The Link Between Creativity and Depression
When I mentioned recently in my Catalyst Newsletter that I had put my favorite creative and self development books up on my website for you to have a look at, the one that has aroused most interest is the Van Gogh Blues by Eric Maisel.
I trained with him to be a creativity coach for artists and writers and it was that book that led me to his work.
As a lifelong depressive, I had found many ways to live with it, but his insight into the link between creativity and depression was a profound one for me.
There are plenty of resources for depression using natural medicines such as St John's Wort or tackling it from a nutritional point of view, but one method I have found to be the most helpful has been the Morning Pages that were pioneered by Julia Scott Cameron in her book 'The ARtist's Way'.
This is such a profound tool I have now heard of it being used in hospitals to help people release feelings and come to terms with what is going on in their life.
It is something I have recommended to so many people and it is one of the simplest tools to tackle depression you will ever come across.
The principle is so simple it is easy to dismiss it, but believe me it is incredibly effective.
All you do is write 3 pages each morning as soon as you get out of bed.
No laptop, just you and a pad of paper and a pen and absolute focus on what you are doing.
You write with pen and paper because there is a direct energetic connection between your heart and your hand through the pen to the paper so unless it it physically difficult for you to do so, please buy yourself a really nice pen and a beautiful large notebook and get ready to write and then read the most intimate book you could ever find.
Morning Pages basically is a 'mind-dump', not a diary or a shopping list.
You simply start at the top of the paper and keep writing whatever is in your mind - no filtering, no editing and absolutely no stopping.
If you find you have let the pen drift to a halt then just write that 'I've stopped writing' and do it over and over again and like a stuttering tap your subconscious will take over and you find yourself writing again.
It will be tedious and mundane, dramatic and exciting, but what it will do is show you very clearly what's going on in your life.
For a period of about a month I found myself writing 'I am so tired' over and over again.
It was not something I was conscious of, but when I re-read my pages it leapt off the page and forced me to accept that yes I was tired.
Not physically, but emotonally tired of a situation that was draining all of my energy.
I couildn't hide from it any more and in taking action from my own expressed thoughts I was able to lift the cloud of depression that had been dogging me.
Oh, and there's another 'rule' - please write this in privacy, and never, never show it to anyone.
Why? Because if you know someone else is going to read it you will 'doctor' it, f what's on your mind is how horribly your partner is behaving towards you then you need to say every word that is running in your head and get it down on paper.
Get it down, and get it out, but if you think they are going to read it you won't be as honest.
Don't let anyone else read it, and don't read it yourself for at least a week or two.
Why? Because you won't have the right perspective, you are too close.
Give yourself some breathing space and then read it with a highlighte pen in your hand.
Every phrase that is frequently repeated is something to mark for later consideration, and any brilliant idea for a new project or life direction gets highlighted for some deeper consideration and action.
You know absolutely everything there is to know about your own variant of depression, write it out and let yourself read it, see it, and release it.
I trained with him to be a creativity coach for artists and writers and it was that book that led me to his work.
As a lifelong depressive, I had found many ways to live with it, but his insight into the link between creativity and depression was a profound one for me.
There are plenty of resources for depression using natural medicines such as St John's Wort or tackling it from a nutritional point of view, but one method I have found to be the most helpful has been the Morning Pages that were pioneered by Julia Scott Cameron in her book 'The ARtist's Way'.
This is such a profound tool I have now heard of it being used in hospitals to help people release feelings and come to terms with what is going on in their life.
It is something I have recommended to so many people and it is one of the simplest tools to tackle depression you will ever come across.
The principle is so simple it is easy to dismiss it, but believe me it is incredibly effective.
All you do is write 3 pages each morning as soon as you get out of bed.
No laptop, just you and a pad of paper and a pen and absolute focus on what you are doing.
You write with pen and paper because there is a direct energetic connection between your heart and your hand through the pen to the paper so unless it it physically difficult for you to do so, please buy yourself a really nice pen and a beautiful large notebook and get ready to write and then read the most intimate book you could ever find.
Morning Pages basically is a 'mind-dump', not a diary or a shopping list.
You simply start at the top of the paper and keep writing whatever is in your mind - no filtering, no editing and absolutely no stopping.
If you find you have let the pen drift to a halt then just write that 'I've stopped writing' and do it over and over again and like a stuttering tap your subconscious will take over and you find yourself writing again.
It will be tedious and mundane, dramatic and exciting, but what it will do is show you very clearly what's going on in your life.
For a period of about a month I found myself writing 'I am so tired' over and over again.
It was not something I was conscious of, but when I re-read my pages it leapt off the page and forced me to accept that yes I was tired.
Not physically, but emotonally tired of a situation that was draining all of my energy.
I couildn't hide from it any more and in taking action from my own expressed thoughts I was able to lift the cloud of depression that had been dogging me.
Oh, and there's another 'rule' - please write this in privacy, and never, never show it to anyone.
Why? Because if you know someone else is going to read it you will 'doctor' it, f what's on your mind is how horribly your partner is behaving towards you then you need to say every word that is running in your head and get it down on paper.
Get it down, and get it out, but if you think they are going to read it you won't be as honest.
Don't let anyone else read it, and don't read it yourself for at least a week or two.
Why? Because you won't have the right perspective, you are too close.
Give yourself some breathing space and then read it with a highlighte pen in your hand.
Every phrase that is frequently repeated is something to mark for later consideration, and any brilliant idea for a new project or life direction gets highlighted for some deeper consideration and action.
You know absolutely everything there is to know about your own variant of depression, write it out and let yourself read it, see it, and release it.