Don’t let yourself be stopped

 

I hosted an event and got a question that I want to give a public answer to. The woman asked: “How to prove to relatives that art therapy is not some kind of fool?”

I, as a person who has been introducing art therapy methods all his life, somewhere inside, this greatly outraged me. You live with a loved one, he is looking for and trying methods to restore himself, improve his mental health, and you, as if you should root for his quality of life, devalue these attempts.

And here I want to answer: “Of course, you can’t prove to everyone that this method has healing power for many centuries, from the caveman and Ancient Greece to our times. Already empirical hardware studies at the academic level have proven the healing effect of creativity on all processes of the body. But, perhaps, it is worth taking and deciding somewhere within yourself. To create a certain creative manifesto for oneself, to form affirmative ideas about creativity.
Here’s what they might contain, for example:

If I feel good about creativity, I should do it!

If my condition changes for the better, then I will create!

If I like it, I have every right to it!

If I feel happy in creativity, then how it looks is not important!

If my soul and body strive to express themselves in creativity, this is a true desire!

If my heavy thoughts are released in this way, then this is the best method!

If no one else understands what I’m doing, it’s only because they haven’t tried!

These theses, of course, should be continued with your own arguments, there can be a lot of them, and it is these phrases that will become the beginning of the freedom of creative contact with yourself, with all the complex particles of our thoughts and emotions, events and warnings, because art therapy is also complex. Try to say important words in paint on a white sheet and convey strong feelings, but this is how humanity has been operating throughout its existence.
Honor yourself and your creativity, because it is the language of God!

@Victoria Nazarevich 2023