Thoughts on Connections between Creativity and Health
And a Little Bit about Narrative Medicine
By Virginia Gurley | Aug 02, 2010
The desire for health and vitality is pretty universal, yet most of us struggle to adopt lifestyle patterns and habits that create optimal wellness. Whether it’s a matter of eating more fresh foods, getting more exercise, tempering alcohol, balancing stress, getting out of debt, or spending more time with family and friends, wellness and vitality are often within reach “if only I...”
Why do we struggle to make lifestyle changes we know will give us more energy, happiness, peace and possibly greater longevity? Could it be that ‘struggling‘ is the problem? Whether the dialogue is in our head or is disease prevention advice, the focus is often on behavior(s) to be eliminated: lose weight, reduce stress, drink less, reduce blood pressure, eat less junk food, be less sedentary. The dialogue tends to focus on what’s wrong with who we are and how we live.
To be clear, I’m not denying that there is tremendous value in identifying and understanding health hazards, especially those that are within our power to control or modify. But once the hazard is identified, aren’t we more likely to succeed in mastering that hazard if we focus on creating and investing in a positive alternative rather than focusing on eliminating our ‘bad’ behavior?
I think the answer is yes. The elimination mindset toward lifestyle change creates a negative framework which tethers our self-improvement efforts to self-antagonism. If this is the starting point, no wonder we feel bad about the habits we want to change, and no wonder success is often elusive.
The field of narrative medicine provides some intriguing insights about the power of creative investment to improve health and vitality. What is narrative medicine? Well, I’m not an expert, but basically narrative medicine uses self-narrative, storytelling about one’s condition or disease, for therapeutic benefit. One study out of Stanford University found that women with breast cancer who participated in narrative medicine groups had a significantly greater survival rate than women who received standard breast cancer care.
Another interesting example of creativity, narrative and health comes from Alcoholics Anonymous. One consistent part of the therapeutic method seems to be that AA participants tell stories about their experiences with alcoholism and in the process each participant creates a new self-identity that changes the participant’s relationship to alcohol. Their alcoholism is not eliminated, but the drinking behavior is changed.
Storytelling and narrative are essentially creative activities and these examples support the notion that creating new behaviors which are positive investments in self-identity are perhaps a more effective means to achieving health enhancing lifestyle changes. Said another way, energetic effort toward building new habits that enhance self-identity, habits that give greater expression to who we are, is more likely to succeed.
Circadian synchrony, with its focus on the light-dark and seasonal rhythms of the natural world, can be a wonderful muse for bringing creativity and positive investment into the quest for wellness and vitality. Building new habits isn’t easy, but creating a rhythm for the habit by doing it in synchrony with cues from nature creates a consistent time and context for the habit. And treating that time as a creative activity can make the whole endeavor a lot easier and fulfilling.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts related to these ideas.