What is Creative Living and Healing?

Modern medicine has separated us from taking an active role in our healing. As psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk puts it, we have become patients, instead of participants (1). 

When I was 12, I was diagnosed with clinical depression. One of the hardest things for me was feeling like I had no control over it. Back then, the science and doctors told us: it is an imbalance of the brain chemistry and the solution is antidepressants. I was grateful for such a simple solution, but I felt like I’d been given a life sentence.

Since then, through my own experience, research and healing I’ve found that:

1. Depression, anxiety and trauma affect us biologically, psychologically and socially (2).  It rewires our brain. It affects our minds and our bodies. It changes how we relate to the world around us. Therefore, our strategy must have relevant solutions for these aspects of our lives. 

2. We have the agency to affect change in our minds, emotions, and healing, but it’s something we must develop. It takes training our minds to work with us and not against us. It takes tuning into our bodies and listening to what they are telling us. It takes awareness of our emotions and triggers. It takes practice and patience. 

Creative living and healing is a strategy for applying our creative instinct to healing from trauma, depression, and anxiety. 

Creativity is innate. 

It’s not just for artists like a lot of us might believe. Creativity lives in all of us. It is our ability to problem solve. It’s the ability to see possibilities, to have an open mind, and to think fluidly. It is not a special gift, but a common shared characteristic. 

Brené Brown’s research shows that 85% of the people have experienced shame around learning and around half of those experiences become “creativity scars” (3). 

I’ve seen and heard these scars. Too many times when I meet someone new and tell them what I do, they respond that they’re not creative at all. “I can’t even draw a stick figure,” many of them say. It hurts my heart to hear someone so far from their creative power. I feel the pain behind that statement. Shame is not benign. When we disconnect from creativity, we reject a fundamental piece of ourselves and our agency. 

For me, there has always been a strong connection between creativity and confidence. Knowing that I have this skill has given me belief in myself that I am capable of change and growth. Creativity has been my primary source of healing and I want to help others rekindle that power.

Creativity is an antidote to trauma, depression, and anxiety. 

Trauma robs us of our imagination. It traps our minds in the past and makes it difficult to envision a way out. It takes away our agency. It victimizes us into believing our trauma is who we are and we become stuck in the past (1). 

Creativity is a way out. When we approach problems with creative thinking, we say yes to finding solutions. We continue looking for different approaches. We create new paths. 

 I approached my healing like I would any other creative project - with a thirst for new information, ways of thinking, and strategies. I researched, kept an open mind and got curious. I studied myself and how my present was triggering my past in mind and body. I honed awareness of my emotions. I learned new perspectives on vulnerability, mind-body connection and growth mindset. I explored alternative medicine such as acupuncture and energy healing. I developed new habits to regulate emotions through aromatherapy, meditation, and intention setting. 

Keeping an open mind has brought me far in healing. Just recently, after 7 years of chronic back and hip pain, I discovered an expressive meditation practice called Shaking and Dancing that has almost completely subdued my pain. 

The creative process reconnects us with our intuition.

Being creative requires us to turn inward and listen. Trauma, depression and anxiety disconnect us from our inner guidance. We learn not to trust our minds, emotions and intuition. The creative process helps restore that trust. Every time we engage with creativity, we must trust the process. Designer Paul Sahre puts it really well, “If you’re in the middle of the creative process and you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re doing it right.” The creative process teaches us to trust and in order to heal we must learn to trust. 

I believe that our creative instinct is one and the same as our intuition. By listening to my creative instinct, I have built learned experience to trust my intuition. The more often we think in a certain way or repeat an action, our brains create deeper pathways and neural connections. Every time I work on my creative practice, every time I listen to my inner guidance and create something, I am training my brain to trust my intuition. 

The creative process gives us the opportunity to befriend fear.

Trauma, depression and anxiety have us stuck in fear. The creative process is a safe and healthy space to develop a relationship with fear. In every step of the creative process, we meet fear and self doubt. Every time we move forward despite that fear, we experience and learn that we are stronger than our fears. 

I love the way Elizabeth Gilbert describes her relationship to fear in Big Magic. She says that fear is along for the ride, but she’s at the wheel. Fear isn’t going anywhere. It’s an emotion we will have throughout our lives. It cannot be avoided. The creative process has been a vehicle for me to find a better understanding of my fear. Every time I push past fear and self doubt, I build resilience. Every time I conquer a creative fear, I learn more about myself.

Healing comes from self understanding. 

As we better understand ourselves, we get closer to healing. Healing does not mean living free of mental health issues, but learning to live within the flow of energy and emotions that life constantly brings. Healing isn’t about needing someone else to be better or apologize or make up for what they’ve done. These things can help us to heal. But at its core, healing is about you. It’s about evolving the way you think and perceive your emotions, your life, and the world around you. 

The more I understand myself, the more whole I become. There are still many ups and downs (in fact A LOT lately!), but I’ve learned to ride the waves. I’ve tuned into my emotions so that I can give myself the care I always needed. I’ve found tools and cultivated practices like writing, yoga, and breath work to ground me. 

Healing is found in living and connecting with the present.  

Trauma, depression and anxiety keep us stuck reliving the past or worrying about the future. 

It’s difficult to feel alive when we cannot fully be here in the present. A huge part of healing is finding habits, routines, and tools to help ground us in the present. Healing can be as simple as finding joy and satisfaction in our day-to-day lives. 

There’s nothing more powerful than learning to take care of yourself. On my road to healing, I’ve had to unlearn habits of repression and numbing. I needed to learn how to listen to my needs and emotions. The best way to do that was to start small and simple with basic needs. Cooking became a creative practice and self care ritual. As I got more acquainted with my hunger and appetite, it became easier to understand more complex, emotional needs.

Creative living and healing is about reconnecting with mind, body and spirit.

It’s about finding well-being through self-discovery, reflection and inner work. It’s about learning to trust and tune into our inner guidance. It’s about digging deep and living in sync with our truth. It is about living fully alive. It is about creating a life you love to live one day, one habit, one thought at a time.

I’ve spent the last 10 years coming back to myself and I’ve come further than ever I thought was possible. I’m nowhere near healed, but I've gone from feeling disempowered and hopeless to reclaiming control of my life, thoughts, and emotions. 

Over time, I’ve come to realize that trauma doesn’t have to be the defining moment of my life. Maybe my story centers on something else. That it’s only a small part of my larger purpose. What follows (the healing) is the real story. 

That is the journey that I want to share with all of you. I created this blog to share practical tools, powerful habits and new perspectives on healing. 

It is a slow and challenging process peeling back layers of trauma, unlearning cultural conditioning and reconnecting with our intuition. 

I don’t want to scare you away with the 10 years thing, but I also don’t want to lie to you and tell you this process is quick or easy. It is difficult and taxing, but what I can promise you is that the day you choose healing is the first day of a better life. The day you choose healing is the day you choose you. And things do get better. It’s not as though it’s taken me 10 years to get to better. If you choose healing, better starts now. 

It is hard work but it’s so worth it.  

Freedom is worth it. Love is worth it. Joy is worth it. YOU are worth it.

Sources: 1. The Body Keeps the Score 2. The Transformation 3. brenebrown.com