5 ways creativity can boost mental health

Kids aren’t the only ones who benefit from unstructured playtime and space to fuel their imagination, writes Dr Happy.

5 ways creativity can boost mental health

Jerome Doraisamy

Last Updated: 20 May 2019 Published: 16 May 2019

Listening to music, appreciating art, colouring in and arranging flowers can decrease anxiety and help you feel calm and happy.

Writing, drawing, crafting and reading poetry can all help lower stress, relax your muscles, reduce indigestion and inflammation and increase self-esteem and productivity.

Basically, creative pursuits can help us focus our attention, similar to the way meditating does.

Here are some ways we can use creativity to boost our mental health:

1. Think of all the different ways you can find joy.

2. Imagine your best possible life and what you can do to make it a reality.

3. Draw or paint or describe your unpleasant emotions in a way that makes them seem manageable.

4. Constantly work to find new and fun ways to catch up with friends, support them and have them support you.

5. Be the most you that you can possibly be; create ways to highlight your individuality and to live authentically.

Dr Tim Sharp, aka Dr Happy, is the chief happiness officer at batyr and founder of The Happiness Institute. This story originally appeared on batyr's website.

Jerome Doraisamy

Jerome Doraisamy is a senior writer for Lawyers Weekly and Wellness Daily at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in early 2018, Jerome is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and, prior to joining the team in early 2018, he worked in both commercial and governmental legal roles and has worked as a public speaker and consultant to law firms, universities and high schools across the country and internationally. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines self-help book series and is an adjunct lecturer at The University of Western Australia.

Jerome graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Social Inquiry).

You can email Jerome at: [email protected]