Creativity, a simple practice proven to reduce stress and anxiety while promoting well-being, encompasses a broad range of activities. It’s not the form of creativity that matters, but the expression of your uniqueness to the world.
Dr. Wendy Suzuki, a neuroscience and psychology professor at New York University’s Center for Neuroscience, advocates for creativity. She highlights its role in promoting flexibility, openness, and a desire to learn and grow. Creativity activates brain regions involved in rationality, emotional control, and problem-solving, crucial for managing stress, understanding fears and anxieties, and fostering greater well-being.
From a neuroscience perspective, Dr. Suzuki views creativity as a form of information processing that can be spontaneous, deliberate, emotional, or cognitive. Accessible to many, it grows through attentiveness to the world, openness to new ideas, engaging in play, using emotional experiences for positive expression, and embracing and learning from challenges.
The Origins of Creativity
According to Dr. Suzuki, creativity often stems from processing our emotions. It can arise from pain and emotional trauma, offering insights from grief and growth after hardship. Thus, creativity serves both proactively, in warding off negative emotions, and reactively, in navigating through them.
Philosophically, creativity’s benefits are clear. Many believe that we were created, and in being so, we embody characteristics like consciousness, logic, rationality, and uniqueness. When we activate these traits, our health and well-being flourish, often benefiting others as well.
So, reflect on what makes you unique. Consider your interests, skills, and learning desires. How do you like expressing your uniqueness to the world? Focus on these aspects and share them with others. The platform, instrument, tool, or method doesn’t matter. What’s important is to engage in your creativity wholeheartedly, frequently, and with others in mind.
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