You’re standing there, shifting the weight from one hip to the other: hand in your pockets; hands crossed; hands back in your pockets. 

Who’s that idiot trying to jump on the stage?  The lights go down.  The band comes out.  Your hands come together, with the hundreds of other hands around you, to welcome the music you’ve paid to hear from the hands of the people who created it.  

They welcome you as well. 

One of them rocks her bow across strings. 

Another strums the first chord on his guitar, which matches the rhythm beginning on the drums.

It’s then you remember why you wait around with awkward hands, and heavy legs. 

It’s for this: the moment you can’t understand, but your body does.  Your soul does.  Your heart does. 

They are all talking about it to one another, but it’s a foreign language, save for the feeling you get working up from your tailbone to your shoulders; from your spine to the tips of your fingers.

Something is hovering inside and through and it’s all because of the music.  And you’re sure there is something bigger here, in this moment, reminding you there is more to you, more to it all and the rhythm reminds you of your heart beating, and the strings remind you of the blood flowing, and the strumming reminds you of your breath. 

You’re alive. 

And there is more. 

And it’s beautiful. 

And it’s the only place you ever want to be.

Coming Back to Who you are

Friends, hi.  I know this is a little uncharacteristic of my typical “self-helpish” vibe, but I’m hoping you’re all willing to take a detour with me for a few weeks.  

I adamantly believe it is impossible to uncover your true self and walk toward healing and wellness without embracing your creativity. 

Moreso, I have been doing some research, and I have found some science which convinces me my insistence on incorporating art, music, and writing into my life again, aided in the healing of my body.

We can’t afford to brush off the goosebumps and the tears as a passing emotion devoid of meaning.  I think those are the moments our soul is trying to remind us of the something more.  

All too often, we become entrenched in the small, frivolous banalities of living.  We obsess over the things we need to do and the things we think we need to do, and the things we do because others think we need to do them.  

These are things which may need to be done, or not, but there we are, working, paying the bills, wiping the butts, washing the dishes, planning the appointments, driving to the lessons, leading the meetings, and everything else which comes with adult living.  These are all, mostly, things we must do, because we grew up and life necessitates responsible living.

Time is Money – Spend it Well

But when did we tell ourselves it was necessary to forget the things which stimulate?  When did we decide it was silly to create?  A child’s game? A dream we’d outgrown?  Why is it mature to give up on the very things which bring us back to the truth of who we are?

When I started writing again, I felt guilty.  After all, it was time I could have been spending keeping better care of my house, or making nutritious, Pinterest worthy snacks for my children.  

The truth is, the time we have is currency.  Usually, we decide how we spend it, just as we decide which medical bills we pay this month and which can wait another pay period: by the one which is most immediate, most pressing.  Headed to collections soon?  Probably should pay it.

Hence, the thought of spending our time on something we love, seems selfish, and when we get to the register, we spend our currency on whichever need screams the loudest.

In my own life, for a significant amount of time, it was the scream of babies, which needed my attention, and I don’t advocate becoming a neglectful parent, but being a neglectful parent can also come from neglecting yourself.

Our passions and deep rooted desires tend to shrivel back and wander off to hidden recesses.  They are our insecure, beautiful inner truths, but they always seem to be the first to willingly give up their seat to the louder competitor.  

They won’t fight for their opportunity to be heard until we’ve forgotten them completely, and we’re sick, or we’re depressed, or we’ve lost all sense of who we are.  Too often, it’s not until then, when we look back and notice them illuminated by a single ray of light, barely visible in the dark, waving, smiling; inviting us to to welcome them back to their rightful place.

This is music.  This is writing.  This is art.  This is dance.  This is creating and hoping, and making and simply being.  

Creativity is Your Path to Healing

Friends, it isn’t childish or selfish to understand there is more to our adult lives than our jobs, our homes, and our household responsibilities.  I’ll go even further and say, it’s of the utmost importance we harness our creativity and use it not only as a modality to keep us from burning out, but also as a path to healing.  

Three years ago, my chronic illness began and it was a slow two years of healing.  The catalyst to wellness, was coming back to my creativity.  

Having been trained to not just believe something, but back it up with some evidence, I have been doing some digging and found an article I am excited to share with you in detail over the next few of weeks.  

We’re going to begin by discussing music, and I have never been more excited to put an article together, as I am to write next week’s, which I am planning to divulge my top ten favorite songs of all time. 

It is a ridiculous amount of pressure to name just ten, but I’m having so much fun delving back into music I haven’t listened to in years.  I invite you to take the same journey with me, if you so dare! 

Find those old CD cases and crack them open!  That is, if you still own a CD player.  If not, just ask your hipster neighbor to borrow his.  He’s probably got them all on vinyl too, possibly even cassette.

I will wrap up this article with the last line of the article I will be referencing for this series on creativity, as I feel it most accurately sums up my one of the cornerstones to my belief on healing:

“Through creativity and imagination, we find our identity and our reservoir of healing.  The more we understand the relationship between creative expression and healing, the more we will discover the healing power of the arts.”1

1 Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 254-263. doi:10.2105/ajph.2008.156497