The Art of War
Transforming Trauma into Inspiration
Before becoming a social worker, I was an artist who found creating art as a way to navigate the world around me. In this post, I’ll be sharing with you a few of my own tips, hacks, and the process of drawing out creative thoughts and turning them into realized projects.
The Power of Creativity
Expressing life experiences - whether through creative writing, painting, music, or performance art - has the power to alleviate many of what we might have been taught to suppress or numb out. Instead, I invite survivors to transform trauma into inspiration.
According to the American Art Therapy Association, arts-based interventions – from the visual arts to music – can be used to:
• Reduce PTSD symptoms and co-existing conditions
• Improve cognitive functioning and behavior
• Aid in the expression of traumatic events and addressing recurring episodes
• Bolster self-esteem and provide stress reduction
When it comes to creating music, the effects are quite similar to visual art. Music-based therapeutic interventions have demonstrated the ability to facilitate the expression of traumatic memories, resilience building, motivation for long-term success, and lowering the need to seek additional mental health services. In short, all creative methods share a common thread of healing, purpose, and impact.
The Creative Process
Before starting a project, it is highly recommended to ease oneself into the creative process by creating a specific space to brainstorm. One can compose music, create visual art, or even choreograph a performance piece using the creative process to begin using the creative lens to produce works in one’s chosen medium. The following process is outlined here where one could use it alone or to assist a client:
1. Find your favorite time, place, to create: Figure out where you feel the most comfortable to work on your chosen creative project. It could be a specific area of your home, outdoors, or even in bed using paper and pen or an app. Wherever you feel most inspired to create, go with it, and make it your creative spot.
2. Choose your favorite method(s) to create: Whether you prefer using paper and pen, apps on your phone, voice to text, or a combination of a variety of methods, figure out what works best for you.
3. Turn off your inner critic: you don’t have to be a published author or hold a Master of Fine Arts to get started, but you should do your best to silence your inner critic. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t get too bogged down in mastering the technical details of any medium or given craft. One can always adjust and correct later. Even the most experienced artists make mistakes, so allow yourself room for errors as well. The most important thing is that you’re here and expressing yourself.
4. Figure out what you want to express most – Do you want to write about traumatic events? Do you want to paint a period that took place during childhood or adulthood – or even a combination of both? Decide what period you want to focus on.
5. Outline your project: This is where you can start to organize a creative project by plugging in dates and locations of your story – or periods of time that inspire creative expression.
6. Select a section that excites you the most and get to creating: Choose a specific event or details of your story that’s calling your name and go with it. This can be used in writing poetry, a memoir, fiction, music, or even to organize your thoughts for performance or visual art.
7. Keep a notes app on your phone or a notebook for sudden bursts of inspiration: No matter what you like to use for planning creative projects, keep your preferred method for taking quick notes close. I prefer using both a notes app on my phone as well as a Moleskine notebook for random thoughts and unexpected moments of inspiration that I don’t want to forget. You’d be surprised how and when the muse strikes, so resist the urge to tell yourself, “I’ll remember this later.” Because inspiration comes and goes and can be easily forgotten.
The Hero’s Journey
Author Joseph Campbell introduced the concept of the Hero’s Journey as a universal theme of going on a journey that includes a transformation. This journey is not only present in mythological tales and religious studies, but in well-known works such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and numerous other books and films.
The challenging process of military-related trauma rehabilitation and community reintegration parallels Campbell’s metaphorical use of the Hero’s Journey via literary arts and the stages of departure, initiation, and return.
The historical conceptual framework for understanding the psychosocial and lingering impacts of trauma not only explains the odyssey of the Veteran experience but that the path from trauma toward healing is a worthwhile journey that emerges from the creative process.
The Hero’s Journey (described in the Writing Down Trauma video above) may be used as a method for the writing process, but it is imperative to emphasize that this approach is not limited to this medium. While narratives of trauma, military service, or even childhood can vary, it is important to choose a specific range of time to focus on one’s creative project. By selecting a specific period of time, one can concentrate on events, details, and themes that are linear and limited. In doing so, this minimizes distractions and tangents while giving the project its core.
The Importance of Developing Narratives
Art is an extremely powerful tool to convey a narrative and can be used for a variety of purposes. It can also play a significant role in not only creating meaningful work but in communicating parts of us that need to come out from experiencing trauma to a sense of injustice.
Much like storytelling, various art forms are more than just entertainment; it’s an opportunity to influence the way people think about issues through various lenses, such as race/ethnicity, mental health, gender, class, and more. Through this approach in artistic storytelling, we can engage with others and can ensure members of marginalized communities have the ability to share their stories via different mediums. In doing so, we may be better informed of their daily struggles, triumphs, and everything in between.
Using one’s narrative can be used as a helpful tool to bring about awareness or to promote social change because of its ability to convey messages in a creative way that can easily be spread quickly throughout the world through social media to sharing one’s work in public spaces.
Narratives are much like a blueprint for transforming trauma into inspiration because it provides an organic piece that is unique and personal to the artist. In turn, there is a constant source to pull from for ideas, inspiration, or looking at trauma through different periods of time or new angles.
In crafting the narrative, we should consider:
· Timeline: Using the Hero’s Journey, complete the key points, even if in bullet form, to organize your thoughts.
· Challenges: What are the obstacles that exist in the narrative? What are the perceived vulnerabilities? What are some of the unique challenges faced in the timeline?
· Allies: Who are the allies or protagonists of this narrative? How did they impact your journey?
· Threats: What are the perceived threats in the narrative? Who or what tried to stop you from moving forward?
· Pathos: What could you incorporate into the narrative that may evoke strong emotion from your intended audience?
· Ethos: How does the narrative align with your ethical or moral beliefs?
Once you’ve completed these points you can consider a variety of ways to artistically implement your narrative as well as a preferred medium. Artistic implementation starts with the narrative.
Next, consider how you might deliver this message? Do you want people to feel a sense of urgency in your art? Will you convey enthusiasm or indignation? And why?
Then you want to look at timing. When would be the best time to deliver this message? For example, if you’re working on a piece that relates to the Veteran experience, would you choose to show your work around Veterans Day?
Then you want to consider who is your primary or target audience: Who do you want to influence? Inspire? Provoke? Think about all aspects of your artistic message.
When you have all these aspects considered, you can then figure out materials and resource-related costs: How are you able to accomplish this piece? Do you have the means and resources to deliver your message effectively? Depending on your plans, you may not need to spend a whole lot on materials or space as there are plenty of shortcuts that can relate to each medium.
Finally, we can examine the hoped-for result: How does delivering this message through your art align with your goals? Does this empower or alienate anyone? Are you trying to get people to think about a certain topic, issue, or a particular feeling? All of these aspects are important to consider.
Creativity Makes Life Worth Living
One of the most worthwhile aspects in the journey of expressing trauma through the arts is that we get to know ourselves that much better. Our voice and creative lens are important, not only to ourselves but to the collective story and tapestry of humanity.
It’s easy to take that for granted.
When we allow ourselves to speak from the heart and mind, we release a purifying fire onto the blank spaces before us.
When we transmute trauma into inspiration, it’s somewhat of a magical process, much like the journey itself. Our perceptions change when we revisit past events – after we have changed, grown a bit older, and hopefully wiser. But more importantly, they allow us to see memories in tangible form and provide space for reflection.
By reflecting, we give ourselves both space and permission to let go of what has been hurting us or haunting us, and more importantly, we give ourselves the space to heal.
In creating works that emanate from difficult experiences, we create something new that allows us to follow our bliss toward a path of healing, redemption, and purpose.
