Finding Mindfulness through Art

I am an overthinker.

Can you relate? Usually my endless loops of thought are dealing with the basic emotion of fear. The more I think, the more anxious or fearful I get.

Then I hit overwhelm from the chaos swirling in my head.

After a few more steps on that path, I am back on the journey to Depressionville. I was on that trip for several years and don’t care to visit again, thank you very much.

Creating art is one of the tools in my toolbox I use to process my emotions so I can break up those endless, negative thought loops going on in my brain.

When I create art, I move out of overthinking into a place of being present in my body and my environment. This calms me.

When I googled mindfulness this is what I got:

A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

Art is my favorite, most used, therapeutic technique.

Through moving my hands, using color, slowing down, and being in the moment rather than focusing on the outside world and my inner concerns, I find a new rhythm. I move out of my head and into my heart space.