Art is free therapy

A friend wrote this to me a couple days ago and I have to whole heartily agree.  I had been contemplating therapy and in past entries have talked about my feelings on therapy and have tried it.  I think therapy in any nature helps us to better ourselves.  Growing up, tennis was a sort of therapy for me. It was a way for me to deal with my body issues and to work out stress, it turned out that I was pretty good so it was a confidence booster, too.  As I got older, I found other ways to create to bring myself a sense of self ease.  Tae Kwon Do. Photography. Mixing. Knitting. Being creative has been a savior for me these last few months.  After my mom passed away, I was so scared that I wouldn't pick up knitting again.  It pained me to look at the all of my mother's knitting needles and for weeks I tried to forget knitting.  Then one day, my brother asked me to make her something and I felt this sort of pressure in my mind ease away as I tried to work through that knitting project.  Time seems to stand still.  My friend, Cindy, also said that art hits a part of your brain that takes you away from the logical side of your mind. That there is a feeling that you don't know how much time has passed.  Thinking about this, I see myself obsessively knitting on the couch at 2am as I'm thinking just a couple more rows not even aware of what time it is.  And recently while making earrings or sketching out skirts I'd like to sew myself, it's already past noon and I've been up since 7am.  Being creative.  I like to say the words. Be creative.  I feel a sense of confidence rising in me when I create something. Even sitting here writing this blog entry, I feel my collar bone tingle and my toes feel warm as the morning air brushes them. The creative juices are flowing through every inch of my being and I love how this feels.   

I couldn't sleep this morning because I was laying awake in bed thinking about what I could be making right at that moment.  Is there a correlation between early morning hours and creativity? I feel less creative at night, except for knitting, something about the natural sunlight feeding my need to create.

Here's the window that's by my computer desk. Cracked ever so slightly to let in the freshness of the morning air.

And my computer desk is doubling as my creative space. My husband has pretty much called this my desk now that all my things are on it...

I know that I still have a long way to go. It's all about keeping the balance and I've found something to help me along the way.

 

Comments

[reese]

yes, making stuff can be therapy! it's an outlet for all the feelings you have inside. i remember when i was sad, i used to play the piano, but now i have no piano and turn to other things like dyeing, knitting, driving around, and photography. it's really important to find hobbies that you like that can help you forget what's going on in your life.

but at the same time, it's important to face your issues also and to make sure that you are resolving them and not just hiding from them.

[Serena]

I love this post and think you hit it dead on. Love it! The ability to be creative keeps me sane.

[Glenn]

I just started playing tennis! I suck but it's fun!

Your wide range of skills is amazing. Tennis, TKD, knitting... Somehow I imagine you doing all three at once, a knitting needle held between your toes as you piece a tennis ball with a roundhouse kick. Ace!

Glad you're blogging again, sorry I haven't been checking. :)

And yes, I waved!

[Scarlet]

I totally get this! I can get lost in music whether playing or listening and get incredibly swept away by it.

(also <3 tennis!)

[Angela]

Art is definitely therapy. Helps you process and even get your mind off things =)

[Genevieve]

oh, yes, I totally agree, being creative is v. theraputic.

ps I have the same rosebud salve on my work desk. LOVE the stuff.

[cyn]

yay! i love your window and i love the view from your window! i have european window envy, esp after our current remodel searches! 8) i think it's great when you get into "the zone" while doing something creative. then you know your muse is with you! xo friend cindy!

[Dagny]

Glad to hear that you have found something to relax yourself. For me it's music, sewing, and knitting. I have gotten so lost in a sewing project that I have forgotten to eat the entire day.

[Aimee]

Dagny- That's happened to me already! I'll get up early and work through lunch and it will be nearly evening and my stomach will ache and I'll think, what's wrong? D'oh! I try to eat BEFORE I start anything crafty now. :)

[andie]

I LOVE Liberty fabrics (in reference to your swatch card!), but they are SO expensive. The US is really a lot cheaper for fabric, have you checked out the Amy Butler line and Reprodepot. Micheal Miller has some great stuff too, but alas, shipping costs a lot too!

I know how you feel with the craft stuff, right before Xmas I spent hours crafting, and it was therapy. Can't wait to get back into it.

[Aimee]

Andie,

I'm off to Marche St Pierre to try to find something like Liberty fabrics, 28 euros a meter! In my dreams! Yes, I know about Amy Butler, her designs are so cute! And her fabrics too...

[Emma]

I have some inherited needles too in a beautiful handmade needle case. It used to belong to my mothers aunt Kate who died when I was still just a young girl. We had a special connection through art and creativity and nowadays I can still strongly feel that bond whenever I pick up those needles.
Thanks for sharing!

[Jennifer]

I can totally relate. I always have "too much" (if that's possible) creative stuff going on at the same time. Thank goodness I now have a studio in the garage. When we moved and I put all of my stuff in one place I had a hard time imagining how I got all of that stuff into my apartment.

[Dagny]

Liberty fabrics ... *sigh* In college I worked in a fabric store in San Diego that carried Liberty. Even with my employee discount, I could not justify the purchase. My weak spot in the SF area is Britex Fabrics. Four floors of fabric. If they don't have it, it hasn't been created. *sigh*

[dongurigal]

I'm all for sun therapy. Walk in the sun. Sit in the sun. Be in the sun.

Glad you've picked up those knitting needles again.

[NessieNoodle]

This is a wonderful post. And I could agree with you more- making something with your hands is extremely therapudic. maybe that is why so many of us are into craftiness, and don't even realize it.
There is something about the time of day and the type of energy you have... check out info about ayurveda, it makes sense...the vata energy is cruising around..

thank you for sharing this~

[Henry]

We should play tennis now that the weather is nicer. Tho you'll probably kick my ass!

[James Fletcher Baxter]

Each individual human being possesses a unique, highly
developed, and sensitive perception of diversity. Thus
aware, man is endowed with a natural capability for enact-
ing internal mental and external physical selectivity.
Quantitative and qualitative choice-making thus lends
itself as the superior basis of an active intelligence.

Human is earth's Choicemaker. His title describes
his definitive and typifying characteristic. Recall
that his other features are but vehicles of experi-
ence intent on the development of perceptive
awareness and the following acts of decision and
choice. Note that the products of man cannot define
him for they are the fruit of the discerning choice-
making process and include the cognition of self,
the utility of experience, the development of value-
measuring systems and language, and the accultur-
ation of civilization.

The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits,
customs, and traditions, are the creative harvest of
his perceptive and selective powers. Creativity, the
creative process, is a choice-making process. His
articles, constructs, and commodities, however
marvelous to behold, deserve neither awe nor idol-
atry, for man, not his contrivance, is earth's own
highest expression of the creative process.

Human is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and
significant act of choosing is, itself, the Archimedean
fulcrum upon which man levers and redirects the
forces of cause and effect to an elected level of qual-
ity and diversity. Further, it orients him toward a
natural environmental opportunity, freedom, and
bestows earth's title, The Choicemaker, on his
singular and plural brow.

- from The HUMAN PARADIGM