When you think about nature helping mental health, what picture comes to your mind? Would it be time spent in a garden, or time photographing or drawing something in nature? A walk on a sunny day, looking out for wild flowers and trees? Or perhaps enjoying sport outdoors, like cricket or windsurfing? Back in 2016Continue reading “Nature On My Mind”
Tag Archives: mental health
Time For Art
Making space for art in your daily life has to be one of the most positive, creative and practical small things you can do to change your routine. When something is known to have so beneficial an impact on wellbeing, it makes sense to weave it in to your day to day living. And toContinue reading “Time For Art”
Fuller Lives
Art, music and all arts enrich life, and they’ve become tools we can all use for wellbeing – to lift mood and ease mental health issues. They open up fuller lives. March is Women’s History Month, and opening up fuller lives is just what women have fought to do for themselves. The arts can beContinue reading “Fuller Lives”
Slowing Down
Mindfulness, relaxation, calm: the need to step back has become more and more common, as people react to the pace of life. Everything now moves at speed. With communication easier than ever, it feels like responses should be immediate, and the 24/7 news stream never shuts down. This has to contribute to nature’s importance inContinue reading “Slowing Down”
Talking About Art
In old age, the Impressionist painter Claude Monet dedicated himself almost entirely to painting water lilies. Depressed by bereavement, declining sight and the events of World War One, he was encouraged by the politician George Clemenceau to create a gallery lined with these paintings, in the Orangerie in Paris – as a space where peopleContinue reading “Talking About Art”
Songs For Life
If you were to choose one song that is “your song”, what would it be? A song you remember hearing on a special occasion, or one you just couldn’t stop singing along to when you were young? A song you’ve loved for years, or a song you’ve only discovered lately? Maybe it would be aContinue reading “Songs For Life”
Figurative Vs. Abstract
Have you found that using different art styles has different impacts on mood and wellbeing, on mental health? Is drawing a figurative picture more stimulating than painting an abstract, absorbing your mind as you try to represent the subject? Is abstract art more calming and mindful to experiment with? One focus of my Arts CouncilContinue reading “Figurative Vs. Abstract”
Question Time
What is the best way to use art and creativity to help mental health? Is there even one best way, or are there many, each one as different as the individuals experiencing mental health issues? Is it best to focus on art expressing thoughts and feelings, maybe visualizing a scene or using colour to sumContinue reading “Question Time”
At The Grassroots
Another December, another COP climate summit. Every year, as everyone winds down for the Christmas holidays, politicians and negotiators descend on a conference centre somewhere in the world to decide our planet’s future. Or that’s how it seems. I’ve been following these summits for years now. Some feel more hopeful than others, but you neverContinue reading “At The Grassroots”
Shining Out
At such a dark time of year in the northern hemisphere, when darkness falls ever earlier each day and we creep closer to the winter solstice, light becomes very precious and very special. So it’s no wonder that so many of us enjoy lighting the darkness, whether that’s with a handful of sparkly Christmas lightsContinue reading “Shining Out”
Medley 