Imagine spending some time every day doing something just because it’s enjoyable. It may be crafting a poem, sketching a grandchild, taking wildlife photos, trying a new recipe, arranging your garden, or playing a musical instrument. You’re certainly not an expert in any of these pursuits; you’re doing them simply because they bring you a measure of enjoyment. As such, the simple act of creating something is a valuable part of your life.
Interestingly, a decided body of research is examining a fascinating connection. That is, creative activities aren’t merely an expression of happiness but may actually be one of the pathways that helps us experience more of it. Let’s take a look.
What the Research Says About Creativity and Happiness
A compelling study in 2018 followed 658 young adults for thirteen days, asking them each day about their creative activities, positive and negative emotions, and flourishing. The researchers discovered that subjects experienced greater positive effect and greater flourishing on days following days when they engaged in more creative activities than usual.
Equally important, the researchers did not find the reverse relationship; that is, being happier did not predict greater creativity the following day. The overall conclusion was that creativity may not merely be something we do when we’re feeling good; engaging in creative activities may actually help us feel better.
In a 2021 study, researchers conducted two linked projects. In the first, they examined 256 university students and 291 working adults. They noted a positive relationship between creativity and subjective well-being even after accounting for stress and demographic variables. Subsequently, a follow-up study involving 68 undergraduate students indicated that participants who received a creativity-boosting intervention reported higher subjective well-being than did participants in a control situation. The researchers concluded that increasing creative engagement may, in and of itself, contribute to greater well-being.
In another 2021 study researchers synthesized 189 effect sizes from 26 studies involving 8,189 participants. They discovered an overall positive relationship between creativity and well-being (r = .14). Even more significant was that when creativity was measured through actual creative activities and behaviors (rather than laboratory measures of divergent thinking), the relationship with well-being was substantially stronger (r = .22 vs. .06). The overall conclusion was that we don’t necessarily have to be a highly creative person to get the psychological benefits. Doing creative things may matter more than scoring high on a creativity test.
It seems safe to say that science hasn’t proven that creativity always makes us happier. There’s encouraging evidence, but the relationship is complicated and probably bidirectional. Nevertheless, the research evidence seems to support the contention that activities deemed creative can contribute to positive psychological functioning.
Putting Creativity Research Into Practice
There’s evidence to suggest a connection between our engagement in creative activities and our overall psychological happiness. Here are several familiar and enjoyable pastimes that give you an opportunity to influence your overall well-being.
- Wonder Walk. Step outside and take a 15-minute walk through your neighborhood, local park or nearby woods. Along the way, look for things that make you say, “I wonder…” Perhaps it’s the leaves on a familiar tree, the movement of an insect, the flowers in a garden, or the sound of a passing bird. Record your questions as soon as you return home – but don’t answer them immediately. Allow your curiosity and imagination to take over.
- Happy Memories Collage. Go through your mementos and collect an assortment of photographs, postcards, ticket stubs, children’s drawings, vacation souvenirs and other reminders of happy experiences from your past. Arrange them in a pattern that just feels right for you. You may want to include some key words, a few drawings or a couple of captions. This creative process gives you an opportunity to re-visit happy times and positive experiences while creating something new.
- Puzzle Time. Regularly engage with different kinds of puzzles including crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, word searches, cryptograms, word jumbles, rebus puzzles, and logic-grid puzzles, among others. Time with a puzzle is a way to exercise your brain and participate in engaging and pleasurable experiences.
- Living Room Artist. Walk into your living room and focus your attention on a single object. It may be a vase, a small plant, an unread book, a pillow, the fringe on a rug, or a seldom-used chair. Sketch it, photograph it, describe it in a single sentence, or create a short story about it. This is not an exercise in artistic excellence, but rather an opportunity to express your vision in a variety of ways.
- A New Purpose. Pull an item from your trash that you might otherwise throw away. It might be a magazine, a piece of tin foil, a small cardboard box, a yogurt container, or a plastic bottle cap. Challenge yourself to find three creative ways to reuse it. For example, a bottle cap might become a single pill holder, a small hat for a doll, or an ornament for a holiday decoration. This becomes a game of possibilities (“What else could this become?”). You may be surprised at the variety of uses you generate for something you would normally toss.
- Six Words. Tap into your memory and identify a particularly happy experience (a recent trip, a day doing nothing, a friend’s comment, or a new restaurant). Express that experience in just six words. For example: “Sunny day. Leafy forest. Quiet walk.” You may want to create a variety of six-word stories—each capturing a small amount of happiness. Interestingly, the word restriction forces your imagination to work in unexpected ways.
Engaging in similar activities such as knitting, gardening, playing music, photography, woodworking, writing, painting, storytelling, and decorating (among others) also provides you with opportunities for creative engagement. In other words, happiness doesn’t necessarily provide the conditions for creativity; creative engagement may itself become a source of happiness.
Final point: Don’t wait until you feel happy to be creative. Engage in a creative activity—and see whether happiness follows.
