Once upon a time, there was a child. In a great tragedy, the child’s parents were murdered. Or maybe they died of sickness. Perhaps it was an accident… The news article wasn’t very clear.
The child moved between guardians; always cared for, but always feeling other. The child felt different from their peers and guardians. Through this sense of otherness they began to dream about what their ideal life may look like. To help others, yes, but also to do something great. Is this the start of a Hero’s Journey or Delusions of Grandeur, is up to debate, but this origin has placed the child in a unique position. They want to do, to become, something beyond the origin of tragedy. Something to dedicate their life to. Something greater than their parents’ death. This drive carries the child to advance in specific skills. This drive carries the child to make relationships and create a chosen family of their own. Through challenge and creative thinking, the child, now an adult, learns that greatness is a journey – not a destination. It is through this journey that they fulfill their dream and make the world better, one piece at a time.
Perhaps in the story above, you thought of Bruce Wayne (pre-Batman). Maybe Spiderman, Anikin Skywalker, Tanjiro Kamado, Harry Potter, Monkey D. Luffy,, or Izuku Midoriya. I lied. You were probably thinking about Alexander Hamilton, Zheng Yi Sao, JRR Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, or Simone Biles.
The Power of Narratives
What’s important isn’t who the child is, but how you are able to connect with them and their story. How does their story relate to yours and what do those similarities and differences in experiences mean?
If I had to guess, you may have had some of the following thoughts reading that passage:
“Oh no, that’s terrible”
“At least they used the tragedy for good.”
“What was the skill they learned?”
Maybe you locked onto the child’s support system and wondered how one gains such a thing. Maybe when discussing otherness you began to see yourself as that child. Have you felt so different you had to adapt beyond the “norm”? Maybe poverty growing up pushed you to learn a trade. Maybe abuse pushed you to protect others. Maybe wanting to connect with your friends led you on an adventure.
Understanding Creativity
Creativity, whether narrative, visual, or auditory, is a powerful tool of expression, managing stress levels, and connection. Psychologist Carl Jung (1953) believed that creativity is our subconscious actively working to meet a need or solve a problem. He describes it as “alien impulses” that lie within. Even when the person has self-awareness they may be “taken captive by his work.” Anyone who has become invested in a sewing project, story, or brainstorming a new business plan can understand this feeling. While this may be existential, it may also relate to the “problems” needing to be solved: boredom, health, connection, well-being, exploring foreign places and topics, etc.
The word “creativity” comes from the word, Create. We create things that do not exist from parts of ourselves and the world around us. According to Jung, this inner source (or as he says, “archetype”) is baked into our unconscious. Everyone is innately creative, it’s just a matter of finding what form of creative expression fits, and how to let it out.
This pairs with the argument of “innate vs learned” creativity. There is the saying that 10,000 hours of doing anything can make you an expert. While this is true in some respects, one also has to be interested in the thing, find value in it, and expect to succeed– this has commonly been coined the “equation of motivation” (Steel, 2014).
Therapeutic Benefits of Creative Practices
Within the last 100 years, we have been flooded with empirical data supporting what many cultures have known for centuries– creative practice can be an intervention for many mental health challenges. Working with a trained mental health professional on art-based therapies can promote positive mental health outcomes. Music therapy has been used within neuro-cognitive/developmental conditions for years, alongside a constructive outlet for generalized mental health issues. This falls under the principle of Narrative therapy– externalizing feelings, events, and concepts outside of ourselves and studying and exploring how these concepts interact with us as people (Psychology Today, n.d.). We see this not just with music and narrative writing, but also with poetry (Dubrasky et al, 2018) and visual arts (Balfany, 2020).
The relationship between the creator and consumer are the core considerations regarding how creative arts integrate with society. As individuals, creative outlets are a way to express and process emotions and can have physical and mental health benefits as well (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2003). By practicing creative expression, individuals may decrease burnout and stress from existing life obligations. Creativity will also lend to increased productivity and results within work fields. Often, the fine arts (music, dance, visual arts) have a perceived monopoly on creativity. However, one may create and think within countless other ways using a wide range of activities– designing new spreadsheets for business analytics, creating a marketing plan, designing new medications to cure disease. Encouraging people to study and pursue their interests is key for society to thrive.
Increasing Access; Increasing Wellness
By supporting creative activities and programs that focus on artistic expression and study in schools and communities, we are increasing access for people to find what their passions are and what they seek to create and in the process, increase mental well-being and quality of life. I’m sure most can imagine how dull life would be without your favorite book, tv show, or music artist. What would your life be like without inventions of the automobile, airplane, or life saving vaccines? We live in societies that love the results from the creatives and creative activities that “make it” but often do not fuel the process that gets these results. Imagine what life could be if schools and communities poured into our youth and adults to explore our “alien impulses” and create and thrive in a way human beings require– beyond test scores and uniformity.
Once upon a time, there was a writer. Their full-time job was an engineer, but it was a hobby from grade school they have reclaimed. One day, after a stressful day at work, they opened their phone’s notepad and began to type. A few words appeared each day, only for a few minutes at a time, but those minutes were magical. The engineer was given a voice and power to create their own world. A world where an orphaned child grows up to do great things. In the same way the story we read several paragraphs did something for you, it possibly did even more for its writer.
Blog written by Sentier therapist Paradise Foster, MA, LPC.
Sources
Balfany, B. (2020, March 4). Art Therapy and Trauma Workshop. Seminar presented at
Minnesota State, Mankato’s Creative Arts Therapies and Trauma.
Canadian Paediatric Society (2003). Impact of media use on children and youth. Paediatr Child
Health. 2003 May-Jun; 8(5): 301–306.doi: 10.1093/pch/8.5.301
Dubrasky, D., Sorensen, S., Donovan, A., & Corser, G. (2018). “Discovering inner strengths”: a
co-facilitative poetry therapy curriculum for groups. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 32(1), 1–
10. doi: 10.1080/08893675.2019.1548924
Jung, C. G. (1953). The Collected Works of C.G. jung. Routledge & K. Paul.
Piers Steel, P. D. (2012). The procrastination equation: How to stop putting things off and start
getting stuff done. HarperCollins e-Books.
Sussex Publishers. (n.d.). Narrative therapy. Psychology Today.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/narrative-therapy
