Tag Archives: the art of stress management

Community

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A little while ago I was asked if I would do a community radio interview with Sally from Volunteer for Knox. I have volunteered in various organizations for many years, so I agreed. Volunteering is more than working at the local op shop or for the CFA. It’s about a sense of contributing to the wider community. There are numerous opportunities to serve as a committee or board member for clubs, associations and charities. My last volunteer position was as Secretary/Public Officer of the Monash Business Awards, a role I did for 8 years.

My focus these days is on stress management and Art Therapy. One piece of information that I came across whilst researching stress and its effects, was that because volunteers “feel good” about what they are doing, they are more likely to produce “happy hormones”, which in turn helps with a stronger immune system.

You can listen to the interview HERE.

The Power of Art Therapy for Stress Management

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Regular art therapy sessions offer a creative, gentle way to reduce your stress and boost mental well-being. By focusing on the process—not the outcome—of creating art, you can experience:

🧠 Mindfulness: Engaging in creative activities naturally promotes mindfulness, helping you stay present and release worries about the past or future.

✨ Emotional Release: Art provides a safe outlet to express feelings that might be hard to put into words.

💪 Increased Resilience: Reflecting through art helps you process emotions, building inner strength and resilience over time.

There’s no artistic skill required—just a willingness to explore! Art therapy can be a powerful tool for reducing stress and nurturing your mental health.

Being a Better Listener

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Being a better listener can enhance your emotional intelligence in several ways. Emotional intelligence involves the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions in the moment, as well as the emotions of others.

Here are a few ways that being a better listener can boost your emotional intelligence:

  • Increased empathy: When you listen attentively to others, you become more attuned to their feelings, needs, and perspectives. This can help you develop greater empathy for others, which is a key component of emotional intelligence.
  • Improved communication: Good listening skills can help you communicate more effectively with others, which can reduce misunderstandings and conflict. This can enhance your emotional intelligence by allowing you to express your own emotions more clearly and understand others’ emotions more accurately.
  • Enhanced self-awareness: Being a good listener can help you become more aware of your own emotional responses and triggers. By observing how others react to different situations, you can gain insight into your own emotional patterns and learn to manage them more effectively.
  • Deeper relationships: Active listening involves paying attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues, which can help you build deeper connections with others. This can lead to more fulfilling and supportive relationships, which are essential for emotional well-being.

Overall, being a better listener can improve your emotional intelligence by helping you understand and manage your own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.

By practicing active listening, you can develop greater empathy, improve communication, enhance self-awareness, and build deeper relationships. If this sounds like something that you need to improve upon, let’s chat.

Art Therapy and Stress Management

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Art therapy is a form of therapy that involves using art to express oneself and explore emotions. It can be a helpful tool for managing stress, as it allows you to process your feelings in a non-verbal way and can provide a sense of relaxation and mindfulness.

One way art therapy can help manage stress is by providing a creative outlet for you to express yourself. Creating art can be a way to release pent-up emotions and reduce feelings of anxiety or tension. The act of making art can also be calming and meditative, allowing you to focus your attention on the present moment and let go of worries about the past or future.

Art therapy can also help you to gain insight into your feelings and thought patterns. Creating art can be a way to access and explore the subconscious mind, which can lead to new insights and a greater understanding of oneself. Therefore the process of creating and reflecting on art you can learn to identify and manage sources of stress.

Finally, art therapy can be a way to connect with others and build a sense of community. Participating in group art therapy sessions can provide a supportive environment where you can share experiences and feel validated and understood. This sense of connection and belonging can help reduce feelings of stress and isolation.

Overall, art therapy can be a valuable tool for managing stress and promoting overall well-being. If you’re interested in exploring art therapy, consider reaching out to me and I can guide you through the process, helping you to develop a personalized plan for managing your stress through art.

Inner Worlds

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creative flowWith the world around us in a state of flux and change, many people are now seeking to enrich their inner worlds.  There are many ways to do this – meditation or other spiritual practices, journaling or being in nature.

Art therapy allows us to be in a non judgemental and supported space where we are free to explore the deeper meanings behind our thoughts and emotions.

Through meditation or other meditative practices such as prayer and reflection, or dream journaling, you can begin to access your own inner world. This in turn can lead to an expression of your spirituality and these can include the creation of paintings, Mandalas and sculptures which reflect your innermost thoughts and dreams.

Carl Jung is associated with using the Mandala as a means to access his patients inner worlds. He felt that the therapeutic act of reflection upon an image could lead to further insights and reveal deeper, subconscious thoughts, which when brought to the surface resolve a long forgotten issue

Art and Spirituality

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There has been a long relationship between art and spirituality. Early civilizations used art to make sense of events around them. It was also a way to record the culture of the time. Over time, the various civilizations and their spiritual life evolved.  Art became the means of expressing  their spiritual, philosophical and cultural concepts.

A Balanced LifeThe action of creating the artwork was and still is a deeply rewarding endeavour. When an artist connects with their inner self they  are able to bring forward insights and themes in the images for others to appreciate and to reflect upon.

Furthermore, the action of creating the artwork is a meditative and often spiritual experience can lead to an inner understanding of self.

Meditation

By using meditation as a precursor to an art therapy session, the conscious mind is stilled and in this stillness, there is the opportunity to access the subconscious mind with less resistance.

A short, relaxation meditation provides a safe and supported place for you to enter into a quiet space.  Whilst in this space, you can create or produce images that come from your subconscious mind. So too, the process can lead to creative problem solving.

A Blank Mandala to download and enjoy.

Creative Flow

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So what is creative flow? Creative flow can best be described as a relaxed state of mind that has been brought about by focusing on creating an image or piece of art work.Creating or colouring in mandalas are an ideal way to achieve this.

Benefits other than creative flow are:creative flow

  • distraction
  • detachment
  • self reflection

By engaging our senses – visual and kinaesthetic – we are able to enter into a meditative state.  The action of colouring in, as well as engaging the mind in selection of the colours, helps us to distract the conscious mind. In turn, this allows the subconscious mind to create images that may represent previously forgotten conflicts or traumas. These can then be interpreted by having a discussion about what meaning the image has to you.

During the course of a therapy program, you may well discover that as you experience this creative flow, you also become more aware of strategies that help you to reduce your stress. With stress reduced, you will enjoy more self awareness and able to better focus on daily tasks.

Why is Gratitude important?

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GratitudeGratitude is where you acknowledge the positive things that are in your life and that you appreciate on a regular basis. Why is gratitude important? By acknowledging the things we are grateful for, we are not focusing on anything that we may perceive as lacking in our lives.

Gratitude focuses the mind on the “now” and is a form of mindfulness, especially when we write down on or journal on a daily basis.

As we focus on the positive, endorphins are released and we feel better. A positive mindset is important to wellbeing and especially in today’s pandemic, helpful in maintaining wellness and a more balanced emotional state.

30 days of gratitudeHaving a daily practice that helps you to focus on things that you are grateful for will help you to form a new and more helpful mindset.

In the past I have run a couple of 30 Days of Gratitude, both here and on Facebook. It may be a little difficult to find the posts now as the last 30 day challenge was in 2020.  A little time consuming, but another way to jog the mind to think about what you are grateful for is to write a single sentence in you diary each day about what you were grateful that day. You can go out and buy an expensive journal with the prompts already printed or make your own.

 

Love what you do

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love what you doWhen you love what you do and are engaged in the activity, hormones such as Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin (happy hormones) are released and stress is reduced.

As stress is reduced, wellbeing is increased. When you love what you do, you may discover or rediscover something that  you yearned to do as a child but put aside due to societal or cultural expectations.

What dreams did you put aside?

Pursuing what you love to do will bring you  a great sense of satisfaction and completion. The joy in creating has immense benefits. It could be cooking, woodwork, pottery or another craft.  Not only crafts but writing or art can bring great joy to both creator and observer.  Have you noticed that when someone is engaged in their passion, their inner energy is apparent and they radiate that out to those around them?

If you need help in rediscovering your dreams let’s have a chat.

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Coping Strategies

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Coping strategies as we begin to return to more social contact and are vital in mental health recovery. Effective coping strategies empower you when you take note of and recognize what may trigger you in a crisis situation.  When you have access to these strategies, it will give you a sense of control over some part of your life that otherwise may seem out of control. Managing stress

For example, recognizing that stress is inevitable for everyone at some stage can help to normalize stressful situations. Furthermore, being aware of your response to stress and using more helpful options to manage that stress can help you move towards recovery. Good coping strategies lead to good Emotional Intelligence. Once you are aware of what stressors are most likely to trigger you, then you can start to work on your emotional response in an emotionally intelligent way.

In the workshops and sessions that I facilitate, clients are offered a variety of simple, yet effective strategies to help them cope with the ever changing landscape that we encounter as we navigate to our “new normal”.

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