We all have a creative side and yet we feel it should only come out to play when we are drawing stickmen with our children or grandchildren or when we are at a pottery class.
Nothing could be further from what we should be doing especially when we are going through change and transition. Engaging the creative side of who we are in every day tasks, especially those that are challenging, emotional and require more effort on our part is something we should all be doing on a regular basis.
In this week’s video, I shared how moving through challenging times is far easier when we use both the right -brain and left-brain. The right brain is all about creativity, spontaneity, music and art. This side of our brain engages multiple senses and invokes a side of us that triggers a release of endorphins that feel euphoric and calming.
The left side brain is all about processes, planning, structure and lists. It’s more logical and wants to know what each step will look like before it is taken. It’s far more structured and keeps us grounded.
Individually, they work well if you are focused on something that requires just that side of who you are. However, when we are dealing with loss and transition, when we are going through a challenging time or when we need to move forward after a loss or during a downsize or a move, both sides of our brain working together have a powerful effect on how and what we do.
Here are some examples:
1. If you are faced with making a tough decision and it requires you to go through a big change in your life, engage the creative side of your brain as you make lists, plan ahead, do the pros and cons. Use colour, your imagination, and dream bigger dreams for yourself than your thinking and logical brain. You’ll find that you can be inspired by what you imagine is possible and work it out with logic, a plan and systems to support it.
2. If you are planning a home transition and you know you will need to let go of much of what you own, play some music, video record your memories as you talk about the items you are letting go, create a scrapbook or a photo montage of the before and after experience. You will find that by engaging far more than just the “to do” lists that we are so accustomed to that you will navigate transition with more ease and grace.
3. If you are going through a major loss and you need some relief, rather than isolate yourself and sit in silence, play music, draw, paint, walk, or dance. Get your creative engaged so that you will feel the release, the relief and the joy of creating while grieving and letting go.
There are countless other ways you can use the creative side of who you are, the creative brain that we all have, to help you to move forward in your life. Explore and be curious and don’t let your left-brain way of thinking through lists, logic and to-do’s keep you from experiencing the other side of who you are that is freeing and very, very powerful.
Suggestions to engage your creative side:
• Art
• Dance
• Music
• Quilting
• Knitting
• Meditation
• Journaling
• Scrapbooking
• Painting
• Photography
Need some additional support? Here’s the “Moving Forward After Loss” resource that is available to you for download. You’ll find a mix of both right and brain strategies to help you let go and move forward.
Need additional help, do not hesitate to contact me. I am here to help. My teams (Moving Forward Matters & 1-800-GOT-JUNK?) are here to help too.
