By Janet Sellers
The concept of humans looking for something that imbues a purpose for life is as ancient as humankind. It’s called “Ikigai” in Japanese. “Iki” means life, “gai” means result, fruit, and benefit. We can creatively look into our own Ikigai through the arts by making things, by connecting with the arts thoughtfully and by using strategies to improve our days. Research shows that our ikigai powerfully affects our health and well-being.
“It has been suggested that the practice of meditation is associated to neuroplasticity phenomena, reducing age-related brain degeneration and improving cognitive functions. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the brain connectivity changes in meditators .…” (National Library of Medicine (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6312586/). The study throws light on how mindfulness may play a role for preventive strategies in memory processes, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and other pathologies.
We don’t have to be an artist to be creative for improving our quality of life, but some of the tools artists use are helpful for everyone. Meditative practices have been very instrumental in creating a personal space for health and well-being. For decades, many artists and creatives in the media and film industries have used things like the workbook The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron to create their own thoughtful framework for daily living.
When we listen to our intuition and not our inner critic, we can solve problems and of course create good things in our life at any age. In teaching The Artist’s Way for many years, I offered three shareable strategies in workshops to help people make daily creative living habits. The goal was to create a pathway to Ikigai. We all know that taking a walk for 20 minutes a day is very healthy for our bodies but it’s also healthy for our minds. The repetitive action of walking balances us and we are able to access our body and mind holistically.
Artist Pages are a form of journaling or sketch-booking that help us to clean up the clutter of our mind and put on paper thoughts and feelings instead of carrying them around in our head. It unloads a lot. After about three weeks of doing this, a person often finds they’re able to leave their concerns on the written page or sketchbook. Instead of a person merely activating hormones for “fight or flight” in their day, downloading concerns to a page prompts a creative way of thinking and problem solving.
The Artist Date is something that is known from ancient times. People need a weekly “something” planned and created to look forward to, then do it, and look back at that pleasant time for the rest of the week. This is a very healing activity that develops innovative thinking and builds neural pathways for optimizing habits and changing our lives for the better.
Janet Sellers is an artist, writer and speaker who makes and shares her artworks locally and nationally via galleries, writing, and talks on art and making things. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.
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