Fall into Creativity
Tracy Lowe (Counsellor) MA, CCC, FAMI
It’s fall! The shorter, grey days can mean low energy and mood for some. We can make little shifts to care for our bodies this time of year – vitamin D, getting outdoors, warming foods etc. but we often forget to tend our inner selves. What better way than to tap into our natural creativity? One theory suggests that depression is caused in part by poor neurogenesis, a slowed rate of brain cell growth. Exercise and sleep are vital to neurogenesis but another key factor for new growth is novelty. Being exposed to new experiences, learning new things keeps the heart and mind vital. The essence of this is creativity: being creative keeps us healthy.
Creativity is more than making art, poetry, and music. Those interesting by-products are what is left after the creative process but, in my books, they aren’t the goal. The most important part is the experience and process of being creative: mixing and matching, exploring, experimenting, and testing new insights and perspectives. 90% is learning to be in the moment and pay attention – particularly to one’s inner voice. It’s about learning to see the world with new eyes, which is why good therapy feels creative. Cultivate your creative energy to bring vitality into your life as we head into colder months.
Ideas to kick-start your creativity:
- Walk an unfamiliar beach
- Keep a dream journal
- Send a postcard
- Climb a tree
- Join a meet-up group
- Start (re-start and re-start) a mindfulness practice
- Sleep on the other end of the bed
- Reconnect with an old friend
- Have a session of Guided Imagery & Music
- Finger-paint – with condiments
- Learn a song
- Take a moment to really smell and feel the fall air
- Try a new recipe
- Take a completely different route to work
- Pick up a project you’ve forgotten about for years
Find out more about Tracy and her counselling practice here.
