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Mental Health and Creativity have a link. A link we all know about, with a duality I became interested early on, as a psychology student. Most of us are familiar with creative genius and psychosis. We have also mostly become familiar with the healing power of the arts, as seen in the many Creative Therapies, like Art Therapy, Music Therapy, and Drama Therapy. What, then, is the true relationship, between Creativity, and Mental Health? The First Step is your Creative PersonalityI have a three-part Healing Philosophy for Creative People, and the first part of this philosophy is getting to know and understand your Creative Personality. This is so crucial to acknowledge that Creative People have distinct features, qualities, needs, and strengths. As you begin to become an expert on your Creative Personality, the natural next step is to understand how to take care of yourself as a Creative Person well, and this link between your Creative Personality and Mental Health. The Second Step to my 3 Part Healing PhilosophyThe Second Step to my 3 Part Healing Philosophy is digging into this apparent- on the surface, anyway- dual relationship with creativity and mental health. How can creativity be both so good for your mental health, and so damaging? In a way, this is reversing the cause and effect. As you understand the strengths and needs of yourself as a Creative Person, it will become increasingly clear to you that many of your mental health difficulties and life struggles stem from unmet creative needs. Creativity, Unexpressed When you are unaware of the specific needs of your creative personality, for example, the need to live authentically, you may be unaware that you are living in a lifestyle that is thwarting your ability to live well. You are not able to express yourself Creatively fully, and find yourself feeling depressed, numb, or anxious. Without knowing this etiology, treating only symptoms, such as anxiety, can bring temporary, if any relief. Creativity in the Mental Health SystemThe Mental Health System is not set up to support Creative People. While there is research in psychology establishing Creative Personality traits, for example, there are no established treatment protocols, diagnoses, or symptom presentations recorded for reference to help Creative People understand their experiences. Most Creative People that present to the mental health system, find, again, temporary symptom relief, with no lasting change to underlying problems. A Regular Practice of CreativityAs a Creative Person, studying psychology, working in psychology, and doing my own research in psychology, while also working as an artist, studying art, researching art, and regularly making my own art, I made an important discovery about wellness for creative people. There is one fundamental thing Creative People can do for their overall wellness and stability. And this is the third, perhaps most important step, in my healing philosophy for creative people. And that is- establishing a regular practice of Creativity in their lives. Modern times present unique challenges and difficulties for artists to make their lives and minds accommodate creativity- but I maintain it is the single, most important thing Creative People can do for health and success.  What You Can Do to Support Your Creativity and Mental HealthCreativity Coaching and Creativity Counseling are established by Creative People, for Creative People. Taking the research available in psychology and coaching, and the support and expertise from one another in the arts, this is an area of passion for helping Creative People on the forefront of helping. If you are a Creative Person, looking for lasting change in your life, here are three steps you can take, today: 1) Join my Artists in Residency Program. This is a Free, Online Community of Artists where you can build support, accountability and a network of Creative People as a stepping stone towards reconnecting and committing to your authentic, creative self. 2) Book a Free Consultation. All new clients to Creatively, LLC are entitled to a 15 min, free consultation to sit with me and discuss your needs, services available, and we can problem solve and hand-pick the best next steps to help you succeed. 3) Book a Coaching Package. Are You a Working Creative in Need of Specific Support? I offer a range of Coaching Packages and options for Creative People. Let's find the one that is right for you. 1) Join my Artists in Residency Program. This is a Free, Online Community of Artists where you can build support, accountability, and a network of Creative People as a stepping stone towards reconnecting and committing to your authentic, creative self. 2) Book a Free Consultation. All new clients to Creatively, LLC are entitled to a 15 min, free consultation to sit with me and discuss your needs, services available, and we can problem solve and hand-pick the best next steps to help you succeed. 3) Book a Coaching Package. More Articles for Creative People A favorite question in therapist offices everywhere, no less frequently heard in my offices : “how does that make you feel?” I ask it not for no reason! Getting in touch with your feelings is an important step to creating your best life. Today’s blog post spends some time on emotions 101- a nod to a blog post past and today connected to the theme of mindfulness.
In simple terms emotions are signals between our bodies and our brains to communicate information. They are physiological sensations often in unique combinations that have important messages to us about a threat, a need or overall sense of wellness. The process can be clouded by emotions’ tendency to not always be “logical”- the brain is needed to “assess” if anything is “needed” in response to emotional signals once received. The problem is, as human beings, thinking organisms as we are, we spend too much time in our brains and not enough time in our bodies. We lose touch with our emotions. They may be trained out of us by society. They may be labeled “good” “bad” or “valuable” “nonvaluable” to our lives. We suppress, ignore, or avoid. None of this prevents the signals of emotions from being generated by our bodies. Just as we are thinking beings we are also emotional ones. The emotional signals are going to be sent. What does this mean if we are not “listening” to them? Oftentimes in daily jargon or even in the therapy office we are cautioned not to “stuff” emotions or “bottle them up” or there can be negative consequences. This is not really a good explanation of what happens. When we stop paying attention to the emotional signals in our body what we are suppressing or ignoring is information. What we are really avoiding are uncomfortable sensations in our own bodies (aka- the actual emotion). The consequences of this are not an amorphous pressure chamber that will “explode” some day though it is a ticking time bomb of sorts. What we are doing by neglecting these signals of information is neglecting our needs. Imagine if you had a pet and each time this pet tried to communicate to you it was hungry, wanted to be pet, wanted to go for a walk and so on, you didn’t pay attention to it. Over time this pet would not be well. By not paying attention to our feelings we are essentially doing this same thing to ourselves. There are consequences like becoming more vulnerable to stressors in our daily lives because we are generally not taking care of ourselves as we could be. By using mindfulness we can begin to train ourselves to bring our attention from our thoughts where we spend so much of our time, to check in with what is going on in our bodies. We begin to get to know what physical sensations go on in our bodies throughout the day and what they mean. Do you know what your feelings actually feel like? Would you recognize them before they reached crisis levels? There is a lot of data about yourself to learn if you start paying more attention. It requires patience directing and redirecting wandering attention that wants to live in thoughts. It requires persistence staying with potentially uncomfortable body sensations we are used to ignoring. It requires daily practices and stick-to-it-ness. But it can truly change your life. And- as we have alluded to in posts past- being more in touch with yourself and your needs and improving your control over attention in general has positive impacts on your creative work as well. Curious how? Look back at creative block posts for “Get Unstuck with Mindfulness.” Ready to start your mindfulness journey? Want to live your life with more purpose, acceptance and peace? I can help. (C) 2019 Creatively, LLC Hello, Wonderful, Creative People!Today we will talk again about one of the foundational concepts of the work we do at Creatively, LLC: that Creative People are unique! Creative People are a specific kind of people, with specific strengths and needs in their creative personality. The trouble is, most of us don’t know about them, and don’t take care of our Creative Personalities well. One of the Hallmarks of a Creative Person, a Creative Personality, is Strength.That means powerful drives, powerful passions, powerful impulses, powerful emotions- a Creative Personality has it all. It is Mother Nature’s gift to sustain the difficult work required of innovation and creation. Creation demands authenticity, questioning, and digging deep- often requiring Creative People to go against the flow, question norms, and form their own opinions. This requires a lot of power! That is why it is part of your personality. You will need it for the creative work you do!  Authenticity and Meaning-Making for Creative PeopleAuthenticity and meaning-making go hand-in-hand as two more features of your Creative Personality. Creative People are driven to live authentically, contribute to the world, and make meaning of their lives. When they are thwarted in one of these tasks in their lives, their powerful drives and feelings become frustrated and blocked. Your Creative Work is the main way in which you contribute meaning to your life. Your big passions allow you to reflect your experiences to the lives of others, impacting them in a meaningful way. When you live authentically, your creative contributions are truly important, unique, and your own. This is your recipe to good living as a Creative Person. But, Creative People Have Blocks! When, however, you become blocked in meaning-making, or, something is preventing you from living authentically, your powerful feelings, drives, passions, and impulses become blocked and/or unhealthy. If you are living within the confines of a creatively unsatisfying or unhealthy life, you may suffer from powerful anxiety, depression, or other emotional problems. You may have powerful impulses that stray from healthy, creative meaning-making urges, to more destructive, self-soothing, or numbing cravings. The World is Not Set Up for Supporting Creative PeopleUnfortunately, the problem is, the world continues to devalue the importance of creative living. Creative pursuits are undervalued, and creative professions are underpaid. Most creative individuals are encouraged to tamp down their passions, and spend time doing things deemed more “productive” by society. You become another cog in a wheel and are left confused as to why you are unhappy. How Are You, and the Other Creative People You Know Affected?There are many Creative People in the world, and this is a true story told by too many. The truth is, the most stabilizing thing you can do in your life, as a Creative Person, is to be Creative. How is one to do that when they have systematically replaced all the Creativity in their life? When they aren’t sure what it even means to be a Creative Person anymore? What is Creativity Counseling or Creativity Coaching? Creativity Counseling and Creativity Coaching are designed with you in mind. Care specifically for Creative People, you regain control and satisfaction over your life in three main steps: 1) Master your Creative Personality 2) Discover the link between your Creative Personality and Mental Health 3) Establish a regular practice of Creativity in your life Start Creativity Coaching or Creativity Counseling: Change your Life Today!If you are interested in real, impactful, and lasting change for your creative mind, I would love to help you. Let's connect and launch your life to the next level! I have three steps you can take, right now from my site if you are ready to take an important step forward in your life: 1) Join my Artists in Residency Program. This is a Free, Online Community of Artists where you can build support, accountability, and a network of Creative People as a stepping stone towards reconnecting and committing to your authentic, creative self. 2) Book a Free Consultation. All new clients to Creatively, LLC are entitled to a 15 min, free consultation to sit with me and discuss your needs, services available, and we can problem solve and hand-pick the best next steps to help you succeed. 3) Book a Coaching Package. Are you a working Creative in need of specific support? I offer a range of Coaching Packages- let's get started with one that is right for you. More Articles for Creative People Creative People, Anxiety and IntuitionSomething I see often with the Creative People that I work with is an association between their creativity and anxiety. Specifically I mean worrying, dread, fear of uncertainty and about the future. There are some simple aspects of the creative personality that contribute to this, and one of these is the creative personality trait of intuition. Creative Personality and IntuitionCreative People are usually highly intuitive. By intuitive I mean they have a high capacity to see the potential in things. A common test of creativity in psychology is the “paperclip test” where participants are asked to list how many things you can use a paperclip for- and the quantity and variety of uses is said to correlate with higher creativity. This is just one was to illustrate the quality of intuition in creatives. We have a questioning, investigative nature, and are looking for the potential in things all around us.  Creative Personality and AnxietyWhat can happen to this intuition is it becomes impacted by our mental and emotional state. In other words, if we are highly tired, exhausted, frightened, sad and so forth, our intuitive capacity begins to make associations that are less productive are useful. Instead of seeing positive potential, we begin to see risks and fears. We make negative predictions. We follow pessimistic thought distortions. We begin to worry. The Link between Anxiety, Intuition, Creative People and WellnessThe antidote to this is really quite simple: 1) Educate yourself that your creative personality is intuitive and accept that this powerful intuition is impacted by your state of being. 2) When you find yourself negatively predicting the future, anxious and worrying, stop and ask yourself what unmet needs do you have? What in your life is causing you to be stressed, sad or fearful? 3) Meet those unmet needs! 4) Engage in grounding activities. Whenever you find yourself caught up in racing thoughts and worries, your best way to combat that is to bring yourself from the intellectualizing into the present moment and sensory experiences. 5) When you are fully grounded, and have met the unmet needs, send your intuition back out to reevaluate the positive potential in the situation.  Building Intuition with Creativity Counseling and Creativity CoachingSo, Creative People, you are intuitive. It might make you anxiety prone. But it is all ok. Try some tips and come sit on my couch to work more deeply on using your personality strengths to create your best life. Take one of these steps and get started building your intuition today: 1) Book a Free Consultation. All new clients to Creatively, LLC are entitled to a 15 min, free consultation to sit with me and discuss your needs, services available, and we can problem solve and hand-pick best next steps to help you succeed. 2) Book a Coaching Package. Are you a working Creative in need of specific support? I offer a range of Coaching Packages- let's get started with one that is right for you. More Articles Like Anxiety and Intuition in Creative PersonalitiesA Creative Personality Snapshot, Make Time for Art, From One Creative to Another, Finding your Creative Balance, 2 Fundamentals for HSPs, Dream Theory for Creative People, Launch Creatively Into Spring, Therapy for Creative People, (C) 2022 Creatively, LLC
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get more from The Creativity CoursesLiking educational topics and knowing what's hot in creativity? Creatively has online courses, with an interactive creative community, coaching sessions and more in the Creativity Courses. Want these blogposts in a newsletter? Subscribe here, and get a free gift. Cindy Cisnerosis a Creativity Coach, Creative Therapist and Professional Artist in Sykesville, Maryland. She is an expert straddling the realms of arts, creativity research, psychology, therapy, and coaching. She provides Online Creativity Counseling in Maryland and Virginia, and Online Creativity Coaching throughout the USA, Canada and the UK tailored for the discerning, imaginative, artistic, and neurodiverse. The information provided in this blog is from my own clinical experiences and training. It is intended to supplement your clinical care. Never make major life changes before consulting with your treatment team. If you are unsure of your safety or wellbeing, do not hesitate to get help immediately.
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