Five Ways to Become Happier: Art Therapy

This is a quote from mernadachka’s post Original post Five Ways to Become Happier: Art Therapy

Art therapy methods are actively used by psychologists and psychiatrists.
They found out a long time ago: there are “magic pictures” that help to heal from fears and anxieties!
Here are some simple tricks with which you can manage yourself, change your moods, feelings and even the course of life for the better!!!

picture of joy
When to apply: if you are sad, bored, have no purpose in life, or you are in a “suspended” state. Or maybe just accumulated fatigue? Then you need to take paints or colored pencils (markers will also work) and … draw your joy.

When you drive a brush over paper, be sure to listen to your feelings and inner voice. Immerse yourself in drawing like you are a famous artist. But always remember that you are painting your JOY. It can be something concrete or just an abstract “daub”, circles and all sorts of curls. Don’t limit your imagination!

When finished, set aside work for 10 to 15 minutes. If later, when you look at her, you feel warm, it means that you surrendered to your picture completely. And it will become your framed talisman for many years!

Deciphering the picture
By what colors there are more in the picture, you can tell a lot about your condition:
Blue – you strive for peace, you lack solitude.
Blue-green – you need a sense of self-confidence or just time to relax normally.
Orange-red – a sign of excitation of the nervous system. This means that you are ripe for some serious changes in life.
Light yellow – you strive for communication and fun.
Saturated yellow – you lack hope for the best and confidence in the future.
Green – softness, flexibility, but at the same time it can mean a craving for knowledge or a desire for career growth.
Bright scarlet – an active attitude to victory. You have the strength to overcome all obstacles and succeed.
Burn your pain

When to apply: if you suffer from unrequited love or you are tormented by vague doubts.

You must draw or make a symbol of your pain out of paper. How you feel, do it. It can be a toothy figurine or a paper ball (if there is a stone on the heart). When creating an art object of pain, you need to think about it all the time, feel it. You can even cry and put your experiences into this image. It is believed that the energy of suffering goes into your craft.

Once you transfer your pain into the real thing, it will start to recede. And so that she never returns, you just need to burn the figurine (drawing). And scatter the ashes to the wind. Don’t be afraid, this has nothing to do with magic!!! This method was invented by serious psychologists.

Letters… to yourself

When applied: stress, resentment, intrusive unnecessary memories and thoughts – all this can be removed with the help of letters to yourself.

For this you need to take five pages. It is best if they are colored: white, yellow, green, blue and brown. Or take pencils of the same colors and write with them.

Act like this:
On the “white” page, you describe the stressful situation formally, as in court: “So-and-so happened on such and such a date …”
On “brown” you begin to violently express all the NEGATIVE emotions about what you described earlier. Here you play the role of a pessimist whiner.
On the yellow page, your role is an optimist in a state of delight. You express all POSITIVE emotions.
The “green” page is a field for creativity, where your role is “artist” or “writer”. You can dedicate a poem to this situation or write a short story. You can even draw something. In general, creatively rethink your problem.
On the “blue” sheet, you play the “wise man”: you draw accurate and serious conclusions and give advice to yourself.

This blue leaf is the solution to your problems! Everyone else helped you to look at the situation from different points of view. And now you can make the most correct decision.
IMPORTANT! Writing should not be a heavy duty for you. Write from the heart, otherwise there will be no effect!

Enemy caricature

When to apply: if you have a conflict with someone, a protracted quarrel, or you are afraid of something.

Draw the “enemy” or your fear in the form of a fabulous animal. Yes, scarier! With horns, fangs, hooves, etc.

And then you can play with it. For example, you have conflicts with a teacher. So draw it in the form of a fire-breathing dragon. And then “put” in a cage with huge locks. Or send her to the moon in a big rocket. That’s it, the conflict is over!

Another example. You are afraid of something or worried before an important conversation. To this “animal” it is necessary to attach something from which it will become safe. You add a smile to the monster, bows and balloons. Or you draw yourself next to him – huge and omnipotent. And the fear recedes.

Singer Lera Masskva painted this picture when she was afraid to go to the dentist to have a tooth removed. This is how she dealt with her fear. And no longer afraid of dentists 🙂

Why does it work? With this pattern, you work through your negative emotions and remove bad settings. When you see an “enemy” in a cage, and even give him a kick, your mind remembers: he is not dangerous!

Take off your shell

When applied: if you often have to hold back and do not give an outlet for your energy, you accumulate emotions inside. Joy or resentment, it doesn’t matter.

According to the psychoanalyst Reich, at such moments we have a muscular shell. We feel stiffness, we always want to shrink into a ball. This makes it difficult to build normal relationships with people, close to depression.

To combat this state, use dancing. Classes in a dance studio are not suitable here – they direct your movements there. You need to choose a place where you will feel free and give yourself up to dancing completely – at home, in a club, but even in the rain on the seashore! Dance as often as possible, and the shell will stop pressing on you!