Over the last few weeks, one word has cropped up time and again as I’ve spoken with participants in my art for wellbeing activities. It’s something they say they’ve found very beneficial, or that they would like to start – but they say demand is high, and they can’t always find local or online groups.Continue reading “Glimpse Something Deeper”
Tag Archives: wellness
Communities That Care
Creativity plays an important part in many care homes – and so too does community. With care homes running varied activities most days, alongside the quizzes, outings and bingo there are lots of music, arts and crafts. This week is Care Home Open Week, and I’ve heard people sharing how they feel about the prospectContinue reading “Communities That Care”
Treasure Chest
Are you a collector? Is there something you look out to collect wherever you go – maybe hats, teapots, clocks, football shirts, first edition books or teddy bears? I’ve never formed a collection, but I’ve known people who collect Victoriana, music memorabilia, and model houses & railways – and even someone who collects anything toContinue reading “Treasure Chest”
Rich And Full
In her novel Emma, Jane Austen writes that “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other”. It’s a saying I remember most days! And it’s a saying I remembered when last year I read a book sharing the author’s mental health issues. Through all her struggles, the author reflected, the peopleContinue reading “Rich And Full”
A New Stigma
Sometimes I wonder which is truly more beneficial for wellbeing: creativity that expresses and explores thoughts & feelings directly, or that highlights something totally different? Is creativity most helpful as a tool or as a haven? This could apply to visual arts, music, dance or drama. Should they help shut out the darkness or delveContinue reading “A New Stigma”
A New Beginning
A fresh start, a time to recommit and throw yourself back into life, or a dreary slide towards winter? How do you see this time of year? Long into adulthood, autumn still has that “back to school” feeling – for good or ill! Summer’s still seen as carefree time in the sun, while autumn isContinue reading “A New Beginning”
Sketching Nature
On the very first day of meteorological autumn, as it is now called, I saw a cranefly – or daddy long legs – bumbling along the back wall of my house, up and down and across. Always a sign that autumn is on its way, and a sighting I’ll record on a page in myContinue reading “Sketching Nature”
Nature On My Mind
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”
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”
Medley 