My Art Is My Healer

My Art Is My Healer

Few years ago my anxiety reached the highest level in my life and caused me a strange physical symptom, where I used to get paralyzed by a sudden drop in my body’s temperature in the hottest summer days, Frozen to the point that I couldn’t move a finger and all I was able to do was screaming for help and blankets so I can get warm and be able to move again.

At this time I decided that this will be the end of the life I used to live and the beginning of  a new chapter in my life with a new version of myself , so I dedicated every second of my life on self healing and self awareness.

 One day while reading I came across a mindful technique called “ Zentangle art” and I was surprised as I didn’t know that the doodles that I made all  my life is actually a form of art and it is a mindful technique as well and that’s exactly what I needed .

(When we decide to change, Help is always on the way)

So I started to use my doodles mindfully till art became my therapist , my spiritual teacher, my safe space , my best friend and my mediator to my unconscious mind and  it healed me on so many levels .

Mindfulness:

Any form of art is a mindful art , and it is a form of meditation but a more engaging one , whether it be through movement , photography , writing , music ,  painting  or just by watching the color blinding together , it is the fastest way to be in the present moment “a joyful one”.

Since I started to do art regularly I started to pay more attention to the beauty of details everywhere I go, details I was never aware of because my mind was so busy to even notice, art transformed my vision into a microscopic view and made mindfulness a state of being.

Altered state of consciousness:

The process of creating art comes from a dream like state, it comes from the imagination realm with no interference from the conscious mind, It is a state in which we suspect our sanity especially when we start communicating with our paintings, when the painting guides us what to do next, we have conversations that no one knows except for us and the figures in our paintings.

It is ecstatic how we get lost in the imagination realm, experiencing hypnagogic state while standing on both feet with eyes wide open.

We experience a state beyond the 5 senses, there is no space and time only vivid imagery, feelings or sounds, and our bodies are passive to the whole experience, we dance in a perfect flow with the rhythms of our souls.

A gateway to the Unconscious

Creating art depicts the unconscious content of our psyche in a symbolic form, Art works as an unconscious mediator, as we try to interpret our dreams we can also interpret our fantasies that led our creative process, Which will lead us to connect more to our unconscious content, our uniqueness,our shadow self , our true self and experience ourselves as a whole.

Help controlling the over thinking mind:

While creating art I realized that my thoughts are calm, organized and flow smoothly in my head, so whenever I need to think things through or dive deeper into myself without the need to fight my egoistic defenses I hold  a pen or brush in my hand and start the process of thinking.

Right brain and active Imagination:

Art is the activation code to our right brain, when we start using our right brain we are connecting to the seat of creativity, spirituality, intuition, imagination and empathy.

When we do art we start leaning back from the logical and analytical mind domination and start balancing between the two, and that balance affects how we think, how we feel and how we react.

Healing Perfectionism:

Art helped me work on my perfectionism and my controlling nature, it taught me acceptance, patience, letting go, finding the positive side of every situation and finding creative solutions for anything that doesn’t go right or as planned.

When I make a mistake after spending hours or days working on a piece of art I, l don’t get angry instead I take a deep breath and think how am I going to use this mistake beautifully whether I work on it right away or I wait for few days till I get an idea.

This whole process became a mindset, I don’t rush things anymore, I started to see the positive side of every hardship, it liberated me from planning and expecting and it taught me to go with the flow of life accepting that everything will happen at the perfect time.

A sense of achievement and self esteem:

When we create things from scratch and create a beautiful thing to see, listen to, to read or to hang on a wall, it gives us feelings of achievement and accomplishment that fill us with joy, pride, contentment and self esteem.

Self Expression and self love:

One of the most horrible feelings that I used to have and wasn’t even aware of is that I wasn’t able to express myself, Art created a safe space for me to express myself, my feelings, my thoughts, my visions and my crazy imagination, by expressing myself I started to connect to myself on a much deeper levels, accepting and loving myself and experienced the real meaning of freedom for the first time in my life.

Inner child connection:

As adults we are in a desperate need for our spontaneity, our innocence and our childish nature so we can move on with our lives, from time to time we need a restart button and we need a break from adulthood responsibilities and enjoy being kids once again when the sky was our limit , when things were pure , beautiful , joyful and easy.

 Art helped me connect with my inner child “My true self” not only in a joyful and spontaneous way but it also helped me connect to my inner child’s insecurities and Fears to help me work on them as an adult.

Ecstasy:

Artists known for their emotional vulnerability, and depressive episodes that seems to come out of nowhere for those close to them, but for me I see this vulnerability as a strength and courage, as we have to feel things fully to be able to express it, and when those feelings took control they move as a fire in our bodies to help us create what we are going through.

What makes an artist different is that they don’t get stuck with those feelings on the contrary they will feel extreme ecstasy right after finishing what they were working on , it is like alchemy  we transform pain into beauty and we nakedly share those feelings out with others.