Mind Wandering

An art

Artist, atelierista, teacher and mindwanderer, Holly Warren encourages us to turn our minds inside-out in order to get a creative perspective on ‘reality’. Why not have a go?

Art manifests the desire to turn the Inside Out

Busy days

Busy days at work are real work outs and possibly draw out our creative and restorative energy. Our ‘to do’ items are a lengthy bullet point list that resembles a join the dots activity where the end image can still be in the making or reached through weaving tightly woven threads.

A breath of fresh air, a sip of your favourite hot drink, the smile of a special person, a word of comfort, a doodle, a glimpse from your window of opportunity. The opportunity to let your mind wander like a loose string blown in the breeze. A time niche to connect with your inside self which may often be sitting watching the movie you have set up as your life.

Restoring balance through art

How can Mind Wandering support our quest for balance and replenish our natural springs of wellbeing?

“Through mind-wandering, we invent, tell stories and expand our mental horizons. Mind-wandering underwrites creativity.” (Corballis, M. 2015)

Can the Arts play a part in this journey?

Maybe you are just a brushstroke away, a note that needs to be played, a string of words that knit a paragraph that will become habit. A place where we feel in touch with our me comfort zone. Whether we reach it through words, movement, music, mark making, star gazing or just by closing your eyes to the outside.

Minds and hands

Inquisitive minds partner with laborious hands. Our mind is always busy, always up to something so may this something guide us to a better connection with our reflective power. Not just the power of reflective thought but reflection as our solar panel that draws and creates the energy we need to face our outward agendas.

The Arts have restorative and healing powers, as others have found:

“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” (Pablo Picasso)

“Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing.” (Julia Cameron)

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” (Thomas Merton)

“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move.” (Ossie Davis)

Since before the dawn of civilisation humans have poured their life narratives on caves, walls, parchment, canvas and millions of pages that save our legacy.

A place for all of us

As we enter the era of mental health and wellbeing, as research on neuroscience in all its branches keeps us on our toes, Art has possibly found a place for all of us and not just the ‘artist’.

When your Art becomes a process and not a technique to be mastered. When the arts support us in mastering our private selves. When the Arts turn our inside out we might see the flow of unexpected beauties, a balance of light and dark, a crumb that snowballs into a great masterpiece, a note that creates a symphony, a word that pirouettes into a graceful/ dynamic dance that fills a book and creates spellbinding narratives, a doodle that opens the door of perception and a walk though nature that nudges us to explore detail we once stepped on.

Imagine the soft bristles of a paintbrush moving along leaving traces of unspoken feelings. The ink mark of a string of letters and words that scratch the surface and dig deep, the touch of a note that rings a bell and the movement of your body as it reveals a layer of your identity.

Glide on the current and let the Mind Wander. Loose strings of creative energy are at play and might be inviting you to a great event.

I am currently working on Wellbeing through Art designing workshops through process based activities. The power of words, painting, collage, vision boards and the art of making mistakes as beautiful resources.