How to let your fingers spark your creativity
My post today is kind of weird. I admit it.
I can’t remember where I first read about this process I’m going to share with you. It was years ago. It has to do with creative “blocks.” It doesn’t matter what the creative pursuit is, whether you’re a painter, a writer, a sculptor, a quilter, sewer, whatever. And it strangely links to depression and the importance staying active as a means for managing depression.
We always think it’s our mind that has the creativity gene. While it certainly does, so do your fingers. Did you know that? I didn’t until I read it in the since-forgotten- wherever.
I’ve often found that the days I seemed least inspired to write are the days my “finger memory” seems to take over. I have no conscious awareness of thinking the thought first. Even today as I type, I’m acutely aware that my fingers seem to be typing words and concepts without any instruction from my mind.
Honestly, I don’t have a clue how this works, I only know it does.
It’s like the movement of my fingers trigger my mind’s creativity which circles back to my fingers and here I am typing sentences that seem foreign to me. I did come across a book I’ve had for years (not the original source of this piece of information) and as I was glancing through its worn pages I came across this section which, woo hoo, supports what I’m saying. The book is “Trust the Process” by Shaun McNiff.
Give the following some thought, especially if you’re depressed or even just feeling a little sad. I’ve said it often, “Activity in one part of our body prompts activity in another.” Get the body moving and your mind will follow.
“I call this the “control tower” concept of creation, whereby the head takes on management functions with other body parts, such as the arms, hands and fingers, following directions. I like to counter this block by envisioning the entire body as the initiator of creation. The mind follows the initiative of all part of the body and thinks together with them through every phase of creative expression. If my mind is struck, it is probably connected to the inactivity of its partners.ave good advice.”
It’s always amazing when I think of how God created our bodies. How he planned every part of our being to work with every other part. We are only now starting to discover the connections.
For example, for years exercise in the treatment of depression was not known. Now researches have learned that exercise release endorphins, the feel-good hormone, which increases our sense of happiness.
Get a copy of this book from your local library and give it a quick read. It’s strange how books that have nothing to do with depression often have strategies that work for us. I have often found this to be true.
It’s amazing to me how God puts the right resources in front of me all the time, whether a person, a book, a television show, an experience, etc.
God bless and I hope you have a good day.
