A Few Thoughts by Jack Fink
The creative process truly does something for the spirit and perhaps the body as well. I have often used the saying, " That if you have a job you love, you never work a day in your life." . . . well most days.
There is no question that the creative process, related to whatever activity, turns off the noise around you. You lose track of time; you are completely in the moment, for nothing else seems to matter when you turn yourself over to this kind of activity; it seems to celebrate and affirm your life and living. In making art, the emerging composition of the artwork is intuitive and has little or nothing to do with words or numbers, or related logical cognitive skills. Sometimes you get the feeling as if the artwork is doing itself.
There is much written about the mind, spirit, body connection . . . that if much of your life is in sync and on balance, that one tends to be more physically healthy, or at the very least, one manages what physical dysfunction one has much better. Immersion of yourself into the creative process is very much a form of meditation and part of balancing the "whole self."
Art and Healing by Roberta Shoemaker-Beal
"For years I have written and taught my students that the creative, expressive
art making process is 'inherently healing and growth promoting.' What dynamic
processes are stirred with our participation in the creative expressive arts
processes? As I have watched others at work in various creative, expressive art
therapies groups, I have been continually amazed at the dynamics to be drawn
upon time and again.
"I have come to the conclusion that the creative processes and the healing
processes lie buried deep in the psyche, side by side. It is as if when you
commit yourself to one, the alchemy of the other is stirred. It is as if one
must touch the pain of the problem, carry the troublesome feeling of 'not
knowing,' stay with the frustration of incompleteness, and be patient
enough to hold the tension of these opposites, and then one will call forth the
other, simultaneously. It is as if these ancient archetypal energies are waiting
for us to risk the dances of our creative processes, with their mysterious
energies, to activate the interchange between them. Rollo May called it 'the courage to create' in his book by the same name. The following is
a sharing of the flow that goes through me when I consider such a question as: 'What is healing about art making?'
"What is healing about art and art making? Is it knowing that by rearranging my
chaos, I might create order and, possibly, meaning, and perhaps something of
value? Is it anticipating the unknown gifts of the creative process, yet to be
revealed? Is it setting our intentions to be creative, knowing that that shift
alone can change things toward the better? Is it overcoming the demons of doubt
and 'doing nothing' which lurk around me and nibble away at my
strength? Is it the trepidation of approaching the gateways to the reservoirs
lying deep in the world of my imagination? Is it the endless pathways of
possibilities? Is it the joy of discovery, the novelty of entering new uncharted
territory? Is it the freedom to be in a 'space' and a 'place' that we transcribe as ours alone?
"Is it playing with art media, the colors, the textures, ... the possibilities?
Is it the joy of squishing, tearing, coloring, placing, deciding, moving,
removing, throwing away, mushing, collapsing and then starting again? Is it the
release that I found by pounding the clay, being in a dance of the long bristled
brush, and watching the flowing together of the colors in the puddles on the
paper?
"Is it being in the process: transforming the art media, we find that we are
transformed? Is it the sheer joy of being swept up into the creative process? Is
it the forgetting of everything else that will hold me back, limit my vision,
stand in my way? Is it surrendering our little egos to something bigger than we
are, to discover new parts of life, and even of ourselves, which we could have
never imagined existed?
"Is it those moments when we feel we touch and are touched by forces beyond our
imagination, but that are within our reach for a few amazing moments? Is it
finding parts of ourselves, inside, that we did not know existed, perhaps that
have troubled us? Is it knowing that we can confront the fears and drain the
energies of despair from their dark holes inside us? Is it living the dream just
long enough to know that there is a possibility of a better reality ahead?
"Is it the connectedness that we feel when we open to all the many and various
sensations we have loved and hated, perceptions we have processed, embraced and
cast aside, anticipations that we can envision?
"Is it moving into a place where time has stood still and we can look backward
and forward and feel ever so much more fully in the moment, all at the same
time? Is it the feeling of being satisfied that we have engaged ourselves on
many levels, simultaneously ... and never knowing how? Is it being drawn into a
mysterious dance with something that feels like an 'other' beyond ourselves,
while being more alive within ourselves all at the same time?
"Is it the untangling of the mystery of the labyrinth within us which challenges
us to find the sacred center of our being?
"Is it the joy of reflecting on our creative process, ... on the twists and
turns, and the gush of the flow we can tap within us? Is it feeling the life
force flowing through every fiber of my being that I have the courage to engage
in the process? Is it floating on the joy of the natural high of the creative
expressive process? Is it the sheer joy of creating something by our own hand?
Is it that moment of satisfaction when we sit back and look at something that
came from inside us, but also from beyond us?
"Is it being able to see the mirror of Self in the art work and know 'I am
... I exist... I happen.... I create... I will endure. ' ... ? Is it the
sheer joy of having worked through some mysterious process that is beyond
comprehension, but that renders a permanent record that we have lived? Is it
knowing we can remember a time and a place when and where we have been very
alive? Is it knowing that we have overcome? Is it the wonder of knowing life in
a new way, knowing more of life's ebbs and flows, ..... of the passages of time,
.... of the glimpses of new horizons?
"Whatever it is, it is all these things and more, sometimes all at once and
sometimes one by one, each moment to be savored and feared, to participate in
and to observe, to be loved and hated, all at the same time. For me 'to be
healed' is to be resolved. It is to have worked through the pain, the joy
and the mystery. For me "to be healed" is to have come back to a
balance.
"I can always do this by creating art that is expressive and cleansing .....
cathartic and clarifying ..... of whatever part of me felt drawn away from my
meaning and purpose in life. It feels like coming home.
"For me, 'art works!' And, when I have spread this awareness to others,
who feel that they have limited options in life, it has been a great joy to see
the light come back into their eyes..... reaffirming my life's possibilities, as
each of them experience this wonder as well."
Roberta Shoemaker-Beal, MFA, ATR Creatas@aol.com
The above was written for the revision of the Creative Expressive Journal, a
workbook for creative expression (copyright 2001). Used by permission.