How a Creative Pursuit can Enhance Your Life

There are many different forms of creative pursuit you can indulge in. whether it is painting, writing, sculpting, music, cooking, dance, etc., they all have the power to transform your life and improve it. By delving into the artistic work, you will develop a new outlook on the world and life in general. This has the effect of enhancing your perspective, improving your ability to communicate, and thus giving you a greater sense of well-being. In a world where mental well-being seems to be declining, in general, it is more important than ever to find outlets that have a positive effect.

Happiness 

When you are completely absorbed in the act of creating, in those moments, nothing else exists except you and your work. This is known as a flow state and is akin to a meditative state. By disappearing into the flow state, the outside world melts away for a while, stress and anxiety disappear, your heart rate can slow down, and your mood is elevated. Moreover, the act of creating something involves repetitive movements such as writing, knitting, painting and has an end result. When you complete a creative task, your brain creates more dopamine. Dopamine is a pleasure chemical that makes your feel happy. That means that you may actually be motivated by your own ability to create dopamine. To begin with, you may even be unaware of this increase in dopamine. However, it can drive you to create more.  

It Improves Mental Health

Due to the fact that creating something allows the mind to focus, instead of running wildly over everything in your life, it is like meditation, and that means it can calm and relax your mind and body. It doesn’t matter what you are focusing on. Whether it’s writing a best seller or creating a new 3 ingredient rotel dip recipe, you will find that it acts as a natural anti-depressant. The act of creating can reduce depression, stress, and anxiety. It even has the effect of helping you process trauma. Writing novels, screenplays, poetry, etc., allows you to manage negative emotions in a productive manner. Painting and drawing are very good at expressing instances of trauma or any kind of experience that is difficult to verbalize. 

It’s good for the Immune System

There have been a few studies linking creative writing to the ability to heal quicker and boost our immune function. It is not clear how it does this; however, the absence of stress, even for a while, has got to be beneficial to our physical health. It also seems that creative writing increases CD4+ lymphocyte count in the body. This is a pivotal part of the immune system. Music is also a great way to boost your immune system. , 

Improves Intelligence 

The act of creating changes the way your brain waves flow, and this can improve the way you process information and can level out your emotions. Playing music is a great way to improve the connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. By playing music, you have advanced and faster processing between the two sides of the brain. The life side of your brain controls your motor functions, and the right side is concerned with the melody. If you are used to using the two sides of your brain simultaneously, you are better equipped when it comes to problem-solving, for example. It enables you to think outside the box more, as the two sides of your brain are able to communicate faster and with ease. Creative pursuits can also improve cognitive function. This is most markedly noticed in older people. If an older person takes up some form of performing art, their cognitive function improves in as little as a month. 

It Can Reduce Dementia

By taking part in a creative pursuit and slowing down cognitive decline, you can actually stave off mental health conditions such as dementia. More than that if someone is already suffering from dementia, it can help these people sharpen their senses and get back a feel of their personality. Creativity can also help people who are lonely, isolated, and depressed too.

The Social Factor

Creative art can actually enhance your social life. Art is naturally a social thing, and a lot of the time, you are using art to communicate something, and that means there is an audience in mind. At some point, no matter how solitary your pursuit is, you will want to engage with other people. You can do this by joining a class or a group like a writing or cooking class.