Art Therapy and Self Care

There are times when it feels like you are at a threshold and everything seems to be too much to handle or too much to bear or just too much. You did not realise how and when you reached this stage and now anything that comes your way seems like a breaking point. Sounds familiar?

Well, what if someone told you, that in the whole day if you spend about 60 minutes of quality time with yourself, sincerely, day after day and month after month, you can not only come out of this stage but also avoid reaching this stage altogether in future. In fact, you will begin to lead a more fulfilling and holistic life than you have ever imagined and will be able to do a lot more too!

Sounds unreal?

But yes, it is possible. I'm sharing a tried and tested model that works wonders if you follow it diligently. Now, if you think you do not even have 60 minutes for yourself out of the 960 wake minutes of your daily life, which is just 1.6% of your total time, then probably you should not even bother reading the rest of the article. But if you truly want to change your life for the better and are tired, exhausted and maybe want to just try out one more thing before feeling hopeless about your situation, you should continue reading further and give this a shot for at least 30 days. 30 days because as per most behavioural psychologists, it takes 21 days to form a habit and I like to give myself another 9 days above that just to be sure. Remember 60 minutes is the minimum in a day and anything over and above that is most welcome.

What do we do in those 60 minutes?

Below is a representation of the segregation of which areas to spend those 60 minutes in. The time for each type is not specified here because in the beginning it is easier to practice by keeping this flexible.

While the chart may seem a bit overwhelming to be able squeeze in all the five types of self care in an hour, but believe me it is possible. I have divided it for you for a reference point to get an idea from. Feel free to change it according to what you feel appropriate for you to begin with. But remember, it is important to cover all five aspects of self care daily and a couple of minutes here and there does not matter. What really matters is that you do all five for thirty days.

Ready? Here we go!

1. Physical care - 20 mins brisk walk/ exercise

2. Mental care - 10 mins of solving a puzzle, reading a blog or a book

3. Spiritual care - 10 mins of a mindfulness practice such as meditation, deep breathing

4. Social care - 10 mins of a phone call to friend or a family member. Please note its a 'phone call', a text message does not count

5. Emotional care - 10 mins of daily journaling, expressive therapy such as art therapy, music therapy or any other form of expression that suits you

These can be in any order and you can change the duration as per your liking. All of them need not be practiced altogether back to back but can be segregated in parts during the whole day. But, this is the bare minimum and we can at least do this much for ourself isn't it?

What's the catch?

Whereas numbers 1-4 are relatively easy to practice owing to the resources available, it is the last one, our emotional care, which is the most difficult to practice in our daily life. The reason is simple, we are slowly tending towards not being able to express our true feelings and over a period of time we have learnt not to express emotions at all, leading to underlying stress which in turn leads to various physical and mental health problems. The lack of tools and channels to express has reduced over a period of time because of living in a digital era where people are becoming more isolated in their real lives and the tolerance for expressing how you feel is not as much as it was before. This has led to getting used to suppressing emotions which is the underlying cause of most of our issues.

How do we express ourself?

There are various tools that can be used for expressing yourself, including Music Therapy, Drama, Dance and Art Therapy to name a few. Out of all these Art Therapy is one such tool which has been my all time favourite, because it is not only fun but is also super easy to practice. You need not be an artist to do it and it always reminds me of the excitement I felt as a child when I was first exposed to colours. Moreover, colours have their own therapeutic power and reach our subconscious mind even if we are unaware of our feelings.

Art, often underestimated is fascinating tool and can be used in various ways, from mindfulness techniques such as Zentangle art or as visual art therapy by meditating on your Mandala creation. It is also great fun to add art by graphical representations in our daily journaling instead of words alone and is a super tool for manifesting affirmations too.

How do you begin Expressive Art Therapy?

Step 1

Invest in a journalling notebook or an art book and some colours and dedicate them for your daily practice of expressive art therapy.

Step 2

During the time you dedicate for yourself for your emotional care, in your notebook, note down how you felt in the whole day, in the form of words, pictures, drawings, shapes and give each feeling a colour. Create your rainbow of emotions of that day and you will be surprised how many emotions gradually start emerging. Simply put, start journalling how you feel in the form of colours and drawings everyday.

This may sound simple as you read this, but practicing it is a tad more than that because we think we are feeling only one or two emotions at maximum, but the list of emotions we can feel is way longer than that. Scientists have now found in a recent study that the number is as many as 27! Check out the list here.

Without getting overwhelmed with this list, this is what makes us human and unfortunately we have become habitual in categorising our emotions in simply two or three categories. But with the daily practice of expressing our emotions with colour and drawings, we will begin to understand the kind of emotions we go through every day. This is a process of uncovering our true self and can be a bit slow if you're doing it by yourself. Therefore, be patient and remember the 30 days formula. After all, we are in the process of peeling those layers of onions which we have covered ourself with since so long and it is all going to be worth it.

To conclude

This practice of self care in all the five areas of our life, namely physical, mental, spiritual, social and emotional is fundamental in bringing about a balanced change and progression in terms of our lifestyle, our physical, mental and social health. If practiced correctly and diligently, we can truly lead the most holistic and fulfilling lives and become a happier version of ourselves. Most importantly, nothing will be too much to handle because happiness is in the art of balancing self care and building a strong foundation from there. As Stephen Covey rightly said,

“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”

By Purnima Gupta

(Certified Art Therapy Facilitator)

Disclaimer - The views expressed here are from personal experience and for educational and informational purpose only. It is not intended to replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.