艺术
用于自我护理和心理健康
艺术的目的，就是洗去我们灵魂上日常生活的尘埃……
巴勃罗毕加索
艺术
艺术以令人难以置信的方式连接世界并让我们表达自己。艺术是自我护理和心理健康的有力工具。研究表明，通过艺术表达可以帮助人们缓解抑郁、焦虑和压力。艺术还与老年人的记忆力、推理能力和适应力的提高有关。艺术对你的生活产生的强大影响是无穷无尽的，最好的部分是什么？艺术是吸引所有人的东西，它不规定任何特定的规范，对我们每个人来说都是独一无二的。那么为什么不尝试一下呢？
缓解压力
增强自尊
康复
表达疗法
艺术对心理健康的益处
缓解压力
压力已被证明会损害我们的身心健康。对抗压力最有效的方法之一就是从事艺术。研究表明，绘画、涂鸦、着色和简单地创作 20 多分钟就能降低皮质醇。最好的部分是，无需先前的艺术经验即可获得这些好处。
增强自尊
坚持不懈地练习艺术，只需45 分钟，就能让所有年龄段的人都感到有成就感。创造力让我们自我感觉良好。它验证了我们独特的想法和将想法转化为实物的能力。花时间从事业余爱好和手工艺，通常会让我们产生自我价值感和对自己能力的信心。考虑一下编织或弹钢琴等活动吧！
康复
创伤的治愈是一个复杂的过程，有许多实践可以帮助促进这一过程。研究证明，艺术可以帮助处理疼痛，并在身心之间建立直接联系，从而帮助治愈过程。
表达疗法
表现性艺术，例如视觉艺术、动作、戏剧、音乐和写作，可以促进个人成长和社区发展。表现性艺术疗法让使用者欢笑、放松，有助于减少抑郁、焦虑和压力。
Ways to Practice Self-Care through Art
Use Art as a Release
A common exercise to utilize art for release is to first represent things you want to let go of as words, drawings, colors, or images on a blank canvas. Then you can burn it, rip it up, cover it up with something new that inspires you, throw it away, put it in water, or destroy it in any way you please.
Respond through Art
In the same way that releasing through art can help us overcome difficulties, it can also be used to cope with pain and negative feelings. Some examples include writing to a loved one that hurt you or taking photos of a place that used to hold meaning to you. It is also helpful to find a piece of art you connect with such as music, writing, or a painting, and to then utilize this inspiration to create something of your own as an emotional response. Understanding what you are trying to capture through this piece and breaking down how it makes you feel can be beneficial to this analysis.
Mindful Creativity
Art doesn’t require thought, it can be a free-flowing creative process. To practice mindful art, you can simply start creating or choose a piece of art as inspiration for your own creation. Block out the other thoughts and distractions in your life and give yourself a set amount of time to make art or enjoy it.
Collage your Thoughts or Visions
Some people find it difficult or don’t enjoy the practice of drawing, painting, or writing but there are endless ways to practice art. You can create a collage that expresses what you’re feeling about a specific situation to process your emotions and thoughts. You may also collage a vision board to focus on the future and use photos that excite you. All you need are some magazines, newspapers, or old images around your house.
Color a Feeling Wheel
Leah Guzman is an art therapist who wrote a book on further practices in essential art therapy, and an exercise she champions is to develop a color feeling wheel to deal with emotions. It starts by drawing a circle then dividing it into eighths and writing one emotion in each section, then pick a color that represents that feeling and color the section in. Afterwards, pay attention to which emotions were associated with which colors, the feelings you wrote first, and how this is applicable to your everyday life.
