Media Room

The Messiest Way to Mental Health…

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I just don’t feel like myself anymore?”

I’ve felt like that at times too. There are certain days where I feel like I’ve lost that spark in me. I feel numb, hazy, like I don’t know who I am…or where I am. I feel like I’ve lost my “fire.”

How do we keep our inner fire alive?

I realized that there are two things that help me: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life – and a commitment to action.

How do we start doing this? Every day, it’s important to ask and answer these questions: ‘What’s good in my life?’ and ‘What needs to be done?’

What you focus on in life is what you get.

And if you concentrate on how bad, wrong or inadequate you THINK you are, if you concentrate on what you can’t do and how there’s not enough time in which to do it, isn’t that what you get every time?

Yes.

But…when you think about how powerful you are, and when you think about what you have left to contribute, and when you think about the difference you can make on this planet, you feel that fire within you and know that you are capable of anything.

It’s not what happens to you; it’s what you do about it.

We do so many things to squash our emotions. So many people have a hard time feeling anything at all. Art is a great way to check in, and better yet, no art experience is required – or wanted at all!

Being an artist just means starting with “beginner’s mind…”

Here are some exercises to get you started. All you need is a blank piece of paper.
Don’t Think. Just “Art”

Interpret the world “push”, draw it.
Pour your breath, and any worries into a cup of hot tea. What would a birds eye view of your cup look like?
Draw the ugliest scribble you can manage. Make it so ugly it hurts to look.
Paint your morning intention
Interpret a poem, put yourself in its landscape
Doodle to music
Draw the smell of bread baking. (Yum!)
Learn about a country, paint my stay there, write as if I’m there
Draw in a different language. Draw characters from a language you don’t know.
Find your way home. Draw a map.
Look at the world as a puzzle you determine the meaning of. Draw one puzzle in that piece.
Draw comic strip with two stick figures going on an awkward date.
Doodle an entire page with red crayon until there’s no blank space left.
Make 34 random dots with marker on a piece of paper and then take a pencil to connect every dot. Color in the spaces between, or whatever shapes you can find.
Trace the first thing you take out of your junk drawer.
What’s the point?
Don’t think about that. Allow yourself the surprise of not knowing. Get lost in fun, purposeless, whimsical expression.
The Takeaway?
Anytime I choose a thought that gets my emotions expressed it supports my aliveness.
How is YOUR fire feeling today? Express it.

Art is intuition at play. So just go with it.
Start with art. It’ll get you somewhere.
Or, it will just be a beautiful detour…

Download a free creativity e-book at amyoes.com/create!