings of stress relief and positive energy — not what you do or how you do it.

Kaimal says you don’t even have to finish a project or love what you do to experience these health benefits.

In fact, Strang says, that can be a positive thing. In her spare time, she enjoys doodling, watercoloring, and glass fusing. “Sometimes when I don’t like what I’m doing, it frees me to play and explore new ideas, because I’ve let go of my expectations,” she says.

4. Think of making art like any healthy habit, like eating right or exercising

Just as you take time to work, exercise, and spend time with family and friends, you should make time for your artistic pursuits, Strang says. “Creativity in itself is important for staying healthy – staying connected to yourself and staying connected to the world,” she says.

While there are no hard and fast rules for how much time you should spend on art, Strang has a suggestion: “as much as you can get away with.”

Try to designate a special time in your week to dedicate to your practice, says Kaimal. She likes to set aside time on the weekends to work on her own art projects: multimedia pieces inspired by nature. She calls it her “TGIS”. “Thank God it’s Saturday,” she said. “It’s my few hours to develop something I’m working on and really take that time for myself.”

You don’t even need a few hours. Escobar, the Oakland-based artist, teaches community art classes to people of color and members of the LGBT community. She says doing just 10 minutes of art every day can do wonders.

Whatever you do, don’t wait for creative inspiration to strike. “It’s a myth that you will create because you are in this altered state of mind and you feel free and relaxed,” she says.

In addition to setting aside time, set up a physical space in your home for art, says Kaimal. She suggests setting up a corner table for your sketchbook and art supplies. If space is an issue, put everything in an easily accessible basket or plastic container.

Your creative corner is “kind of like a reminder,” she says. “It reinforces your commitment to investing in yourself and your well-being.”

5. Ride those waves of emotion

The more you can make art a regular habit, the more likely you are to get that great reward: that wonderful thing that happens when you’re in the zone. Kaimal says scientists have a word for it. This is called “flow”.

“It’s that feeling of losing yourself, of losing all awareness. You’re so in the moment and fully present that you forget all sense of time and space,” she says.

Escobar says she feels this flow when she fills in lines with color, ink – which in the world of cartooning means drawing pencil marks with ink – and when she draws aesthetic backgrounds, such as jungle or garden scenes.

“It’s meditative,” she says, as if things “are going well, smoothly, as if the process is nourishing me.”

6. Get in the mood

Some days you won’t feel like making art. And that’s okay, says Finck. As the author of several graphic novels, most recently Excuse Me: Cartoons, Complaints, and Personal Notesshe is used to juggling several projects.

“I feel a lot of writer’s block,” she says. “I feel like I have stage fright when I sit down with a blank page.”

To push herself to draw, Finck tells herself to think “that I’m just doodling,” she says. “So it flows freely.”

If the blockage persists, it registers with itself. What stops him from drawing? Is she anxious? Depressed? Worried?

“If you’re too eager to draw, address that anxiety. Go for a walk. Get off the couch. Go for a run. See someone,” says Finck.

You can also try a breathing exercise, says Escobar. “Inhale for four seconds and hold for one second. Repeat this for about three minutes.”

She does this with students in her art classes to help them reset and refocus after a long day at work – and it works, she says, wonderfully.