Art, Anxiety and ... 5 insights from research on Post-Traumatic Growth

World events .... stories of senseless violence... global warming... 
if you're an artist and  your job is to find beauty in things and inspire the rest of us... the task can seem daunting. Take a break from the news feed and check in with some restorative options.

One resource -- this article that showed up via the online version of Scientific American Magazine -- "How to Find Meaning in Suffering: Useful Insights from Research on "post-traumatic growth." by Kasley Killam. Here's the link for the article. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-find-meaning-in-suffering/

"According to the research, post-traumatic growth goes beyond resilience; by actively searching for good in something terrible, a person can use adversity as a catalyst for advancing to a higher level of psychological functioning."

The article covers these five positive changes that signal post-traumatic growth:

) Personal Strength
2) Stronger relationships, via social support and increased compassion
3) Greater appreciation of life
4) Personal beliefs can be re-affirmed or re-constructed
4) Crisis clears way for new opportunities (fired from job; found something better)

Not every trauma arrives as headline news. Trauma can surface as a personal, emotional, physical or mental upheaval. We are all subject to trauma... but we don't have to be subjects of it.

Your freedom to express yourself through art comes from a place of safety and strength. Know how to find your way there. Your work depends on it.

art by Emm Roy http://positivedoodles.tumblr.com/