Unleashing Healing Magic: How creativity ignites powerful transformations in the journey of psychological trauma recovery
Today I’m sharing with you the incredible healing power of creativity and how it can be the key to releasing unprocessed trauma.
As a fellow trauma survivor, I personally know the transformative impact that creativity can have on our healing journey. So, let's explore the magic of art and why creativity is so beneficial to the healing process.
You Have to Let it Out
When we continue to lug our unprocessed trauma around within ourselves, it's like an emotional storm brewing inside us. The intensity of our emotions can sometimes feel overwhelming, leaving us unable to verbalize what we’re feeling.
That's where the magic of creativity comes in. It offers us different languages; a canvas, a journal, or a ball of clay where we can express the unspoken and communicate the inexpressible emotions without restriction or judgment.
Through art, writing, sculpting, and many other mediums we can unleash our emotions, giving them the voice that’s been silenced for far too long.
Creativity becomes the gateway to our inner world, giving us the freedom to explore and confront our pain head-on to transform our unprocessed trauma into something profound and beautiful.
Think about it… Have you ever found yourself so immersed in the focus of drawing or writing that everything else seems to fade away? That's the magic of creativity!
It has this incredible ability to create a safe space for us to be vulnerable and to express ourselves without judgment or limitations. It's cathartic, liberating, and, above all, empowering!
And the best part is that creativity doesn't ask us to be perfect artists. It doesn't demand flawless masterpieces. Instead, it invites us to embrace our imperfections, celebrate the messy beauty of our emotions, and see healing as a journey, not a destination.
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way - things I had no words for”
Art helps us access those hidden corners of our hearts, those parts of ourselves that might be too painful or complex to articulate verbally.
By combining creativity with talk therapy, we weave together a holistic approach to healing, addressing both the conscious and subconscious aspects of our trauma.
How Creativity Helps Release Trauma: The Neuroscience
Now we’re shifting gears. I’m attempting to explain, in the least “sciencey” way possible, the neuroscience (what happens in our brain) reasons why creativity can help us release our unprocessed trauma... Wish me luck!
Control over emotions: Art is like a remote control for feelings. When you create art, your brain's "emotion-control center" lights up. This allows trauma survivors to process and manage their emotions, giving them a sense of control over their internal experiences.
Better brain wiring: When you make art, it’s like your brain gets better WiFi—it becomes more connected. This helps piece together the fragmented memories and feelings that traumatic events might leave, making them easier to understand.
Brain healing (Neuroplasticity): Art exercises your brain in a way that it can repair and rewire itself. So, for trauma survivors, making art can help their brains heal, potentially reducing the impact of traumatic memories.
Sensory healing: Making art is a total body experience. You see, touch, and move, and all of these activate different areas in your brain, making the healing process more complete.
Creativity releases neurotransmitters: Creating art can cause your brain to release dopamine and endorphins, the "feel-good chemicals". This can help reduce stress and make you feel happier and more relaxed.
Art lets you express repressed feelings: Traumatic experiences can manifest as symbols or abstract imagery in art, allowing people to explore and process deeper emotions without needing to verbalize them.
Art keeps you in the now: People who've been through trauma can feel like they're not really here; like they're watching their life happen rather than actually living it. Creating art helps to keep you grounded in the present moment and makes you feel more connected to the world around you.
Art brings people together: When trauma survivors view art created by others that reflects their experiences, it helps them feel empathy, validation, and a sense of connection, which promotes healing.
Self-Compassion and Empowerment: Art provides a means for self-expression and self-discovery. Through creativity, trauma survivors can develop a sense of self-compassion, empowerment, and agency(sense of control) in their healing process.
Art changes the story: Art allows people to transform traumatic experiences into symbolic representations. This transformation can allow a sense of control over the trauma and help shift their perspective from victim to victor.
In essence, creating art is kind of like training your brain. It helps you handle your emotions better, can fix some of the damage left by traumatic experiences, and gives you a profound way to show the world how you feel.
It helps you heal, learn about yourself, and understand others.
How Creativity Has Helped Me
“Being an artist means forever healing your own wounds and at the same time endlessly exposing them”
When I've struggled to put my feelings into words during therapy sessions, creativity has been my voice. It’s given me the courage to confront my demons and honor my experiences without shame, guilt, or judgment. Actually, I’ve found that some of my best artwork was born from released trauma.
Paths of Creativity: Some Examples of the Projects I’ll be Sharing With You.
At this point I’m sure you’re probably curious about the kind of art projects I’ll be sharing with you, so here’s a quick overview of just a few…
Pen & Ink
Neurographic Art: This technique is an easy and fun way to work with the subconscious mind by connecting neurobiology and psychology through drawing. It stimulates new neural pathways which help our brain to process our emotions, thoughts, and experiences.
Zentangle Doodling: Create intricate and repetitive patterns known as Zentangles to promote relaxation and focus.
Emotion Inking: Express your emotions through abstract lines and shapes, using different ink colors to represent various feelings.
Transformative Tangles: Transform your Zentangle doodles into elaborate and fascinating artwork with added shading and highlights.
Painting
Watercolor Resist: Use any number of masking techniques to create shapes on paper and then paint over them with watercolors to reveal hidden designs.
Colorful Watercolor Affirmations: Write positive affirmations with a crayon or masking fluid and paint over them with watercolors for inspirational artwork.
Painted Rock Garden: Add affirmations and decorate smooth rocks with acrylic paint, creating a collection of colorful and inspiring garden stones that can be placed indoors or outdoors.
Colorful Abstract Painting: Create a vibrant and mood-expressive abstract artwork by freely applying acrylic paint to canvas with brushes, sponges, or even your hands.
Digital design
Online Mood Boards: Platforms like Pinterest allow you to create boards with different themes. Develop an 'emotional mood board' with images that reflect your feelings or moods.
Empowering Affirmations Poster: Design a personalized affirmations poster using Canva's typography and graphic elements. Choose empowering phrases that resonate with you and decorate the poster with colors and patterns that ooze positivity and motivation.
Digital Vision Board: Collect digital images that represent your goals and dreams and compile them into a vision board.
Digital Abstract Expressionism: Use a digital painting tool, such as Procreate, to create abstract art pieces that visually express your emotions. Let the shapes, colors, and line quality depict your feelings.
Digital Doodling: Engage in a free-flowing and meditative doodling session using digital drawing software or apps.
Clay
Emotional Expression Sculptures: Use clay to sculpt abstract or figurative representations of your emotions and feelings.
Worry Stones: Roll smooth worry stones out of clay and decorate them with calming patterns or textures for a tactile soothing experience.
Symbolic Clay Tiles: Design a series of clay tiles, each reflecting different aspects/events/emotions of your life. Display them together in a sequence that tells a story.
Clay Totem Pole: Create a clay totem pole, each layer representing different aspects of your identity or life journey. This can help depict your personal narrative.
Emotion Figures: Transform feelings into tangible objects by creating clay models that symbolize different emotions.
Journaling
Introspective Journal: Reflect on your thoughts, emotions, and experiences to gain self-awareness and personal growth. It provides a space for exploring daily life, emotions, goals, and challenges, making it particularly valuable for healing from trauma alongside creative art projects and life coaching.
Gratitude Journal: Express something you are grateful for each day. When you’re having a tough day, you can read through all the things you are grateful for in your life.
Dream Journal: Record your dreams by illustrating them in a journal. This can be a way to process subconscious thoughts.
Feelings Wheel: Design a circular wheel in your journal. Assign each section a different emotion and fill it in with colors, shapes, or symbols related to each emotion.
Hero's Journey Journal: Frame your personal experiences as a hero's journey and create a visual narrative in your journal to reflect your challenges, growth, and transformation.
Art and creativity can help us heal unprocessed trauma. Think of it like this: you've had a bad day, so you start doodling, writing a poem, molding some clay, or whatever it is that’s calling to you at that moment. As you immerse yourself in the process, let your emotions flow through you as you create, and you gradually start feeling better.
This is because you're wading through all the tough stuff and turning it into something beautiful – it's emotional alchemy that's both therapeutic and empowering.
You Don’t Need to be Artistic to Benefit from Creativity
The fact that you don't need to be a Picasso or Shakespeare for this to work… The simple act of creating is what brings about the magic! It's about letting all your feelings out, having a friendly chat with them, and learning from them without any judgment or pressure.
Also, creativity is an awesome way of connecting with others. When you create and share, it helps to open up conversations, foster understanding, and form a sense of camaraderie.
So, go ahead…I double dog dare you to grab that brush, pen, piece of clay, or whatever, and let your emotions flow!