This is a story about our brains, its the thoughts inside my head - how my brain works and how I learned that Art, my creativity changed my brain chemistry.
To do this we have to go back to our inner child.
When we are children, we are given guidelines, rules, which are given to us through various opinions of others, we are subtly given this information, without even realising it.
"Your nervous system is your inner child screaming out for a hug"
For example, a boy, hes 2, he has a big imagination as most children do - at this age, this boy has no worries, no real view of the world, hes just exploring what he can, and most of it comes from within. So this boy is going on holiday with family, his mum and dad and sister are there, his grandparents and his cousins and the aunties and uncles, you get the idea - (its not home alone if thats what you’re thinking). But, the boy, remember I said he was 2, as any 2 year old would be in an airport lounge, he was charging around, his arms out spread like a bird weaving between the legs, bags and heads of people sat waiting to board their flight. Now the boy, he knows no better, in his mind, he’s Ironman, he’s got his iron suit on, his wings out stretched and his jet pack at full booster. The boy, a 2 years old, at this moment isn’t in an airport lounge, he’s not surrounded by holiday makers, he’s in a city, and flying over it, trying to protect it from the baddy coming to attack - the boy is in full game mode - there’s no stopping him. Until - he jumps on a table, in front of one of his older relatives, in the boys head he’s about to jump off the top off a building, and go zooming down on top of the baddy in his imagination. But, in real life, the elder relative is not impressed with the boy jumping on the table - and with a sudden halt, the 2 year old boy, is back being a boy, and is now confused - because you see, the relative suddenly implemented a rule - the sudden halt was the boy being taken off the table, the relative snapping not to stand on the tables, and removing him -
In the boys mind he was on top of building ready for his final fight, but in realty there was actually invisible rules that the 2 year old has no idea about up until this point. And this is how, we begin to grow up trying to navigate our way out of an escape room we didn’t realise we were in.
For every moment like this, throughout our life, when we are very young time goes fairly quickly, and we are absorbing everything around us every day. The imagination of the boy is vivid, exciting and freeing to the boy, but how the adults felt about the boy behaving like a boy meant the boy needed to rethink how he used his creativity - that moment, at 2 years is the first moment that began to shape the boys perception of his own reality.
If you think about how many times you were corrected as a child, or even how often you might correct your own children without realising it? Because the more we condition children in this way, by implementing our own internal belief on them, they grow up unable to use their own intuition and explore their own imagination.
When we label ourselves and children, we characterise them as naughty, or the bright ones. As a twin mum, I have been asked which ones the evil one, as a home educator, I get told we are weird - and that's exactly the characterisation I mean - you see, we label with adhd, we look at our mental health problems as autism or ocd, anxiety disorders, behavioural issues, etc etc, which are all labels given to us by someone else who made the rules. But these ‘disorders’ are merely just a different way of being, everyone is unique, individual, and every being, every single human has a purpose, if we suppress our adhd, or our neuro diversity, we cover it up with medication - we tell our nervous system to follow the rules, the invisible rules which stop us using our curiosity. By telling a child they have adhd, their tablet or screen helps them regulate, then that child absorbs that as fact - because a child will believe what they are told, out of fear of not being good enough. Which, as they grow, wires their nervous system into this belief - but creation doesn't care what you believe - your birth right is your creation. So if you were told as a child, for me, 35 years ago, we didn’t have devices - so to look at screens as this amazing thing that regulates a child with behavioural problems, and believing in that. The belief that medicating our children with the exact chemical our bodies are over producing naturally which is the reason for the disorders become apparent in the first place - is actually cutting off those receptors which create imagination in our minds, which damages our creativity and prevents curiosity in our own growth.
The system is designed to keep us believing we need someone to tell us how, we need a screen to keep us safe, we need medication to stop our ‘symptoms’ - when those issues are labelled as such, humans in the system learn they aren’t supposed to ‘be’, we are conditioned to believe. And those beliefs, the rules, why we tell ourselves tables aren’t for jumping on - they are exactly how our curiosity is educated out of us, so we don’t question the reality, we follow the rules, do what we’re told so we think we are just being, but really we are following - following the rules, avoiding the fear, avoiding being in trouble, and accepting it as normal - but lets think about the boy in the airport again - the 2 year old, not a care in the world, just in his imagination, ready to save the world in the little story in his mind - and the elderly relative - fully grown, having lived life, having once been the same child, with the same imagination, in a split second, ends the childs fun, and steals the joy from his very being, from his imagination, But that tiny moment, wouldn't have seemed like anything to the relative, the grown person would have forgotten all about it within a moment and it wouldn't have mattered - to the boy, the little underdeveloped nervous system, he’s now had that imprinted on him, a rule, a new pin in his memory bank - don’t jump on the tables, they are not to be used for creativity -
and that's how we begin to lose our curiosity, our creativity.
Now, in 2026 - 35 years on from that little boy, who didn’t have a tablet screen to recoil in to, he follows the rules, he's forgotten his joy of Ironman, and he's forgotten how to be - now he has the devices, he has the medication and he has been told he is adhd, and he needs to suppress those needs, and now he's anxious, and trapped in cage he can’t navigate his way out of with out believing he needs help…
When really, deep with in us, we all have the power to escape from ourselves, we just have to be curious enough to work out how.
It was Amee McNab who introduced me to Your Brain on Art - its was almost like the stars aligned in that moment, and I was meant to discover them, just at this time. My sudden need to write this book, it all became clear when I read the first few pages from all these wonderful authors. My own research has led me to tap in to the understanding of the emerging field of neurarts - I have always intuitively felt that art isn’t just a silly hobby, but a biological imperative for survival, healing, and community (Magsamen & Ross, 2023) verify this clearly in their own writings.
When I completed my collection of murals, after 3 years working on a new process and learning a new practice of blending traditional painting methods with modern illustration techniques; I was excited to show everyone I knew my work - and yes, as any silly hobby, although most say, oh very good, or very clever, there is never any appreciation for the dedication involved, the amount of time spent, the isolation, the choice of not going out, not working for anyone, and basically giving your life to your craft - I remember my own father saying, when my husband was behaving abhorrently, my dad said that I was the only one who didn't have a proper job - I laughed - because 40 year old me, mum of twins, multiple business owner, worked day in day out to proved a life for my husband and children, was being told by my elderly father who inherited everything he had and barely had to work for what he had - never creative, believed everything he read in the Telegraph - was telling his youngest daughter, like he was disappointed that he felt my marriage broke down because I didn't have a proper job. Well, similar to my sister, who believes that my children should have an education (a school education) and that my knowledge and awareness of the world isn’t viable education for my own children.
So, my research has lead me to this - knowing what I know about the system we are raised in, the belief of others in the system that is keeping them in that belief, and how that is forced on us, neurodivergent, to justify their own inability to be curious about what isn’t actually real.
Magsamen and Ross argue, and I feel I have proved this over my own life time, that our brains are literally “altered” by the act of creating. When you engage in your art, your brain experiences neuroplasticity - the ability to reorganise itself by forming new neural connections.
We can break this down in to 3 bubbles.
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The dopamine loop; Curiosity activates the brains reward system, releasing dopamine which enhances long term memory and learning.
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Stress Reduction; Engaging in art/visual culture/craft has been scientifically proven to significantly reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone), regardless of the person skill level.
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The Hand Brain Emotion Axis; Brain new research, just this year, proposes a ‘hand brain emotion axis’ showing that tactile, handicraft activities (like drawing or manual craft) activate specific neural circuits that regulate the amygdala, helping to heal anxiety and emotional trauma.
I explore this further in my book (coming soon), which I share snippets of in my mailing list. (grab a discount off your first order too)
Using our human right to be curious gives us the clarity our mind needs to create. I we live life with rigidity, and we only focus on pleasing others - we actually lose our sense of self rather than find it. And that impacts our nervous system as we grow, creating anxiety, overwhelm and burn out.
Check out my murals, they are asking you to stop, reflect and slow down, and when you find that clarity, your breathing slows down, your dopamine increases and your nervous system relaxes - you will naturally want to explore further, look deeper, learn more.
Because life isn't about rules and restrictions, we don't need to be told how to be, what to eat, or scared in to conforming.
Simply be - be curious enough to explore what you can create.