Recognizing your need to create could be the one thing that opens your life up and gives you the energy you crave. I believe there would be far fewer depressed people, if more took the time to find a mode of creative expression. While this may sound simple, I’ve seen it over and over again. Depression often results from suppressing something – thoughts, ideas, feelings, desires. Expression releases and creates instant energy. The act can be small. For example, taking something you don’t like and creating poetry out of it can free you from its clutches, bring some breathing room, and create a significant satisfaction that allows you to move forward with greater power.
Creation is exciting, nourishing, calming to your soul, and happily stimulating! I see it as an energy that wants to live and can only do so through an act of creation whether it be a project, a painting, a song, a meal, or a letter. And when it doesn’t get a voice, it can create havoc. I’ve seen this happen in people’s lives as well as in workplaces (ah, let’s bring in more rules, paperwork, red tape to make it look like we are doing something – sigh – a common case of misplaced energy).
I’ve had my share of down days when life just wasn’t giving me a break and I felt stifled. Those times when I chose to reach for creative expression, all those temporary feelings disappeared instantly. You know when young children are crying like there’s no tomorrow and you wave a new trinket in their face and they immediately stop and smile, ready to grab it from your hands? Yep, that’s when you know the tears were just a ‘woe is me’ performance (I first typed out ‘whoa is me’, haha, maybe this is because I’m participating in a Nia demo this Friday at a horse show!). They were probably just bored or didn’t know what they wanted. You may call art my trinket in that analogy, although I know it to be far more than that. It is essentially my soul’s voice, reminding me of its existence. And when I can touch that, everything is perfect.
While I wasn’t always an artist, I always appreciated beauty, expression, and creativity…so my relationship to it was present. I also like to use artistic approaches when I work with clients (individuals & organizations). It’s amazing how well it does the job of getting people to engage effectively, drop their resistance, connect with others, and lighten up. I’ve been blown away by the depth of energy that’s arisen when groups were given space and time to be creative. In fact, on one particular team building project, I would say it radically changed the atmosphere and created a new way of working. It brought tears to my eyes to see what showed up when people were given the permission to express themselves.
We all have the need to create. It doesn’t matter if you are doing a daily doodle, creating a beautiful newsletter, or performing on a stage – it is creation. When that creation receives even a spot of love, beauty, harmony, joy, or simply peace at having done something and taken an action – it is empowering.
