Do you ever get sick of being told what to do? I understand that I am a recovering middle child, but sometimes my rebellion days creep into areas of my life that I don’t want to rebel in. I want to want the celery. I want to want a run. Not always so, my friend, but this is where I have learned to tap into creativity to bypass a life of rigid rules that cramp my style.
I first made the connection between creativity and health when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Everyone’s cheerful solution to my limited choices was “just have a salad”. Being the logical and grounded person that I am both personally and professionally, I developed a rage towards salad.
Then, one day, my pity party was rudely interrupted by a thought ‘What if I focused on what foods I could eat and became creative in how I made them’. Now, don’t let the Holistic Health Blogger name fool you: I do not wake up with dreams of bean sprouts and yams dancing in my head. This was a bit of a stretch for me, but I saw it as a creative challenge. I started playing with recipes, and I developed a mad crush on different soups. {Sadly, I must report, salads and I have not been able to resolve our differences and, for the time being, we have decided to part ways.}
Since introducing creativity to my food choices worked so well, I started bringing in creativity to my exercise. If I couldn’t fit in a run, I would have a dance off with my kids or challenge my daughter to a skipping challenge. My 4.5er is obsessed with yoga and nags me to do yoga with her, which is a blast, and I found the most amazing hike that is less than two minutes from my house! (Who would have thought you could climb the mountain I live next to?).
Where things really got wild was when I applied creativity to my thinking…
Being the personal growth geek that I am, I would challenge myself to reframe dull thoughts with energizing thoughts:
Dull:
“I don’t feel like exercising.”
Creative, energizing:
“I love how I feel after a hike”
“I love how the fresh air feels when I am running”
“I can’t wait to come home after my run and take a warm bath”
Creativity is an infinite resource that resides in all of us. It seems that many of us lost this connection when we learned to be grown-ups. Unfortunately, that disconnect creates a barrier, not only in achieving what we want in life, but having fun along the way.
Luckily, creativity is innate, and with a little practice, you can use your creativity towards cooking, exercise, spirituality, thinking, hobbies or even time management.
So, pull out the pixie dust and polish up the magic wand, and start using your creativity to better your health.
{ 1 trackback }