Self Help Through Creativity
sometimes said that the creative mind is a free mind, and I find that to be absolutely true. Enjoying a mid-summer breeze with nothing but a notebook and a pencil can be an exhilarating, if not euphoric experience. Creativity is often shrugged off as something people are born with, but I believe we all have a “creative us” deep down inside. You don’t have to necessarily be a writer to take full advantage of the wonders that writing can produce. Doing this daily or even weekly can dramatically increase your mood, and help you to catalog your feelings and cope with stress better.
Starting a journal is a great way to begin the writing for self help process, as you’ll be taking events from your day and expressing how you reacted to them or how they made you feel. Even the smallest parts of your day can have a profound effect on you when you take the time to look back and reflect on them. I find that keeping organized dates and logs of my events allows me to plan better for the future, and make better decisions based on my past actions. Also, it’s highly entertaining to go back and read your journals as it’s almost like a novel of your life. When compared to other forms of writing for self help, starting a journal truly takes a top spot for the most rewarding.
Another type of writing that helps tremendously with coping or stress is poetry. Just a few lines of deep, heart-felt words can be very soothing on the mind and the soul. Contrary to popular belief, a poem doesn’t have to rhyme. By simply letting out a few lines about your day, you’ll have a very nice catalog of your feelings in no time. Even if your poem is just ‘I saw the sun today, it was gorgeous’, this is an awesome description of how you felt. Later, you’ll return to your journal in times of need, as the “true you” cannot help but be revealed through creative writing.
Find a quiet place to relax with a notebook, and write about how your day went today. What’s the most exciting thing that happened to you? Did you laugh? Did you cry? How did you feel when you woke up? Answering these kinds of questions in your journal is the first step to using creativity for self help, and believe me, you’ll be surprised at how much better you’ll feel for doing it. For mor self help tips visit http://www.booksonselfhelp.com
- Darrell Banks
