NCTV Episode 8
Continuing with the series of bitesize health tip videos which can be found here on my YouTube Channel, this episode, includes:-
- What creativity is
- The importance of being creative
- The health benefits
- How to be creative and stimulate your imagination
- Possible creative ideas and activities
Transcript
If you’d prefer to read the content within, rather than watch the video, then feel free to read the transcript, as follows:-
Hello and welcome to NCTV, Episode 8 and the 6th week of Lockdown making this effectively another – Corona Chronical.
Up until now we have been very blessed with the weather during this time, especially with it being Spring. This has fortunately made the situation a more pleasant one as we’ve been given the opportunity to get outside more, enjoy nature and our gardens or the local green areas.
However, this week has been a slightly different story with the belated April showers having now kicked in.
So what to do now it’s ‘Wet Play’ so to speak? Well there’s nothing from stopping those who are able to from putting their anoraks on and going outside still for their one walk, jog or bike ride a day, although I appreciate that a large proportion of people will opt to stay inside an keep dry, so that’s perfectly fine and where we need to be a little more creative on how we utilise the time that has been given to us.
First of all, what is creativity? As a definition it’s the use of imagination or original ideas to create something or invent. I’m not saying everyone has to create or do something that’s never been done before but perhaps something you may be interested in doing that you’ve personally not done before.
Why is that so important and how does it relate to my health I hear you ask? Well, most of the benefits are related to your brain and mental health hence why this is great during a Lockdown scenario on a rainy day.
Doing something creative particularly helps to reducing stress and anxiety by engaging in something you enjoy. It can give you a sense of freedom where you don’t have to be an expert starting from scratch, giving you permission to take risks and not be perfect, to strip away inhibitions in a healthy way. Creativity allows you to access your thoughts, feelings and beliefs, develop your own ideas and express yourself. So in other words, it can be a journey of self-discovery if you let it be. Ultimately, being creative will also develop your problem-solving skills. If you make creativity a habit you’ll then continue to learn new resourceful ways of problem solving in your chosen activity AND in life.
So that’s all great but how do you boost your creativity? A simple way is to pay it more attention and incorporate it more into your life. Look for ways to tap into your child-like self and make it more playful & fun and try to engage all your senses if possible, to really stimulate the imagination. Listening to music, reading inspirational biographies and exercise are all further brain boosting activities you can do to stimulate your imagination.
So what could you do to be creative? One thing may be to renew an old hobby such as a musical instrument or add to an old scrapbook. You could start something new, keep a journal that either yourself or generations to come can look back on and see what life was during the COVID Lockdown. You could experiment with your artwork, with materials in the recycling. Try recording your dreams which may be becoming more vivid now people are reportedly getting better quality and quantity of sleep. You could write short stories or poems, work on your photography, sing, dance, cook, do some DIY, the possibilities are endless.
So hopefully that’s given you a bit of inspiration, ideas and excitement about you could now be doing on a rainy Lockdown day and every day for that matter. Let me know how you’ve been getting your creative juices flowing, or what you plan to do to stimulate it, I’d love to hear from you.
That’s all from this episode of NCTV, providing you with bitesize bits to help your health flourish, bye, bye.