Every one of us is gifted with the power to engage with our creative instincts. But few of us take the trouble to explore creativity and give it expression in some form or medium. To engage with our inner creativity, we need to make ourselves stress-free, so that we can focus on uninhibited exploration of inner consciousness. In so doing, we come face-to-face with our creative instincts.
According to Swami Surya Jowel, "Sun as the creator and sustainer of life on earth has the potent energies of purification and resurgence of creative abilities. Suryayog can help awaken the subdued singer, dancer, painter or writer in you as it drives away negative energy and clears body, mind and soul of clutter. This enables the real you to emerge. By allowing the creative process to inspire, every one has the ability to express the beauty of Soul".
Creativity is liberation. It is a canvas where we can paint our dream away from rigid and suffocating guidelines and orthodoxy. "We realise that Creation is the perpetual harmony between the infinite ideal perfection and the eternal continuity of its realisations", said Rabindranath Tagore.
Creative art can help us overcome stress by enabling us to give free expression to positive emotions or even help us overcome negative emotions with the notes of soothing music, comforting rhythm of dance, celebratory stroke of colours, and smooth flow of words. Creative art is a mirror where the image of the Supreme Spirit is reflected as part of our own self. In this union depends the establishing of peace, happiness and better worlds.
Why we feel stressed all the time is because we confine ourselves to rigid perceptions that entrap us in our ignorance. We often forget that outside these parameters there is freedom, happiness and peace. All this exists not out there somewhere unreachable but well within us, in our own creative world, where we can give expression to our innermost spirit. Kahlil Gibran said: "Art is a step from nature towards the infinite".
Since every one of us has inherited some creative spirit as we are part of that Supreme Creative Spirit who created the universe and everything in it. As Tagore pointed out, everything around us is real, yet we do not see reality in its immediacy... It is only in artistic creation that reality comes alive before our consciousness, unveiled, and we see it, face-to-face. This is because in any creative pursuit, be it music, dance fine arts or writing, our outer self meets the inner, self-giving an expression which is an emotional harmony, a statement of soul consciousness.
Why do we seek out the mountains, hill stations, beaches or wildlife sanctuaries? We do so because all these represent the creative outpourings of the Creator. We, as part-participants of supreme creation find a resonance of the creative outside with the creative inner. In much the same way musicians, dancers, painters, poets and authors find easy entry into our hearts, cutting across boundaries and barriers of regions and faiths. This is an inner world of emotion rather than external reality; it strikes a chord in our sacred spaces.
Creativity is that Sakha or eternal friend whom you can trust with your innermost feelings and aspirations. Artistic expression is nothing but reflection of inner thoughts and convictions, that spring from a world that's our very own, free of regimentation. It is a move towards liberation from all that is binding and so limiting.