Making art and craft every day keeps the doctor away!

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Art and craft comes in many forms and shapes, so to speak, from (creative & expressive) writing – including so-called journaling – to knitting, crochet, woodcarving and woodworking, and everything else in between.

Your health and personal well-being, according to studies, can benefit when you make time to be creative? And, apparently, it is true! Whether you write, draw, scrapbook, or create quilts, do woodcarving, or whatever in the arts and crafts department; when you engage in something creative, your mind and body benefits.

Expressive Writing fort instance, whether it is just journaling – that is what once was called keeping a diary and done by a so-called diarist – will eanble you in other areas to better be able to put your thoughts on paper, even if the paper is but virtual.

Writing has been found to grant practicioners a host of long term benefits including, but not limited to:

• Fewer stress-related visits to the doctor Improved immune system functioning Reduced blood pressure

• Reduced absenteeism from work

• Quicker re-employment after job loss

• Improved working memory

The Science of Google's 20% Rule

Some may have heard of Google's 20% rule, some maybe not (and I must say I didn't until I came across it), which allows employees to spend 20% of their time on side projects they are passionate about. What seems on the surface to be a huge sink in productivity actually saw huge boosts for both the company and their employees.

Side projects, it turns out, boosts work performance and productivity.

A study conducted by San Francisco State psychology professor Dr. Kevin Eschleman and his colleagues measured the effect of creative hobbies on over 400 employees. They found those who had a creative hobby were more likely to be helpful and creative on the job as well as more relaxed and in control.

The finding from the research indicate that organizations may benefit from encouraging employees to consider creative activities in their efforts to recover from work.

Creative activities are likely to provide valuable experiences of mastery and control, but may also provide employees experiences of discovery that uniquely influence performance-related outcomes.

Creative Therapies

There is now a whole emerging field of people who employ the arts to help people heal. It is called Creative Arts Therapies, and according to the National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations (NCCATA), it encompasses a wide range of modes of expression including art, dance/movement, drama, music, poetry, and psychodrama. One could, obviously, also be sarcastic here and say that there is always someone – or quite a number of people – who find a way of making money from “strange professions”.

Creative Arts Therapists are human service professionals who use arts modalities and creative processes for the purpose of ameliorating disability and illness and optimizing health and wellness. Treatment outcomes include, for example, improving communication and expression, and increasing physical, emotional, cognitive and/or social functioning.

When you undertake these activities, whether for yourself or with the guidance of a Creative Art Therapist, you stand to benefit by making art.

In a world full of distractions and stress, it can be difficult to find time to be creative but considering the outcomes time should be made available and not just for us adults but also and especially for children (and young people). Their lives have become far too structured and stressful and, aside from unstructured play, letting them get into creative activities, more or less on their own, could be of great benefit.

© 2018

Crafting

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

In a world that has become increasingly dependent on technology, too much one might say, artisans and everyday crafters are finding a renewed satisfaction in making something with their own hands.

Leagues of people are also finding physical and mental health benefits in handwork, and are beginning to frame it as a spiritual practice.

Some people believe, and I think that this can be true also, that you can literally "craft the crazy away" through beading and crocheting, candle-making, and other crafts.

I find working with wood, especially spoon carving, extremely relaxing and there are times where I definitely need the fix of carving yet another spoon. I also make walking sticks from coppided wood and other things.

Another craft that I like to engage in, and it always brings out good ideas, is repurposing and upcycling items of waste into something useful.

While writing, of which I do a great deal, as a writer, obviously, is also seen by many as a craft and as a way of relaxing, I need to get away from that at times and, being a forester by original trade, working with wood, especially does that for me, but also making anything else, including, as said, upcycling.

And, while I may be a crafts-person on more than one level I would not call myself and artist and that what art. In fact, I prefer to make useful things, whether in working with wood or in upcycling, rather than something that one put on a shelf or hangs on a wall to collect dust. That does not mean, however, that I do not like objects to also be beautiful, especially when it comes to the wooden articles. The upcycled ones I do like to leave “plain” so that it can be see what they are made from, though I have, at times, “dress up” some tin cans that I have made into pencil bins, but that is a rare occasion.

We all can be creative and make things with our own hands and with the right mindset this will also be beneficial for the Planet and our wallet. And it is also most beneficial for our mind as it will detach us, if even for a while, from the hustle and bustle of life in general.

Go and get crafting...

© 2013