by Helene Anne Fortin – October 24 2024
I live in a creativity sanctuary. I am in my 70s, and have devoted my life to taking a different path. I dance between being an artist and a energy practitioner.
I have no choice. I was driven.
I love both sides of me (most days.) In my work, I humbly attempt to bring more beauty to the world, to help others see that beauty within and without, and for them to realize (via my portraiture and energy work) that they too are magnificent, beauty-filled and powerful in a gentle kind of way.
This body we own—this “energy” being—is like a beacon. When we are on our rightful path there is a light illuminated inside that is reflected through the eyes.
What illuminates you, your life, your journey?
As a human being I also dance between worry and overthinking and euphoria some days. To be honest, that worry can be pushed into absolute fear in certain moments, having a huge impact on my energetic and physical health.
Let me explain more but before I do, I’d like to walk you into my Studio. I live in the North: Canada. And not all days are filled with light. So the space I inhabit and create within has floor-to-ceiling windows calling (some days begging) for the light to come in. I do suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) so, at this darker time of year, I have a SAD light on which I recommend to my clients who live in this Northerly climate (differing from those in warmer, brighter ones).
The walls of my Studio are filled with art: a combination of the portraits I create for people and my new love affair with acrylic painting. It is an elegant space with a wood stove and big leather couches. Hidden away is my painting room that harbors a mess of tubes of paint and a couple of easels and canvases in progress and dog toys. My finished painted canvases are few as I keep overpainting till I get them just right. One day I’d love to share those with you too.
My obsession with creativity is equivalent to my desperate need to have peace in my life. Perhaps even as important as breath to me. Any form of creation, i.e., painting, photography or even my energy work, are all a reflection of the creative self.
For me, creativity is simply: the act of creating something that has never existed before that makes my world a better place in which to live.
Through creativity I have found solace, quiet and a deep peace. Through creativity I have found ways to intuit what my healing clients need. Through creativity I have found my Destiny.
My deep-seated need for peace-seeking is understandable because, as a child, I grew up in a household that was anything but.
I have learned that peace and the creative act go hand-in-hand. In fact, the creative brain is where that peace resides. Think of creativity as a room or space. In that sanctuary there is no sense of time. It is a quiet space where no problems, no words exist. It is a visual space where silence echoes.
The other side of our brain—the logical side—harbours words, judgement, linear thinking and a huge need for control (of everything). Because language is so powerful, the logical side often gains dominance. Naturally it thinks that this “creativity” stuff is a waste of time. Wow!
Truth be told that in each one of us there is this inner battle on-going. The “for” and “against” us being creative. If the logical side wins: no creativity.
Take my daughter’s case as an example. She was then 10. She desperately wanted to learn to play piano. Her dad felt it was a waste of money. He would not pay for the piano nor its expensive moving fee to get the beast of an upright piano into our new home. Why? For him it had no value. It was simply frivolous, a waste of resources.Today my daughter is a brilliant artist who still plays music (replacing her piano with a cello) whenever she gets a minute away from her busy life as a psychologist. Take it a step further: she honed her hearing skills during years of music study so that now, as her clients speak, she easily distinguishes the tone and often true message of the person in front of her, helping them heal…
May I clear up a misconception about creativity? You do not need to be an artist to be creative.
The reality is that there are very creative people in all walks of life: accountants, counsellors, doctors. They are often the ones that “go deeper” in their work and “think outside of the box,” and who look at things wholistically (another trait of the creative brain) finding innovative solutions to problems.
In my energy work with clients I teach them ways to turn off this noisy logical side so that they can spend more time in a peaceful state where the body relaxes deeply. Where the sinews/muscles release. Where the stomach and fluids in the body flow more readily. And the crazy emotions disappear. Even for a short while. Reminding their bodies there is a different way. Needless to say, that speeds up the healing.
I do admit that creativity, for me, has become addictive. Yet it has been proven that “intelligence” is greater in those who foster both equally: the creative and logical sides of their brain.
Whenever I pick up my camera or paintbrush there is an enthusiasm that shoots through my veins like a drug: an excitement, a life force that is not there otherwise. Is it adrenalin? I’d more accurately describe it as a deep feeling of fulfillment in my heart. A sense of peace that is a heart-driven, a home-coming, a recognition that this is my true Destiny.
What happens to those who have never had the opportunity to identify/explore that part of themselves? Many things. Certainly, a different life. When I tried to put aside my creativity, I found myself deeply unhappy. Life got heavier. Fast.
Sometimes school systems churn it out of us. Sometimes well-intentioned parents saying, “that (name whatever it is… piano, that painting stuff, that “playing”, etc.) will never amount to much. Go another route.”
There’s another part of being creative that I think needs to be addressed.
Failure and fear.
We live in a society that breeds competition and winners. Don’t do something unless you are the “best” at it. Compete. Perform. Win. That’s good for a few but for the majority of us regular folk it kills our desire to be creative.
It is the act of doing something creative itself that is important—the bravely picking up of our “creativity” instrument—versus the opposite, believing erroneously that what we do creatively must be “perfect.”
As human beings we naturally experience fear, worry and overthinking, anger, frustration, sadness and panic. The key is not to spend much time in these places of deep emotion as they impact health, hope, and happiness. They also kill energy and eventually self. Use some form of creative outlet to temper those times.
Even if your job does not foster “thinking creatively” do find ways on your own time to “create” something: a recipe, a new way of helping someone, redesigning your living room, strumming your guitar and creating your own melody—all creative endeavours. It will soothe your soul, your heart. (And relax the energies of your body deeply.)
What I have discovered is that creativity is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised over and over again to hone its power and the wisdom that lies within your creative self. The younger we start that “exercising” the more creativity is simply part of our day-to-day lives.
As Winston Churchill eloquently wrote, “Happy are the painters for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end, of the day.”
Churchill himself suffered from depression, known as “the black dog.” Painting, for him, was one of his ways back to centre.
Creativity is not only good for your health but helps to build a better world via innovative thinkers.
Let’s face it, we occupy such a tiny space in this beautiful world. How can we create inside ourselves our own creativity sanctuary? Or is that sanctuary already there and all we have to do is to name it? To spend time there?
I think so.
The choice is yours.
I made mine.
Love from Wakefield Quebec.
HA
Helene Anne Fortin is a Creative. She works with people world-wide sharing her knowledge of Classical Chinese Medicine and the energy of the human spirit. http://www.kindmentor.com She also celebrates people via her fine art portraiture: http://www.portraitsofyourlife.com
Helene Anne Fortin • kind mentor 