Here is a story about how making art or doing anything creative (even if you don't consider yourself to be an artist) is good for your health. Just find something you love to do, gather your materials, and play! https://www.npr.org/2019/12/30/792439555/making-art-is-good-for-your-health-heres-how-to-start-a-habit

@jenniferhunter I seriously am not creative in what most would consider any form of art, but that article mentions cooking and baking! People think I'm a great cook but most of the time I do go by recipes, perhaps elaborating on them a bit. If you can read, you can cook. So maybe cooking/baking is fulfilling that in me. I was in my glory at Christmas making oodles of cookies to give away. I knew I was making more than we would ever use but I enjoyed the process. I also enjoyed decorating the house, I do a lot of decorating.

Unfortunately with just the two of us here, I have little opportunity to exercise the cooking/baking part of my "creativity". Sometimes I do make cookies and give them to the lovely family across the street — three children so they love it.
JK

@contentandwell Hi JK! Yes! Baking counts! I used to do that with my mom making fancy cookies for Christmas. My mom also taught me how to do cake decorating and make roses in icing when I was 6. I did that in 4-H and won trophies several years in a row for my fancy cakes. I used to make marzipan animals for the cakes for a picnic scene, and one year I made a Cinderella coach covered in rose vines with decorated cookies for wheels. I have also done several wedding cakes. I don't do this much anymore since I don't eat much sweets and can't eat wheat. I think a fancy dinner presentation on a plate counts too. Decorating the house is artistic and it makes you feel good to be in that space. Thanks for sharing your story.

@jenniferhunter This is a great article! Thanks for including this in your post; I learned a lot from it.
Ginger

@jenniferhunter I’m not great at presentation, just on taste. My sugar cookies (the absolute best per my son and daughter) just get color appropriate colored sugars. When my daughter and I were decorating some at Christmas she put black sugar on some angels! She said they were angels of death. She loves to be a tad outrageous. We had fun doing them together.
She’s not a kid of course but I will send her hearts for Valentine’s Day.
JK

@contentandwell Baking and cooking are forms of art especially when you start to experiment with different ingredients I do this sometimes some work out better then others Black angel wings I dont know about that

@lioness my daughter can be very funny with a very dry sense of humor. She is also very political. I think her despair may be part of the reason she does not plan to have children.
JK

@contentandwell That's all my son had and plans for no more lots to think about

Medical schools are taking medical students to art museums to learn observation skills by looking at great art work and discuss what medical issues might be illustrated in the work. Here is an interesting article about Michelangelo's sculpture of David and what a doctor can learn just by looking. It also talks about Michelangelo getting special permission to study and dissect cadavers in preparation for the sculpture to learn about anatomy which wasn't common knowledge for artists at the time. https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/arts/2020/01/15/michelangelo-david-reveals-medical-mystery-500-years-later/4431309002/?fbclid=IwAR3sOsNLh22GFoOkd1-_P6ncX0O7sF0eabeCo9eXVtoarlVckVomqKw3FCc

@jenniferhunter And I think the reverse may also be true! I find that as someone who does creative things, my sense of observation is heightened as compared to others. We tend to notice small differences, and can excel in a combination of medical/legal and artistic pursuits. The right and left sides of our brains being utilized together.
Ginger

@gingerw So true, Ginger. I think doctors should take art classes as part of their training so they can sharpen their skills. Maybe this is why I have learned so much about medicine with my combined art and biology science background, and all the experiences with medical appointments, physical therapists, and advocating for my elderly patients, and through the power of observation and reading medical research literature and understanding anatomy in 3 dimensions. I have been able to figure out things that doctors missed and overlooked even though I was giving them all the clues they needed. I would love to teach art classes to doctors. I even notice asymmetry in faces of people on TV commercials in the few seconds that I see them as if I was going to draw them, and I'm always thinking about how I could mix a color I see out in the world. If I am awake, I'm observing something most of the time. I do this listening to music too, and listen how the different parts and harmonies fit together, and can imagine the line without the rest of the accompaniment. My parents encouraged me toward medicine, but I decided against it after earning a pre-med degree. I worked in biology research for awhile, and I look at things from both perspectives. It's pretty exciting to me to look for ways that art and music can help patients and doctors. As patients, we tend to forget about the stress of being a physician and the responsibility it carries, and if doctors are less stressed our experiences with them will be better.

OK, how cool is this? A pediatric surgeon who draws pictures on the bandage dressings for his your patients. I love this and it's a way to help kids feel better about some scary procedures. What a cool doctor! He doesn't think he's an artist, but this is little drawings for healing for kids. https://www.akronchildrens.org/audio_video/725c0260866c4078a0b454986803bbf7-all-dressed-up-dr-robert-parry.html

I am thankful for the creative things we all can do. So many believe they have no talent. A sad thing I believe. Art is healing to my mind whether it be drawing or chopping veggies. It is the involvement with something that helps me the most.

I agree. Art is healing. Though I earned an MA in art education, sometimes I wish I had pursued a degree in art therapy. Everything I do I see through the lens of art. Surprisingly, I became a health/wellness author (38 books) and love it.

I also have an MA in art education from ASU. Maybe the emphasis on the right brain is what brings up the healer in us. I also became interested in alternative health approaches in my mid 20's when allopathic med wasn't helping my bi polar issues and I turned to Adele David and her books on eating right etc.