The Healing Power of Art

You were born onto this earth filled with potential for creativity. Design, invent, paint, draw, color, write, sculpt, sand, weave, bake, tend a garden, plow a field. A number of you embrace this potential for creativity, recognize its power, and name yourself an artist. Some of you were forced into this role, surrendered to it, through your longing to bring forth that which sings, or aches, within you. For you, it is a necessary compulsion.

For those who remain in the “I'm not an artist” category, listen closely. A human being's life force flows in the direction of creativity. It is your true nature whether you embrace it or not. Like the brook rolling gently into the river, then onward to the sea, your creativity flows in the direction of expansion. It matters not what you were told or even how you perceive your own creations. It matters that you create.

Express the Creativity Within You
As part of your humanity, it is also in your nature to want to feel good, to want to keep your body free from disease, dysfunction, and illness. The two desires, participating in creation and maintaining wellness, walk hand in hand. In physics, the first law of thermodynamics states that energy is neither created nor destroyed but is changed from one form to another. Expressing the creative force within you into outward manifestation means the energy within you is given an outlet.

What Happens if Your Suppress Your Creativity?
When your creativity is held inside, not given expression, repressed, it is similar to the brook having its waters blocked by a dam. The water has no place to go, is forced to create a new way of being, without the forward movement. The smallest brook is a force that when blocked changes into something new: a puddle, a pond, a lake. So it is within the body when creativity has no place to go. It creates a new way of being. It becomes something new. Your creativity is an energy, a force desirous of escape. When blocked it festers in the body and changes from one form to another: depression, anxiety, anger, rage, cysts, tumors, and growths in the body.

Creativity is Your Birthright
You were born onto this planet a creative being. Your creativity must flow from you toward expansion just as the brook eventually folds into the sea. You must bring forth that which is within you so it can unfold. It begins with your creativity longing to reveal its passions on paper, canvas, metal, earth, wood, or with color, scraps, plants, or food. The materials matter not, for creating can take form even through mental visualization, a powerful act of creation. All of these are like the brook rolling toward the expansive sea.

Heal Your Spirit With Your Creativity
Imagine your creative force moving outward manifesting into a song, a painting, a sandcastle. A force that flows freely. You are a creative being. Bring forth the artist so desirous of expression. You will heal your body, your mind, and your spirit as you act upon your potential.

More about the Author:
Christina Grant, Ph.D, is a holistic healer located on the Monterey Peninsula (view website). She co-hosts the radio program Health Connections: Body, Mind, and Spirit and is a columnist for the Peninsula Post.