Using Art to Heal

INTRO

Art is everything-from the way we dress to the things we paint to the way we love. Art is how we learn to express ourselves and often the things we express in our art are things we haven’t yet processed. Art is our mind’s way of getting out all the awful, wonderful, gooey stuff stuck inside. One of the gentlest ways you can identify what needs attention inside you is by giving your hand the freedom to speak for your mind. 

The things I will cover in the blog are:

• Why I got into art as therapy

• Drawing/Painting

• Journaling

• Poetry

• How to incorporate art into a daily routine

Disclaimer: this blog will contain affiliate links, but I will never include a link to something I don’t believe in. Let’s get creative!

WHY I GOT INTO ART AS THERAPY

As a child, I faced a lot of adversity getting bullied in school. The challenges continued as I found myself in many high-pressure situations as a division 1 basketball player at Michigan State University. I always caught myself doodling in class or when I had free time at home. I felt it was a sort of meditation for me, but didn’t really realize its benefits until much later. The more I was challenged, the more my brain craved an outlet. I studied Neuroscience in my undergrad while playing basketball, because I was interested in my mind as well as psychology in other people. I didn’t have much spare time to do things in my own time with this schedule, so I decided to study art for my extracurriculars. 

With the combination of Psychology and Studio Art, I found myself learning ways to cope with the problems I was going through with creativity. The benefits I am reaping from studying these two things and learning how to use them together are immeasurable. And that is exactly why I am sharing what I have learned with you!

DRAWING/PAINTING

A lot of people don’t use drawing or painting as an outlet because they don’t see themselves as artistic. However, the point of using art to heal is not to create “good” art. The point is to get some of this crazy energy out of our minds and down onto a canvas or piece of paper. With that being said, we don’t need to buy expensive paints and pencils and canvases to create art. It’s actually better to use the inexpensive stuff, because the more expensive the materials, the more likely we will be hesitant to use them. You can buy a cheap pack of acrylic paints to get started like this off of Amazon.

It’s also very difficult to know what to create. Often, I find myself ready to draw or paint and as I sit down, my mind goes blank, and I have no idea what to create! This is a very common problem and can keep people from using art as a form of therapy. My suggestion for this is to have a list of things to draw on hand. It can be useful to have a 30-day doodle challenge or maybe 30 things to draw written on pieces of paper that you can draw from a hat! Topics like these are easy to find on Pinterest or using a quick Google search. 

When you get started with this, remember that the only goal is to see what scary, colorful, or amazing things you throw down onto a canvas. There is no pressure–just the act of getting crazy messy can be so healing for our inner child. 

JOURNALING

Journaling can sound hard to get into. It may not really feel like your thing to write about your life every day. But this is not a diary! Journaling is nothing but giving yourself a blank page to write and doodle anything you want. It is absolute freedom to jot down thoughts, fears, or dreams so that you can sort out what is going on in that busy mind of yours. Using a journal can be so beneficial to the mind by getting out those persistent feelings and freeing up space to think.

Journaling can also be a great way to access those subconscious thoughts that are holding you back from healing. You may not even realize what’s banging around up there until you free it!

Another wonderful thing about journaling is that you can totally customize it to how you like to do it. Not one journal is the same! If you look at my journal, there are lots of quotes and sketches of what I was feeling that day. But someone else may have lots of cutouts from magazines of what they want their life to look like. And then another person may use theirs strictly to write down experiences that they have and need to process. The point is, a journal doesn’t have to look any specific way and that’s the beauty of them! 

If you want a simple way to start journaling, enter your email below and I will send you a free PDF of 20 journal prompts to get started!

20 FREE JOURNAL PROMPTS

POETRY

I know what you’re thinking, but poetry is not “One fish, two fish...red fish, blue fish”.  So many people are turned off to the idea of poetry, whether that be reading or writing, just because they think they don’t understand it or think they can’t write well enough to write it. But poetry is just a string of emotional intensity that can evoke response in our own heart or in those that read it. When I started writing poetry, I thought I had to rhyme every line and make my feelings make sense. After a while I realized that feelings sometimes don’t make sense and that’s why some of the best poetry is so difficult to understand. That tells me that whoever wrote it did a wonderful job putting a complex feeling down onto the paper. 

Poetry is my favorite way to learn and express myself. Next time you feel a feeling too strong to explain out loud, just string together some words with a pen and paper and see what comes out. 

P.S. I’m very excited to announce that my poetry book “My Little Book of Tortures” is coming soon! Keep your eye out for the drop date and make sure to join the Wildflower Family to stay updated on new content, release dates, merchandise and more!

JOIN THE WILDFLOWER FAMILY

HOW TO INCORPORATE ART INTO A DAILY ROUTINE

Just like anything else we want to make time for, creativity seems to get put on the backburner in a busy life. It’s not something that seems essential for everyday life, but that could not be more wrong! Being creative has actually been proven to relieve stress and anxiety and even ease feelings of anger, shame, and depression in people who have suffered from trauma. With that being said, I would say practicing creativity should be prioritized in your daily routine as taking prescriptions or therapy is prioritized. 

So how can we make time for it? We start small. I’m not suggesting that we paint 5 hours a day or write a poetry book this week. But what I would suggest is to take at least 5-10 minutes of your morning routine and dedicate it to some type of creative process. Maybe while having your morning coffee, you take your journal and doodle some morning feelings. Or write a poem about things you feel grateful for that day. Once you make a habit of this, your mind is going to crave more and you will make more time for it. A doodle might turn into a big canvas painting, or a couple poems may inspire you to write a chapbook. 

CONCLUSION

The good thing about art is that you always have it. You don’t have to finish a project right away. You can start writing or sketching and then start a different project that feels better to you at that moment. Maybe in a week or a few weeks or even in a few months you will be in the headspace to pick that first project back up again. Because of this, it is very useful to use your art as a flowchart of your mental space. Your art will clearly reflect where your energy is and you can easily keep track of how you’re feeling by evaluating your art! This can be very useful in your healing process and that is why it is important to try to get creative at least once a day, no matter how small the project. 

I hope you decide to get creative today!