Art Makes Happy

​I love to hike, meditate, be in nature and make art to feel good.  In this post I'll share how art helps our brains.  Lately, I'm feeling loss and grief so making art  has been really rewarding and important.

The reason art promotes well being is because it helps the brain to be strong, flexible, and produce feel-good chemicals like serotonin and dopamine.  Art is known to increase intuition.  It also has the effect of heightening awareness. 

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Art is completely and totally interesting and exciting and so it peaks curiosity and exploration.  We all need something we want and can do when we feel bored, sad or powerless.  

Art  involves using imagination and can be done with simple tools.  It's right here at our fingertips, paper and pencil or finger and dirt are all that's needed. 

When I taught children  I'd ask the class to get so quiet that we could hear the drawings being made. Their little pencils moving on the surface of the paper is an amazing sound.  It is the sound of creativity inside their heads flowing out onto the paper.

Whether it's looking at an apple for an hour, or just exploring line, drawing builds mental acuity. 

When we feel stuck in life, our thinking can get stuck too.   Drawing can help by letting ideas flow out into the sketchbook. Filled with ideas our art is an act of courage because it means taking a risk and making something from nothing.  It is our own creating, literally marking time with our imprint.

There are many good, real  and researched reasons why art makes us feel good.  The fact is that everyone  is a creative person and so being engaged creatively is a natural thing.  Getting creative again is a matter of choice. 

I hope you find this energizing enough to give art a try, go to a gallery or museum and allow yourself to do nothing at all but enjoy the experience.