How Creativity Can Transform Your Grief Journey: Innovative Ways to Heal and Find Comfort

Dealing with Grief is a uniquely difficult experience that can deeply impact your mental health. The process of adjusting to loss itself is physically and emotionally demanding, and can more often than not leads to mental exhaustion. In this way, utilizing every avenue of support while on a grief journey is incredibly important. This can look like leaning into a wide variety of tools, and getting the creative juices flowing is one amazing way of tapping into that support. Beyond the joy that can be found in arts and crafts, taking part in creative activities helps increase dopamine levels and overall activation in the brain. This neurological reaction actually helps you to release stress and get a little support processing heavy emotions. It may even be a way to honor your lost loved one and keep their memory alive within this next chapter of your life. Check out a few ways below to tap into your creativity and see what may work best for you.

Art Therapy and Crafting

Painting, drawing, knitting, and all other physical forms of artistic crafting can be an amazing way to process and express difficult emotions. Grief, and all the complex emotions that come with it have the tendency to be overwhelming. Taking part in creating something new can be a great way to express and pinpoint your emotions without feeling the need to use words or share what you’re thinking with others. It creates a space for safe self reflection that can be molded into whatever you need it to be. Whether you choose to do a calming drawing exercise while feeling sad, splatter paint your way through anger, or knit a scarf while working through confusion, the opportunities for emotional release are endless.

Writing and Journaling

Feel better with a pen in your hand? Writing or journaling can also be an amazing and positive way to process the grief journey. Because grief is a complex experience, It’s not always easy to verbalize to others how your mind or body feels as you work through it. Writing offers a private space to explore those thoughts and feelings without the pressure of live thought formulation or linear processing. Seeing your inner thoughts on paper can also bring clarity or highlight aspects of your own feelings you weren’t able to see before. Feeling intimidated? Answering journal prompts can be a great way to begin if you’re feeling lost on where to start. Check out this list of prompts to get you started.

Music

Music can have the ability to reach us in special ways, whether through creating your own music or listening to and engaging with music that others have made. Throughout the grief journey, the endless applications of music can be incredibly cathartic and healing. Building your own musical masterpiece, whether through song or instruments, can be a great way to process and release complex emotions that feel otherwise contained. Creating playlists can also be just as impactful, as we can physically map out our emotions through different libraries of songs. Just listening to a specific song and hearing the emotions of others, relating to those feelings, and feeling connected to the lyrics can be a source of comfort in shared experiences. Music has also been known to help regulate mood or resurface memories. No matter how you engage with it, music can be a key tool in supporting you within grief.

Dance and Movement

Dancing can look and feel incredibly different depending on what you need while processing grief. Moving our bodies can not only release endorphins, but it also helps us work through difficult feelings. Whether you prefer to choreograph a full set, learn a TikTok dance, or jump around while jamming to your favorite band from back in the day, all forms of self expression through dance are valid and can make us feel better throughout the week. Dance is a wonderful art form for expressing how you feel without having to put it into words, and showcase what grief can feel like in our physical bodies. It also creates an outlet to connect with others who feel passionate about the same things, and share those experiences. It’s a form of mindfulness and meditation that may feel better than traditional practices. If you’re feeling stuck, movement may just be the answer you’re looking for.

Remember to Let Go of the Pressure

One thing to remember about tapping into creativity is that creative endeavors can hold as much or as little weight as you would like. If experimenting with abstract watercolors feels good, that’s fantastic! If leaning into and building on more concrete artistic skills feels better, that’s amazing too. Sometimes it feels good to make a piece that honors the life of the loved one you lost, and sometimes a coloring book works wonders, too. These tools are meant to work for you and mold to whatever your grief journey looks like.

Art and Connection

While solo-art can be incredibly healing, one of the wonderful aspects about participating in creativity is that there are often opportunities to do it alongside others with the same goal. Joining art classes, writing groups, or even simply painting alongside others in a park offers an avenue for connection that allows you to find solace in the company of others. This is especially true if the classes or groups are specific to grief. You might even find an opportunity to collaborate on a larger project you never even knew existed. Grief can feel lonely at times, and art can be an amazing way to alleviate some of that hurt as a community.

Overall, creative outlets and coping mechanisms offer a plethora of opportunities to help support you on your grief journey. Whether you reach for paints, a pen, make a playlist, or have a dance party, leaning into your ability to create and express yourself offers a path towards processing difficult emotions. Grief is one of the most difficult human experiences, and there’s no one right way to find support through it. However, if you’re struggling, creativity and art may just be the support you’ve been looking for.

Looking for some extra support while navigating grief? Our incredible providers here at Manhattan Wellness are ready to start that journey with you. We understand that managing the complexities of grief can be difficult. With our amazing group of therapists, you don’t have to navigate the process all on your own. A dedicated team working out of Manhattan, Brooklyn, or anywhere in New York, our clinicians are ready to help you start a journey of empowerment and self care. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Contact Manhattan Wellness today or email us at hello@manhattanwellness.org
2. Schedule your first appointment with one of our Manhattan therapists
3. Embark on this empowering path to a more confident you

OTHER THERAPY SERVICES AT MANHATTAN WELLNESS IN MANHATTAN, WESTCHESTER, BROOKLYN & THROUGHOUT NEW YORK

At Manhattan Wellness, our therapists are here to support you in navigating every aspect of life. This is why we offer a variety of services to ensure you get the support, care, and guidance necessary. The therapy services we offer are Therapy for Maternal Mental Health, Self-Esteem Counseling, and Anxiety Treatment. Along with Dating/Relationship Counseling, Counseling for College Students, and more.