How creativity impacts our health and well-being
You might be surprised to learn that creativity is an important factor in health and well-being. After all, isn’t that just a talent some people have and others don’t? What does that have to do with wellness? But when you zoom out and approach well-being from an overall, comprehensive mindset, it is actually easy to see how practicing creativity can make a difference in your everyday life.
As I’ve mentioned before, holistic health is not the absence of illness but the manifestation of vitality. Imagine the best version of yourself; you are well-balanced, healthy, happy, maintaining positive relationships, and able to take on anything that comes your way. Creativity, it turns out, is a key way to help you remain adaptable and handle all types of obstacles.
When we hear the word “creativity,” most of us think of someone mastering a fine art: painting, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument. And while these are a few of the ways that people express creativity, there are many other forms it can take on, both physically and mentally. The Oxford Language Dictionary defines creativity as “the use of imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.” But using imagination and forming original ideas is something we can practice in all areas of our lives, essentially making our life an artistic work.
The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) breaks down the concept of creativity quite simply as “the ability to create.” Humans do more than create paintings and songs; we create relationships, business proposals, joyful moments and memories, healthy mindsets, and more. The cognitive neuroscientist George Lakoff has founded much of his work on the fact that our brains create frameworks for approaching the world, consequently affecting how we view our reality and live accordingly. When we practice creativity, we release ourselves from being stuck in one framework and can approach situations from different perspectives. Using our imaginations to find new perspectives allows us to create solutions to problems.
IIN also describes creativity as “life energy that needs to be used and released.” In her book The Gifts of Imperfection, author and researcher Brené Brown dives into the ways that this unreleased energy can damage our sense of self and ability to navigate the world in a healthy manner. She writes that “our unexpressed ideas, opinions, and contributions don’t just go away. They are likely to fester and eat away at our worthiness.” This festering can lead to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief. Creativity is an antidote to mental conditions that lead to a variety of illnesses.
And no, creativity is not a quality that shows up in certain people and not others. Brown also notes that “there’s no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t. Unused creativity doesn’t just disappear. It lives within us until it’s expressed, neglected to death, or suffocated by resentment and fear.” Everyone has the ability to create within them; it is a matter of using it which leads to healthy expression and balanced well-being, or else repressing it which leads to feelings of being stuck in damaging mindsets.
Repressing creativity doesn’t only affect our minds, however; there are several studies showing the effect of creativity on our physical bodies. One 2015 art therapy study by Dr. Cathy Malchiodi confirmed that being creative increases positive emotions, reduces stress, decreases anxiety, lessens depressive symptoms, and improves the immune system. Clearly, our souls, minds, and bodies are intricately connected, and creativity is a medicine that can heal all three.
Creativity happens when we form unique and innovative connections. Author William Plomer once said that creativity is “the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” When we think from a creative place, we form new connections in our brains and in the world. Creative expression happens when we allow ourselves to manifest these connections in our lives.
The good part about creativity is that the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. You can use the IIN Circle of Life to gauge how you feel creativity is playing a part in your life. From there, you can set 2-3 small goals for implementing a creative practice in your life. Maybe you color in a coloring book every evening. Maybe you ask yourself different questions than you normally would when troubleshooting at work. Maybe you simply use your nondominant hand to brush your teeth and eat meals. Pick something that is easy to start with, and notice how it makes you feel, in your body and in your mind.
In our productivity-obsessed world, it can be difficult to introduce creativity to our lives. It might feel silly or frivolous or like a waste of time. But prioritizing playful time for creativity is how we stimulate creative thinking, leading to a world of innovation and connectedness—and leading to thriving, wellness, and vitality in each of our own lives.
References
Brown, Brené. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. Hazelden Publishing, 2010.
Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press, 1980.
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