What’s the first thought that comes into your mind when you hear the words creativity, the arts, music, dance, drama, art or craft? Do you think “wonderful, enriching, fun”? Or do you think “boring, scary, not for you”?
Many of us do have an instinctive yes or no response to lots of things in life. Dismissing the arts, or sport, or skydiving, or growing your own fruit and vegetables, can become a habit or limiting belief. It can reflect low self esteem, feeling you are not good ebough or don’t have the ability or skills needed. Particularly true with art – since becoming an art for wellbeing practitioner, I’ve heard lots of people dismiss drawing with a laugh. “But I can’t draw!” End of story. But is it?
Shutting off an entire area of life feels negative. And all the more so when it’s about creativity, a fundamental human outlet and a way of being present and active while expressing ourselves. How can we become more open to creativity and new forms of being creative? How can we also encourage others to be more open, and foster creativity?
Behavioural change is an uneasy term. It feels like coercion or pressure, as if someone feels they know better than you and want to bend you to their will. No one’s wellbeing is likely to benefit if they feel they’re being pushed to change. It’s more likely that we will dig our heels in. Maybe that’s why the Cabinet Office’s behavioural change unit is known as the Nudge Unit. After all, a gentle nudge sounds harmless enough. And central to encouraging behavioural change is to make it easy and to make it obvious.
How might that fit the arts? Make it easy to experiment with creativity – such as highlighting quick, simple art ideas, which I like to suggest and share, ideas that take only ten or 15 minutes to complete – but can be just as beneficial, and are likely to fit more easily and sustainably into your life. Drawing is also easier to set up and clear away than all the messiness of painting. Or try watching short plays streamed online to get into theatre. Or try a xylophone or tambourine or other widely available & inexpensive percussion instrument to get into music in a new way. And make it obvious? The more the wellbeing benefits of the arts become widely known, the more likely we all are to give them a try. All the more so if we get into creativity in childhood, so that it becomes an obvious pastime to come back to in later life – which is why the decline of arts in schools needs to change in itself.
One theory of behavioural experts is that most people are more likely to pursue an activity if they identify with other participants, if it fits their self image and if they trust the person suggesting the activity. Most of us do like to be in the majority, so the more popular an activity becomes, the more likely we are to join in. Making all the arts as mainstream and as inclusive as possible is vital. So is highlighting that creativity is hit and miss, that we will all be dissatisfied with what we create sometimes and that it’s more the experimenting that matters.
No behavioural change is straightforward, and many limiting beliefs have deep roots. All any of us can do is open our minds to possibilities, even if they still feel a long way away.
Medley 