What Is The True Power Of Art & Creative Expression?

Art is powerful and healing. It can bring people together and make people feel. It doesn’t have to be beautiful. All it has to do is be there for others to see.

Art is a creation that has been created with so much emotion that whoever sees, hears or experiences the creation will also feel what its creator once felt. It does not have to be beautiful or look a certain way. Art can never be wrong and there are no rules, no norm. As long as you sit down and make something with your heart and soul, you will create a true work of art. You can never lie when you are making something. Every emotion you have will be expressed whether you mean to or not. 

Creating is living

Many people live their lives half-heartedly, either holding back what they feel and think or burying something that has happened to them. Pretending it never did. But when you create something there’s no holding back. You end up in a bubble where you stop thinking and simply feel.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve written a song, painted a painting or shaped a sculpture. When you hear or look at your creation afterwards, you can see everything you have been holding back. The truth that is in your heart. This is the reason why many people get so nervous when they have to show their creations to someone else. It is a very intimate experience because, in every creation, a part of the creator’s soul has been left behind. To expose your very soul to another person, whoever that person may be, is more intimate than being naked.

Even so, creating art and showing it to someone else healing for your inner child. By doing so you are being honest with yourself about who you are. You are accepting yourself. With courage, you dared lay it all bare and showed your heart and emotions to another human being. Creating art is therefore like an emotional detox that cleanses both the heart and soul. That’s why art and creation are often part of children’s development in school. It is also a type of therapy when one needs to process something or express something. Art is even used as a form of treatment for patients who are in longterm hospital care. 

Misconceptions and gatekeeping

Some people believe that art and creation are only meant for a chosen few and that is what I too was taught when I was in school. The teachers clearly showed who was meant to be artistic and encouraged the rest to simply give it up. But art is not about talent alone, and even talent may hide or disguise itself if not embraced. If you love doing something, you are meant to do it. End of.

Creativity is healing

Today we encourage creativity more and more. Most people today express themselves creatively in everything from their style to how they arrange their pencils on their desks. When you create, you build up your creativity and creativity is the most important thing we have as human beings, young and old alike. Without it, nothing beyond what Mother Nature once created would exist. Every creation in the world is the result of another person’s vision and fantasy. 

Art to reduce stress

Painting and colouring have become a common way for adults and kids alike to process stress in everyday life. More and more colouring books for adults are being published and can be found in most bookshops and magazine shops these days. The act involves using colours, which is good for the mind, and it makes you concentrate on something outside of what you normally do. Usually to the point that you forget everything that was making you tense and stressed out.

For those who aren’t into painting, music is also known to do the trick. As is singing. When you sing, you let go of everything and release more tension with each sound you make. Dancing it out is also an excellent way to let things loose and release stress. Many use dancing, such as Zumba, as a way to both have fun, release stress and keep their body in shape. 

Art is for everyone. No exceptions.

The point is that no matter who you are, where you come from, how old you are and whether you consider yourself to be artistic or not, creativity, any kind of creative outlet really, is an excellent way to stay healthy, happy and to process big life changes. Art keeps illnesses away, prevents depression from developing, enhances the development of relations, increases confidence and self-esteem, lowers stress and keeps track of your thoughts and emotions. It is a way to get to know yourself, and that could be what leads you to your destiny.

When you are honest with yourself and you know who you are and where you come from, that is a strength. And that strength increases your chances of finding out where you’re meant to go and how to lead the life you were meant to lead. 

To make people feel, help them process their thoughts heal, and enhance the quality of people’s lives and development: that is the power of art. Art is life.