This Creative Hack Calms Your Brain (No Meds, No Meditating)
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Hello, my creative friend. Welcome to another episode of Create Today with Beth Buffington. This is a podcast that will help you realize that your creativity should be more than just a hobby.
Hello my creative friend. Welcome to another episode of Create Today with Beth Buffington. Now, this is a podcast that will help you realize that your creativity is more than just a hobby. It's more than making something interesting or pretty. It's a first aid kit that will help you mend a broken heart, calm and anxious mind, and it can help you build strong emotional resilience so you can face the world that we live in.
What you create today will help you face tomorrow with strength and more confidence. So today we're talking about creative first aid, and this [00:01:00] is not the kind of first aid that comes in a box filled with bandaids and neosporin and gauze. Now I'm talking about a creative first aid that provides healing to you in heart, mind, body, and soul.
I'm talking about creative flow and how small moments and movements of creativity can help soothe anxiety, regulate emotions, and ground you when life feels like it's just too much.
Now I've spoken to creatives around the world who have shared that anxiety is something they are using their creativity to soothe as they deal with life's issues through global and personal concerns.
This episode today is, especially for those of you who've been feeling restless, overwhelmed, or maybe a little disconnected. Today we're going to explore how creativity, even tiny, [00:02:00] everyday acts of creativity, can be more than just a fun hobby. they can be your creative first aid kit.
Now, today you're going to discover what science says about the health and healing that creativity provides. And because you know I love a good list, you're going to get some ideas that you can start using today to apply creative first aid to whatever needs a a little bit of creative triage right now.
so let's start with this fact. Everyone has a brain that is wired for creativity. Yes, my friend. Even if you're one of those people who says, well, I'm no artist. How can I be creative? Your brain is wired to be creative and your brain is wired to crave the actual process of doing this creative action.
[00:03:00] and something that's even more beautiful is that your brain is calmed by the action of doing creativity and your brain can be healed by it. Now in a 2023 study by the Adobe Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, this study revealed that nearly half of Americans said they turned to creative activities specifically to reduce stress and improve their mental health.
And that's not surprising because when we create. Our brains are automatically shifted into a calmer, more focused, more relaxed state. Now this study showed that of the people who were engaging in any creative activity, that they identified an improved sense of confidence in their abilities as a benefit of their creativity, and a majority of them said that creative [00:04:00] activities reduced their feelings of stress or anxiety.
Sounds pretty nice, right? In fact, studies have shown that engaging in just a little. Consistent creative activity, even if you're not an artist, can significantly lower cortisol levels, which is the stress hormone that spikes when we're anxious or overwhelmed. And here is the best part. It doesn't matter what you create.
You could be baking bread, doodling on a napkin, gardening, upscaling old furniture, creating spreadsheets, playing an instrument, making pottery, doing watercolors, writing a few lines in a notebook. You see this list? My friend could go on forever. So what you do doesn't matter. What matters is the state of mind.
It puts you in. And when you enter what is called creative flow, [00:05:00] your mind quiets, the body relaxes, and your focus sharpens, and not in a pressure-filled way, but in a way that helps your nervous system settle down and regulate itself. This is what psychologists call a flow state, and it activates parts of your brain that is tied to reward, motivation, and emotional balance.
The psychoanalyst and creative researcher, Donald w Winnicott, who is the author of the book Playing and Reality, he said this about creativity. It is in the playing. Only in the playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.[00:06:00]
Now what Donald Winnicott is explaining is that creativity isn't just about making a masterpiece or finishing a creative project. It's about the actual playing and experimenting as you are doing something creative. It's about letting yourself just be free and curious and fully present in the moment of your creative play.
And when you play, you bring all of your self into the moment, your feelings, your thoughts, your body, and that. Is when your true creative self shines. In other words, creativity lets you just be you by giving you space to explore away from the pressures of life, and you are doing this without judgment about yourself or pressure to complete something beautiful on time.[00:07:00]
Does that make sense? This. Is your creative first aid allowing you to soak in the healing waters of creative flow. Now let's take a quick break for a word from our sponsor.
This episode is brought to you by Sylva Solace, a creative wellness retreat that I will be leading with Lisa Murphy, a certified health coach. This intimate healing retreat is October 16 through 19 in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina.
Sylva Solace is your invitation to rest. Reconnect and revive your creativity and your health through the care of your heart, mind, body, and soul. We will be gathering in an intimate circle for four days of inspiration, coaching, quiet movement, reflection, and [00:08:00] uplifting community at the gorgeous Horseshoe Farm Resort.
You'll be guided by me and Certified Health Coach Lisa Murphy, and you'll leave with more clarity, creative confidence, and emotional strength than you thought possible. Also, we're going to have a special guest, Margo Tanto. She is a creative innovator and influencer and the host of the popular podcast, windowsill Chats.
She will be there to mingle with you as you explore your creative health. Now spots are limited, and I would love to talk with you personally if you're curious about attending this Creative Resilience Retreat. You can learn more about this retreat at bdi, create today slash silva dash retreat and Silva is spelled S-Y-L-V-A.
There's also going to be a live link to the retreat information [00:09:00] in the show notes.
so what does a first Aid kit look like? When it's creative, it's not a box filled with treatments that have intricate directions and a brochure filled with side effects. It's not expensive. It doesn't require a prescription, and it doesn't need to be approved by your doctor.
Although I'm quite sure your doctor would approve Creative First Aid. Well, it's simple. It's low stakes. It meets you exactly where you are, and it aligns with what you love to do. So if you're thinking, Hmm, I believe a little creative first aid is just the thing I need to apply to my life. Here's a list of just a few gentle, proven creative practices that can provide some creative first aid for you. Number one. Doodle or just color studies [00:10:00] show that even casual drawing or coloring in a coloring book helps calm the amygdala. And this is the part of your brain that is responsible for fear and worry
You know, that fight or flight mode in your brain And when you doodle or color, there are no skills required. You just have lines or loops or shades. You're just coloring pretty shapes.
It's like letting your brain take a deep breath and just play. Now this can be a coloring book and some fun markers. It can be you just making circles on a sheet of paper or drawing your dreams or life experiences in a journal. And if doodling is fun for you, consider purchasing a little sketchpad or journal to keep track of your doodles and what they are about.
It's kind of fun to have a history of what you were doodling. Number two, expressive writing. When you write your feelings down without [00:11:00] structure or rules, this kind of emotional dump helps your mind release tension. You'll find the more you give yourself the free reign just to dump your thoughts without thinking about propositional phrases or proper sentence structure.
Or should I start a new paragraph when you're just dumping your ideas down? It becomes easier and easier to write and express your feelings on paper. Research has shown that expressive writing of your emotions improves mood and reduces anxiety. And please note my friend, this is not a magic pill that works instantly.
It's not gonna be a one and done, and I feel great. It doesn't happen like magic. This is a creative practice that when given time, you'll notice a calming in your chaos. So you want to make it a consistent practice.
number three, creative cooking or baking. This is. [00:12:00] Preparing food with your hands. It is an art all its own. And when you revel in the repetitive motion of chopping, stirring, needing these repeated movements will they fill your senses
with aromas and touch and textures, and it slows your thoughts and it helps you step into that flow state. That is so, so healing. Number four, guided imagery or visualization. So. So let yourself get comfortable and in a preferably quiet space, and then concentrate on your breathing.
Close your eyes and allow yourself to imagine a peaceful place that you enjoy. Is it the beach? Maybe the mountains, your favorite restaurant, or even visit a zoo or a museum in your mind. Maybe it's your grandmother's kitchen when she was baking [00:13:00] cookies, or any place where you just feel rest and solace,
And then through your imagination in this safe space, I want you to visualize your future, your future self reaching a goal that you are currently struggling to figure out
This type of creative mental imagery is a form of cognitive rewiring. So when you allow yourself time to rest and relax in this visual imagery,
and imagine this peaceful, safe space, you give your brain time to cognitively think about life. And you'll discover that you can solve some problems that you were struggling to figure out.
Albert Einstein once famously said, creativity is intelligence. Having fun. My friend, your brain loves to play. It loves games, [00:14:00] it loves puzzles, and it actually loves solving problems. So when you allow yourself time to wander and experiment and do anything creative,
you will be able to take advantage of this creative first aid that we are talking about today. Your creativity can be your gentlest form of self rescue when your nervous system is feeling afraid. now let's take another quick break for a word from our sponsor.
Create Today is also brought to you today by my Doodle Meditation Workshop. This is a beautiful way to immerse yourself into the mindfulness of creative flow Through the power of simple drawing, if you have ever felt too overwhelmed to create this workshop is for you. You're going to learn how a soothing, repeatable doodle [00:15:00] practice can help you focus on thoughts.
Settle your body and it can help you rediscover joy and determine goals through tiny creative movements. My Doodle Meditation workshop is self-paced and includes step-by-step guidance on how to set up a daily practice that fits your life.
you can learn more and discover the mindfulness of Doodle [email protected]. Up in the right hand corner, click on menu, and then choose events.
Now my friend, the thing I want you to hear clearly today is that sometimes when we're anxious or stuck, it can feel too hard or even overwhelming to create. I've heard many of my artists say I was in such a state [00:16:00] of worry or grief or anxiousness that it felt like I couldn't. Be creative.
If we believe we are too tired or worried, or we think we aren't inspired enough to do anything creative that can feel like that creative block, right? But my friend, it is in these kinds of moments, the low energy days, the tight chested moments when creativity is most needed. When we are bruised, when we are burned or scared by what is happening in our world or in our daily life,
This is when your creative first aid kit must be pulled out and applied with generosity and care.
And remember, this kind of creative flow is allowing yourself to do something simple. Like just drawing circles, like just coloring, like, just doodling, like taking the doodle meditation workshop. It's allowing yourself a creative massage [00:17:00] time for Creative Spa. it's a moment to exhale and say, ha, oh, I needed this today.
Creativity is better than that stiff drink. It's less calories than that tub of ice cream, and it's less expensive than going to the spa.
You just reach for a pen, you pull out a recipe, you go and weed your garden. You open up your journal and just begin to write. You gather your paintbrushes and just make marks.
You create. You do not make anything, and when you apply this creative first aid to yourself, you're caring for your full self, your heart, your mind, your body and your soul. I want to leave you today with a very small challenge. I want you to pick [00:18:00] out one act of creative first aid that you can try this week.
Just one. Maybe it's coloring for 10 minutes. Maybe it's writing a letter you'll never send to anyone. Maybe it's chopping veggies from your garden or going to a coffee shop just to sketch stuff. Whatever it is, Don't do it to be productive. Don't do it to meet a deadline or create something for someone as a gift.
Do it as just creative first aid. To calm or heal something that needs some peace or confidence or resilience in your life. It's going to be that simple, mindless, easy creativity that doesn't take a lot of thought, that doesn't cause you to judge yourself, that isn't reaching for a deadline. Remember, creativity isn't something you have to be or become good at.
It's something you already are. Creativity is part of who [00:19:00] you are right now. Take out your creative first aid kit, my friend, and apply generously to your life today and tomorrow, and the next day and the next. And hey, if this episode encouraged you today, I'd love to hear from you. Share what you've tried or how you are using creativity as your
your emotional first aid, just email me or tag me on Instagram. If you know someone who could benefit from this episode, please share the creative goodness with your friends and your family. And if you're feeling that quiet tug towards understanding your creativity and how to apply it to your life in deeper, more lasting ways, remember that both the Silva Solace Retreat and the Doodle Meditation Workshop.
They're waiting here for you. Remember, I am here to support you and your creativity. So think about your creative health. [00:20:00] What are you doing to let your brain play with the creativity it has inside? What are you doing to allow yourself to soak in the healing power of creative flow? I want you to take a moment to plan what and when you will creatively play today.
Will you draw, paint, cook, garden, sculpt, sing? Are you going to sew no matter what and how you choose to care for yourself today we're remember to stay creative, my friend.
00:00 Welcome to Create Today with Beth Buffington
00:54 The Power of Creative First Aid
02:10 Science Behind Creativity and Mental Health
04:56 Understanding Creative Flow
07:13 Sponsor Break: Sylva Solace Retreat
09:46 Creative Practices for Healing
14:31 Sponsor Break: Doodle Meditation Workshop
15:41 Embracing Creativity in Daily Life
19:11 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
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