Creative Contemplation, Part I
Art has long been regarded as a relaxing pastime, especially if one doesn’t perceive it to come with any pressures such as time, expense, the need to be skillful, or the inevitability of being critically judged. Some art forms lend themselves more than others to removing all these barriers to relaxation. Collage is one such form, where the artist cuts or tears from magazines and other printed media and glues the pieces onto paper to form a new image.
In my experience of doing collage over the years, I can attest to there being very little skill required and it is almost impossible to judge the results. You quickly learn almost anything you make will have its charm.
Many years ago, as I sat immersed in my collage project for hours, for weekend after weekend, I began to notice the healing benefits of my pastime. I was going through a rough phase, and when left to make my collages, I found myself calmer, thinking expansively, and feeling very rewarded in the process. On another level, the subject of my collage was allowing me to process grief and transform it into not only a beautiful piece of art, but also self-acceptance and self-understanding. I realised that few pastimes could give me this level of creative contemplation and such a deep well of gifts: the feeling of calm, new ideas, reward, learning how to let go, and trust myself. When you are immersed in an art form like collage, it works like a virtuous circle, with a sense of integration and well-being emerging like a miracle. Years later I learned that mindfulness meditation could give me similar results, minus the works of art.
While entirely trusting my intuition around my experience, I became curious about the psychology and science behind the benefits I was experiencing. I wanted a rational explanation for my experience so that I could share the benefits with others in a way they’d find plausible. It has taken me many years of consciously connecting the dots through deliberate study and active experimentation. I read books and articles, attended an art therapy course, and this year enrolled in Neuroleadership Institute’s coaching courses. I was fortunate to find friends and colleagues who invited me to create safe spaces for us to experiment and learn.
I would like to summarise what I learnt from art therapy through the lens of my experience as a participant in the art therapy class. On the neuroscience, this HBR article (4 Steps to Having More Aha Moments) by David Rock, founder of the Neuroleadership Institute, is particularly useful. It explains what is happening in the brain during impactful learning and talks about the conditions for insight, all of which I believe are achieved while making a collage. Those conditions are: quiet, internal focus, lower anxiety, and taking a break from thinking.
As an art therapy participant, two activities stood out for me:
1) to draw what “psychological safety” means to me, and
2) to draw what I’d like my day to look like.
I have validated the few personal observations I would like to make through a layperson’s review of a great art therapy textbook: Art Therapy Theories: A Critical Introduction by Susan Hogan.
Drawing “psychological safety” allowed what was significant for me to know to emerge. I am not qualified to explain how the unconscious works or makes itself known, but I have experienced it through visualisation and art exercises time and time again. This is just one example. Through the activity, not only did I come to know what makes me feel safe but the definition of safe became clear to me; as a partner, parent or leader, I want others to have that feeling of being themselves, feeling protected and feeling cared for. A simple prompt gave me a level of learning and memory hook that no text book, lecture, or discussion could have achieved.
In the second activity, to draw “this is how I want my day to look and feel”, I experienced setting a positive intention. My visual plan for the day was more than having a to do list, it had images and feelings! The picture was a reminder of what my day should be like and in a format that was easy to remember in its entirety. The picture set the tone for the day. The art therapist Marcia Rosal states:
“When creating a piece of art, the artist must be involved in uncovering mental images and messages, recalling memories, making decisions, and generating solutions. Whether drawing or sculpting, creating art involves instant feedback systems and the ongoing reinforcement of satisfying behaviours. Each brushstroke that appears on the paper can suggest or promote further action (feedback) as well as delight (reinforce) the artist. Creating art means that there is a concrete record of inner processes. This concrete record can be discussed, altered, and redrawn to satisfaction. It can also be used to recall past events and as a reminder of positive emotional experiences.” (Rosal 2001, p. 217)
The visualisation prompts I use in my teaching, coaching and team sessions are positive, solution focused, and forward looking. As an art practitioner, facilitator and coach, my role is to create the conditions for learning, hold a creative process for others, and coach individuals and teams to feelings of well-being, greater inner resourcing, insight generation, and learning integration.
In my next post I look forward to sharing the experience and takeaways of participants in the various sessions I have held so far: a PhD thesis reflection over multiple sessions, a team purpose visualisation, and a small group session where individuals set intentions for an abundant future.
“For the road to Santiago,
don’t make new declarations
about what to bring
and what to leave behind.
Bring what you have.
You were always going
that way anyway,
you were always
going there all along.”
~ David Whyte