Tara Ward shares how to find joy through creativity in every season
Your mood and wellbeing can be affected by the changing weather, either consciously or unconsciously. Reawakening your creativity through every season can help you to stay balanced and joyful. Each season tends to be associated with certain behaviours: spring with new awakenings; summer with sociable relaxation; autumn with harvesting and gathering in; winter with hibernating.
Follow this plan that spans the whole year ahead to help you find moments of happiness and boost serotonin levels, in every season.
SPRING
Often considered the time of reawakening, nature in the spring shows us signs of new life: snowdrops and crocuses push their way through the still-cold earth,
and leaves uncurl slowly on the trees. The greys and browns of winter mutate into countless shades of green, punctuated by bright splashes of colour. Swathes of yellow daffodils herald the warm sunshine to come.
Perhaps you find this uplifting and welcoming and you can make the most of that energy and build on your happiness within it. It’s okay if you feel differently too.
Grow Your Own Plants from Seed
Choosing a creative activity to do during a season, especially one you can really enjoy, gives you a purpose and can also be a lot of fun. You might have your own ideas of what you’d like to do but if you are interested in gardening, try this. Plant a seed from something you have eaten. It can be anything: apple, avocado, pepper, melon.
Why not try several different seeds at once and see which ones germinate? The joy from watching something grow that you have planted can be so satisfying.
As you enjoy this activity, ask yourself what elements of yourself you would like to grow and build upon that would make you feel happier. Make a note of what you decide and put it somewhere you can see it frequently, to remind you. You might want to keep it next to your pot of seedlings.
SUMMER
Summer is very much associated with warmth, inducing pleasure and relaxation. Nature offers its abundance of flora for birds and animals, who bustle busily to collect its bounty. A myriad of delicious fruits and vegetables ripen for us to enjoy. We shed layers of clothes, feeling lighter in the process, and many families plan breaks away, looking forward to quality time together.
Hormone levels can be affected; serotonin levels rise with more sunlight and warmth and oxytocin is released when we spend time relaxing with loved ones. How much of the above applies to you? Perhaps you have different feelings, so allow yourself time to explore.
Explore Your Artistic Side
Music and books can feature more during the summer too, as we are able to spend more time relaxing outdoors. What do you like most? You might love to withdraw and enjoy music alone or you might prefer to share it with others. Whilst most of us tend to read alone, what about reading a book out loud with someone else? The sense of social connection through sharing a common experience – discussing your beliefs and enjoying the story – can create happy, intimate moments, raising oxytocin levels. How about drawing or painting?
Research has shown that social development and self-worth are increased through art and creativity. This ties in with raising serotonin and oxytocin levels. You don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it. Drawing isn’t about creating something ‘good’, it’s about enjoying the experience itself. Sitting somewhere warm and peaceful, creating art for pleasure without needing to be proficient, can be a happy, relaxing pastime.
AUTUMN
Autumn is a time of glorious colours as the air becomes crisp, and warmer clothes are dug out of cupboards. The intense summer sun fades to a weaker glow, which you try to catch with ever-decreasing opportunities. It is a time of harvesting crops,
giving thanks for what the summer weather has created and preparing to stock up for winter. Traditionally seen as a transition season, because it is becoming colder and the daylight hours are shortening, some people can find autumn difficult. Often it is because they are anticipating the winter to come, meaning they are focusing on times ahead, rather than enjoying the here and now. Knowing that,
it means that mindfulness is more important than ever during autumn, so that you can enjoy its gifts fully.
Challenge Your Taste Buds
Eating small quantities of dark chocolate can raise endorphins. To enjoy this – or at least experience it – in a completely different way, why not try dark chocolate that is flavoured with something unusual? For example, you can find lavender, wasabi, green tea and vegemite! There are even more unusual options such as pizza, soy sauce, potato chips and shiitake mushroom. Waking up your taste buds in a new way can be exhilarating, and if you choose to enjoy the tasting with others whose company you love (how about a chocolate tasting gathering or blind-folded competition of ‘guess the flavour’?) you can boost your oxytocin levels at the same time.
Seek Out Beauty
Autumn is a time where there is so much to appreciate on the ground, in nature. What about taking a walk either alone or with someone and seeing who can find the most beautiful fallen leaf, nut or shell? Perhaps you could incorporate what you find into homemade art in some way.
Revisit Your Childhood
Another joy can be re-discovering a childhood game that you used to love playing. What do you have access to, that you could have fun with again? One of the benefits of doing this is that it may transport you back to a time when you were more carefree, with fewer responsibilities. Rekindling those feelings can induce a lovely sensation of relaxation and happiness. Explore some childhood games and see if this is true for you. If you opt for a game such as hopscotch or skipping with a rope, you get the added benefit of some endorphins kicking in, too.
WINTER
Winter is the time when you have the opportunity to draw in your energy and to reflect. Days become shorter, making many want to scurry back to the warmth and comfort of their own homes. Whilst there may not be so much colour and obvious beauty to be found in winter nature, there is much to enjoy about the pared back landscapes.
It is the opportunity to see life in a clearer and less cluttered way; to go back to basics and to think about what matters most to you. It is a time to create cosy moments of warmth and comfort and take great joy in them. It is important to mention that some people struggle more with winter than any other season. If this is true for you, it is especially important to find ways to combat that by nurturing yourself.
Share Creative Pastimes
Why not do something fun for a loved one? There are many indoor activities, both mental and physical, that can uplift you during this season. A scavenger or treasure hunt might be enjoyable. You can link it to a theme they enjoy to increase the sense of fun. Making simple things, whether alone or with others, such as cutting out paper chains and painting them, can be a nice way to pass some time too.
Book clubs are a positive pastime, especially in the winter, but if you don’t want to organise one, you could create an event where each person has to find the most uplifting piece of poetry, song or piece of art relating to winter that they can, and then share them with the group. Tara Ward is a best-selling author on personal development and spiritual wellbeing. She also runs workshops and gives talks on meditation and mindfulness.
MORE INSPIRATION
READ The Happiness Year by Tara Ward (Quadrille, £12.99)
