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Creativity- A Key To Your Wellbeing

Creativity- A Key To Your Wellbeing

Today’s health care institutions need creative and innovative solutions.
Nurses need to think creatively, to experiment, to take risks, and to innovate.

You are creative because you are human. Humans are infinitely creative. Throughout history in groups and as individuals we have invented tools, developed ways of survival, produced beautiful pieces of art, literature, theatre, music and dance. We celebrate concepts with theories and ritual. We study the cosmos to discover how and where we fit “into the scheme of things”. We design health initiatives and at the same time we create weapons to kill.  Innovation, discovery and creativity are forms of Self care or self preservation, motivated by different states of awareness that are experienced as feelings.

Making time to tune into your inner self, to feel, to notice, to breathe, to heal and to feel comfortable in your own skin is a way of supporting your creativity. Tuning in to deal with fears and anxieties in new situations is also a way to support your creativity. Your creativity is one of the keys to your wellbeing. When you are exhausted, driven by external demands that come from the outside- by the employer, family or friends, or inner demands in the forms of perfectionism or pride in “doing it all without help”,  your mind gets dull, you cannot solve simple problems, you may over eat or abuse some other substance. Small issues become magnified and out of proportion. Your ability to creatively address situations decreases.

Laura jumps out of bed, checks her email, gets ready for work, drinking a cup of coffee as she prepares for her work day. Since she no longer takes time to prepare her lunch or dinner, which her husband now brings home from fast food places she ended up in the ER with stress induced hypertension. She started to cry while describing her latest hamster wheel of working 92 hours in a 7 day stretch. She also bemoaned the loss of her creativity.

That was the note that began our discussion of her journey towards meeting her needs. Based upon her schedule, what she can and is willing to do at this time, she created a Self care plan that starts with 5 minutes of meditation 5 days a week and time on her treadmill before checking her email. Never having meditated, she was fearful that she would not be able to sit still for 5 minutes and worried about her mind that “never stops”. The first session “went by so fast, and it was so good”. Then she used her treadmill. I instructed her to download the Insight Timer app  that she can use in the future. Laura said, “I always said ‘charity begins at home’, as she pointed to herself. Starting Self care may initially be challenging, however when you respond to the call, new ways of seeing situations appear, and you create ways of responding to challenges and opportunities. Additionally a new sense of wellbeing and hope can arise, which I heard in Laura’s voice.

A few years ago I committed to “walking the talk” that I gave my patients and caregivers about Self care. After working 60 hours a week and getting paid for 37.5, for years, I began a regular routine for Self care, setting a good example for my daughters and husband. It is from this practice that Integral Nursing Solutions, PLLC has evolved~ supporting my passion for empowering others to take good care of themselves so that they can continue to shine their beautiful lights in the world with innovation, creativity and ease.

How do you protect and celebrate your creativity? What does your creativity at work look like? Are you happy with your nursing career? Are you comfortable taking risks, trying the new and sharing your innovations? You can look forward to receiving later in the week a video on creativity, and at least one article that is stimulating and short.

August 27, 2017 we will begin the next Vitality in Progress: Healing and Preventing Burnout for Nurses creating and supporting individualized Self care plans for nurses.

In the meantime, give yourself a dedicated 1/2 hour weekly for Self care.
Please join us

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a beautiful week, filled with creativity and clarity.

With love, Padma

 

 

 

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