The Artful Spirit
Living Artfully With Stress
What might seem at first at first like a huge oxymoron, this month’s Living Artfully with Stress title is not me having gone off my rocker. Instead, I hope to encourage and persuade you to realize that there are simple creative ways that exist in your own mind which will effectively manage daily stress.
One of the primary ways is to allow yourselves to embrace it and live inventively with it. To accept and honor stress as an integral and important part of your journey means you must find ways to balance it. That balance can be attained by utilizing other parts of you: parts that reside in contentment and partnering them with your stress. The fact is your creative spirit can tap into your rainbow colored bliss power and you can use it daily to fight the blues.
How do you turn a stressful situation into one that does not debilitate you, or make you feel as though you have no way out? You have to turn it on its head. You have to massage the situation and morph it into an opportunity. As the old saying goes, “Sometimes things are so bad that you have to laugh at them.” Yep, that’s the spirit! When the darkness comes, look for the light and vow to shine. Create comedy from catastrophe. And so on…!
Committing to a spirit of creativity allows you to use your mind to find happy exits, even when at first you cannot see one. Allow your mind to dwell in hope and reside in joy, not wallow in woe. It’s your Artful Choice.
When you feel your spirits slipping downward, find a song, a memory, or a view in your fertile mind that will lift them back up again. Believe that Artful Living is an ally to peace and happiness in your life. That it is the key to combating the pressure that we often feel each day. Find joy in all of the small ways you sustain, in the simple rituals of your existence. Refuse to see it as the daily grind, but as the daily delight.
Although “take a walk in the park “ seems like an old tired adage, the fact is that getting away from a tiresome task can be a fast relief to finding an artful solution to your stress. This artful escape-stress hatch of being “outside” does work. Go to a park or beach and remove your shoes. Sit on the sand or grass and contemplate mindfully the gift of your wonderful existence in a moment of sunshine, a wisp of wind, under a tree or cloud and amid the hum of nature’s song. This is an extremely natural artful solution which immediately eradicates all feelings of anxiety. These are the feelings which may be brought on by depression, over work, or never ending problem-solving.
Further still, living artfully with fresh air can also help you to breathe easier. A clean deep breath of fresh air will eliminate many of the daily calamities and cobwebs that have accumulated in your head and heart. Do it often and realize the basic rejuvenating benefit it brings to your heavy head.
Finally, to Live Artfully with stress is to take what I call will call the “Ying-Yang approach.” Knowing that you will have stress, knowing that problems will occur, that anxieties and issues will abound as part of the living process, you must realize that there is always another alternative. Commit to affirming the UP side to the down side and the happy side to the sad side.
How can you appreciate that you are so very happy if you haven’t had the experience of great sadness? Remember, misery loves company, so instead of wallowing in your stress or unhappiness, or being bitter, look for the artful upside. Remember this too will pass. There are many beautiful and creative ways to take a moment and pull yourself creatively away from whatever ails you. Find health and happiness with innate alternative and imaginative measures that are just a magical mind-step away.
Concetta Antico is mother, wife, Tetrachromat, fine artist, instructor, writer and creative muse. Her stunning Tetrachromatic oil on canvas masterpieces reveal her brilliance and super vision and may be viewed at www.ConcettaAntico.com. “Live Artfully” is a trademark of Concetta Antico and Zenava Inc. Her Salon & Gallery are located at 1920 Fort Stockton Drive, Suite A, Mission Hills, San Diego and are open to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and by appointment. Concetta welcomes your creative thoughts, comments and ideas at Muse@ConcettaAntico.com.
Category: Life Style, Local News
