Most of us, if not all, have experienced the profound joy of art, whether through engaging in different forms of art or enjoying its end product. People go to art museums, music concerts, and theaters to experience the joy of arts, let alone the many who engage in different forms of arts, enjoying it. You may also know about the creativity attributed to arts, as well as its therapeutic effects. Have you ever wondered what is in the arts that can bring about joy, creativity, healing, and all other benefits?
Well, arts in any form have the potential power to bring your attention to the present moment and all it contains, which results in experiencing joy, emotional awareness, and creativity.
If you are an artist or one of many who appreciate and enjoy arts, you might be interested in knowing more about this potential power in order to benefit more from arts. To do so, let’s begin by exploring the present moment and how arts can affect our relationship with it, leading to its key attributes.
All our experiences take place in the present moment. In fact, we experience life in the present moment through the three faculties of sense perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. And our relationship with it? Well, we often overlook the present moment and all it contains in terms of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions by getting engaged in the thoughts of the past or future.
The mind, which is a magnificent tool for thinking practical, creative thoughts, is habitually busy producing repetitive thoughts, rehashing the past, or rehearsing the future. Those repetitive thoughts have the power to engage our attention entirely in a way that causes us to overlook the present moment and the joy of being aware of what we are experiencing at the present moment. This is the conditioned way of the mind to overlook what is present in favor of reviewing the past or worrying about the future.
Now, the joy of art is in its potential ability to break through this habitual conditioning of the mind and bring our attention to the present moment to what we perceive through our sense perceptions, whether it’s the sight of colors, the sound of music, the texture of textiles, the movement of the body, or the smell of spices. In other words, it brings our attention to the joy of what we are perceiving in the present moment. The same happens whether we’re engaged in art ourselves or appreciating art created by others.
You might’ve had the experience of going to art museums, standing in front of a painting or sculpture, and gasping for a moment, not knowing what to say. This is the moment that art has broken through the stream of your thoughts, and you’re experiencing the present moment. You’re fully present, appreciating what you are perceiving. In fact, acknowledging beauty is the most genuine appreciation. A few seconds later, the mind produces thoughts about your experience, and you verbally show your appreciation, admiring the work. Listening to classical music does the same, and it is exactly what happens in you when you see a beautiful sunset or something extraordinary in nature that leaves you in awe.
Therefore, art, in its essence, is a form of mindfulness. In fact, all mindfulness practices aim to train the mind to steady its attention to the present moment and all it encompasses, including sense perceptions, emotions, and thoughts.
It is important to remember that being mindful doesn’t mean that we don’t have thoughts. It means that we become mindful/aware of our thoughts, which allows us to choose our thoughts, release the unnecessary ones, and notice the inspiring, practical, and creative ones. That’s how arts can inspire creativity.
When the mind is habitually busy with repetitive thoughts about the past and future, there is not enough room for practical and creative thoughts to appear, and even if some of those creative thoughts emerge, they easily go unnoticed or lost in the midst of the busy stream of thoughts. Now imagine the mind that is naturally quieter and sharper when engaged in arts; there is more space for those creative thoughts to emerge, and when they do, our attention is ready to catch them. That’s the creativity embedded in arts.
Now, sometimes, when we are engaged in an art project, the thinking mind begins to think, “Am I doing this right?” “Will the end result be as satisfying as I want it to be?” “What if I don’t get the mark or the approval I want to get out of it?” and many more of these thoughts. These thoughts might be powerful enough to engage some or perhaps all of our attention into themselves, away from what we are doing at that moment, covering up creativity and the joy of being with our experience. And please don’t get me wrong, of course, the end result of art projects is very important, but when we can stay focused on our project, enjoy the process, and not engage in unnecessary thoughts, the end result will be more creative and more satisfactory.
The power of arts is not limited to the joy of being with our senses or the creativity caused by being aware of our thoughts. It also helps us become aware of our emotions. Habitually, we experience our emotions through a thick layer of judgmental thoughts, pushing the unpleasant ones away and clinging to the pleasant ones. When arts break through the habitual stream of repetitive, judgemental thoughts, we become aware of our emotions and see them clearly as they are. This is why people can express their feelings through art. The therapeutic effects of arts are also because of emotional awareness, as the most essential step in working with any emotion is to see it clearly without the interference of judgmental, inhibiting thoughts.
Understanding the power of art, we may knowingly use it to be inspired to create a masterpiece, to express our emotions, or simply to invite some moments of joy into our lives. Moreover, it can help us as parents to support our kids in remaining artists, enjoying arts, and benefiting all its attributes. As Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up.”