The Surprising Benefits of Play: Boosting Happiness and Creativity
“When you play with possibilities, you feed your soul.”
My first piano teacher wouldn’t let me learn Billy Joel’s Piano Man. She shook her head and opened the book to a Beethoven Sonata, pencil in hand. I was classically trained and yes, that meant learning beautiful music from the masters, but it also meant interpreting the music the way the composer intended. Sometimes musicians debated for hours on how we should play two measures of Bach and what he truly meant.
Decades later, and I was still stuck playing music in the exact same way. But then I started teaching children, and, oh, they knew how to play at the piano. They didn’t care what the music should sound like. They wanted to make it growl like a lion. Or breathe dragon fire crawling down our backs or twinkle like stars painting the night.
They sat at the bench, smiles on their faces. They played with the possibilities and it filled them with joy.
My students inspired me to play at the piano, instead of just playing the piano. I started adding notes, weaving in different themes. It filled me with the energy of play. I was like a child, rolling down a grassy hill, laughing the whole way down.
It spilled over into my life. In the kitchen, I looked at old recipes as suggestions, adding twists. Some of them worked, others didn’t, but it didn’t matter. I was playing. I no longer reached for black pants and a grey top. I expanded my color palette and added jewelry and little bits of sparkle. My husband and I even switched spots in bed. It didn’t work out and only confused our dog, but we laughed at our experiment and moved on.
Here’s why creativity is so important:
Creativity is a Powerful Tool for Relaxation
Engaging in creative activities helps to activate the relaxation response and reduce stress. Creative pursuits like drawing, painting, writing, or playing music require focus, attention to detail, and often provide a sense of accomplishment and purpose. These activities can help you enter a state of "flow," where you become fully immersed in the task at hand and lose track of time. This can be a deeply satisfying and relaxing experience, allowing you to forget about worries or distractions and focus on the present moment.
Creative activities can also be a form of self-care, providing a positive distraction from negative thoughts and emotions. Instead of ruminating on worries or stressors, engaging in a creative project can provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment, helping to boost mood and reduce anxiety.
The Benefits of Expressive Arts for Stress Relief
Many forms of artistic expression, such as writing, painting, and other forms of creative expression, have been shown to have therapeutic benefits for reducing stress and promoting emotional healing. Expressive arts can provide a way to process and express emotions that may be difficult to articulate in words alone. For example, writing in a journal or creating a painting can help you release pent-up emotions and reduce stress.
Studies have also found that engaging in creative activities can improve mental health outcomes. For example, a 2016 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that engaging in creative activities like crafting or painting for just 45 minutes can significantly reduce stress levels and improve mood.
The Mind-Body Connection: How Creativity Promotes Relaxation and Wellness
The benefits of creativity for relaxation and stress relief are not just limited to your mental health. Engaging in creative activities can also have positive physical health outcomes. A study published in the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association found that engaging in visual art activities like painting can promote physical relaxation and well-being in a number of ways.
Engaging in creative activities can reduce the level of stress hormones in the body, such as cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones can have negative effects on our physical health over time, including increased blood pressure, reduced immune function, and inflammation. By reducing the level of stress hormones in the body, creative pursuits can help promote overall physical health and well-being.
Getting Creative: Tips and Ideas for Relaxation
We are creatures of habit. It’s easy to fall into the grooves of a routine. But when we begin to play more, we add splashes of color to our lives. There are simple ways we can weave play into our lives. Take a different route to work or when you’re walking the dog. At the dinner table, sit in a different chair and see things from a new angle. Try brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand. Make a list of ten different ways you could use a coffee mug. Create playlists of music for gardening or cleaning or working out.
Perhaps the energy of play will spill over in interesting ways. Maybe you’ll grab a box of crayons and color. Or play with paint on canvas or write a haiku about the flowers shivering in the rain. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing as long as it feels like play.
And when you play with the possibilities, you feed your soul.
