Talyaa S. Vardar
I have a memory with deep traces coming a long way of my childhood. I was not going to school yet. Along free fields of my hometown in Turkey, which were not invaded by buildings then, we used to play outside a lot. All day we had been playing on the streets of our neighborhood & inventing new games. In April, the fields behind our house were covered with poppy flowers. We could only see red, but nothing else. In one of these days, we were playing in the field. The red was dancing softly with spring breeze… without being aware of time we kept running with the joy of freedom. Loosing ourselves in our innocent enthusiasm amongst red poppy fields, we went far away from home. All of a sudden, rain started to pour. With our tiny steps, it took longer to get back home than usual. I was late. Feeling guilty, I found mom waiting for me in worries at the front door. She looked for me everywhere with despair. With her motherhood worries, she slapped my bum twice with the besom that she was using to wipe the floors. After that worry expression ceremony, she changed my soaking wet clothes, gave me my crayons and art pad, then made sure that I sat by the heating stove. I started to paint with my colorful crayons… I remember the warmth coming from the stove. As I painted, gradually peace filled me inside and outside. As the stove warming my body, art was warming my heart. As I continued to paint, I forgot about the slaps on my bum…I forgot about mom’s worries…
Art healed my anxiety and transformed the feeling of guilt into calmness.
Years have passed over those childhood days… I stepped into adulthood and gave a long break to arts. But my return was one of extraordinary. Now I am playing with my daughter and together we involve ourselves in all kinds of arts. Watching my 5-year-old daughter playing, singing and dancing so easily, I understand that she doesn’t have to make any effort to be playful. She does not have any performance worries. She does not have stereotypes about aesthetic perfection. She only plays from within… she plays the moment!
Somehow when we grow up, things change. We learn to forget to attend the moment. We make giant sandwiches from ourselves between over processing of past and future, then feeling of stuckness becomes a habit, a way of life. Somehow we forget our most important childhood lesson that we can release our problems by activating our own creative potential.
A Way To Know
After I met art therapy and have changed the direction of my life towards transformational studies, I re-acquired a habit to paint, dance and write prior to important decisions. Such an inquiry helps me to find creative answers. To distance myself from my problems through art, surely crystallizes my thoughts and releases the pressure…my perspective shifts and my problem gains an enriched vision. If I am about to give an important decision, creative act encourages me and allows me breathe the space. Ever since the first one, I have received similar feedback from the participants of my Creative Workshops. My purpose in these workshops is to motivate exploration of our embedded creative potential and deepest desires. During and after these workshops, participants express their relaxation, release of stress, body connection and sensitivity with feeling of self-fulfillment. Whatever comes out during creative process, it helps us to externalize the inside and start a “dialogue” with what becomes visible and tangible now. Art bridges with what surrounds us inside and outside.
Positive Results
In modern era, arts and creativity have been moved away from daily lives. If ever art goes beyond being a myth that only belongs to museums, galleries and stages and embed into life more, then we might process own creative potential. Unlike the ancient times, today we live in an age in which art has been materialized. But indeed, imagination, dreams and creative expression is existential to human evolution. In order to sustain authentic growth, we should encourage this existential capacity. Creative process has a catalyzing effect on stress and negative emotions. When individuals can express themselves from within, not only this will result in high awareness of authentic confidence versus fear, but also it will lead to cohesion born from deeper knowing and empathy amongst the society.
