Art brings us closer to who we are as creators, What's more healing than that?

What are we doing here? What is the point of all this? What is the meaning of life?

All my instincts tell me that the meaning of life is to give it meaning, that we are all crafting lives, consciously or unconsciously, depending on how we see the world and what conjures up based on the canvas and colors we have to work with and where we place our focus.

Life is the ultimate creative endeavor and every single action we make and thought we think, can be done artistically. When we do live artistically, we remember what it's like to be children. Nothing needs a reason, creation just creates, and it's beautiful. I feel that this is our most natural state.

Many people, myself included, have been raised to put aside this creative spark. Some are discouraged entirely from recognizing it. I was told it was ok to spend some time with, but ultimately I only had certain boxes with which I could explore it, and none of them felt very natural to me. I was allowed to take lessons if I wanted, that's what I thought art was.

Later there was also an issue of a lack of confidence that prevented me from many artistic pursuits. I spent the greater part of my life believing that I was not good enough and so much of my creativity was suppressed. Being dis-empowered to the point of cutting off most of my natural impulses turned into something dark and ugly.

When we stray away from our most natural state, creative and playful, we develop illnesses. Some illnesses take physical form, while others take the form of thought patterns or habits. We find ourselves in toxic relationships with toxic thoughts. We spend lots more time and energy into criticizing others than becoming who it is we want to be and doing what we can do. We fight about nothing. We hurt others and ourselves and then say "It's just human nature".

I was full of rage for many years. I must have broken 4 phones "by accident" when I threw them against the wall. I couldn't control myself. I always felt guilty hurting others, so instead I hurt myself. I said things that I knew would destroy my relationships and make people want to leave me. I did it because I couldn't calm my mind, because I was so angry at the injustice of the world, that I wanted to break something, and my life was the thing right in front of me, so I broke it whenever things weren't going as planned.

Finally in 2010 I started playing music and in 2014 I started writing. At first I was motivated by a desire to change"this fucked up world", but after loosing my hair over stressing about the state of the world, I realized that it wasn't my job to fix anything other than myself. It took a while to find the enjoyment in creating just for the sake of creating. I had so much I needed to let go of first.

So for me the journey of "becoming an artist" is a journey of healing. I learned to clear my mind and meditate because I wanted to be better, and what I discovered on the other side was a creative being that had been covered up and struggling to breathe. I learned to act on inspiration, to not worry so much and not have any regrets and appreciate the flow of things. That flow...it's the same flow that a freestyle rap will tap into, the same flow that leads to brilliant works of fiction and otherworldly paintings and designs or films that hit you at your core. It a process of untangling where all the tightness that leads to illness can loosen up.

Through art we can explore the self and find tight knots to untangle, old trauma or fear that has been buried. As we share the process of untangling, it can help others through their own untangling process. Or maybe we explore an aspect of ourselves which is peaceful and divine, and that can lead to a creation that will heal those who can let it in.

I see no difference between art and play and healing. It's just a matter on where it comes from, the closer it is to your core, the more it all looks the same. But there is still value in everything along the way that helps us find that core!

Some of the first short stories I shared were part of a process of revisiting the process of going from a 20 year old basket case to a more inspired 30 year old filled with love. It was fiction but many of characters and events were all based on things that had happened to me, though they were allowed to drift off in whatever direction they wanted to. Climbing the Fence goes more into how the stories are meant to be a healing process. That's where I got the name for the podcast Vincent and I started recently called Untangled Knots where we essentially talk about creativity and self development. We'd love to have some of you as guests sharing their experience with this topic!

My music has so far served two functions. Some songs are made to process and release some of the pain I've felt looking at the state of the world and that uglier side of human nature. By releasing that pain, I become a more productive and proactive person, closer to my core. Another is to share that feeling of being connected to everything, a snapshot of my core, from wherever I happen to be standing when I write it. To Nowhere is an example of the latter.

I'm really interested in seeing how everyone else replies to this topic because it's so near to my heart. Leave it to @riverflows to take something I say and turn it into something bigger and more awesome. Share your thoughts on this topic of art as healing if you are so inspired to. Here is the info for entering: Win 100 Steem: Art Is Healing Challenge (Plus, Win LOTUS Tokens)