Incorporate at least 20 minutes of art engagement (making or beholding) into your daily routine, as it offers benefits comparable to exercise and mindfulness.
Engage in at least one art experience per month, as research suggests this can extend your life by 10 years.
Dedicate 45 minutes to working on an art project to effectively reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Spend at least 15 minutes in nature daily to lower cortisol, achieve homeostasis, clear your mind, and gain clarity and insight.
Participate in artistic activities without the pressure of needing to be “good” or professional, as the benefits derive from the act of engagement itself, not the outcome.
Actively prioritize playing with different art forms without preconceived expectations, as this is essential to counteract the societal emphasis on productivity and prevent depression.
Engage in artistic activities as a form of meditation, allowing you to shift out of your cognitive mind and focus entirely on the creative process, such as observing watercolor drips or shaping clay.
Allow yourself to enter flow states and engage in seemingly distracted activities like doodling, as these practices can lead to increased creativity, relaxation, and innovation.
Engage in making art as an act of freedom and self-expression, fostering introspection and providing an opportunity to authentically share yourself with the world.
Actively engage with art as a beholder to practice perspective-taking, allowing you to explore different emotional ranges and ideas without personal risk, thereby enhancing empathy.
Incorporate a little bit of art into your daily routine to time-release micro-traumas, preventing their accumulation and mitigating the risk of emotional overload or depression.
Integrate simple artistic expressions into your daily routine, such as humming in the shower or gardening, to leverage everyday moments for well-being.
Apply mindfulness to your daily sensory experiences, such as the sensation of walking, being in nature, or feeling the air on your skin, to tune into the broadly defined arts and their benefits.
Cultivate radical presence by intentionally noticing colors, smells, and other sensory details in your surroundings, as this practice provides an effective “art or aesthetics dosage” for your well-being.
Actively connect with and acknowledge your body’s constant sensory input and feelings, rather than solely relying on your cognitive mind, to gain agency over your well-being and surroundings.
Cultivate intentionality in your existing daily activities rather than adding more tasks, transforming routine actions into opportunities for aesthetic engagement and well-being.
During your morning routine, such as making coffee or tea, intentionally tune into the sensorial experiences like light, temperature, and smell, recognizing that smell profoundly influences emotions.
Hum or sing while showering to engage your vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and well-being.
Doodle during business meetings to enhance your attentiveness, improve your ability to retain information, and facilitate better recall.
Engage in simple visual arts like drawing mandalas, collaging, coloring, or even stick figures, as these activities help you tap into your psyche, understand your feelings, and immediately lower anxiety levels.
Engage your hands with tactile materials like clay, yarn, or soil, as this stimulates your skin and nerve endings, igniting internal sensory receptors that enhance attentiveness and focus.
Read poetry, as this activity lights up brain regions similar to those activated by music and stimulates the brain’s primary reward circuitry.
Experiment with various art forms such as coloring, listening to music, working with clay, or painting, ensuring you approach these activities without judgment to transform them into pure play and fun.
Engage in a wide variety of artistic experiences, akin to cross-training, to stimulate different neural pathways, create new connections, and prune existing ones, enhancing neuroplasticity.
Actively seek out and engage in new experiences to continuously foster neuroplasticity, which helps your brain form new synaptic connections and prune old ones, making room for growth.
If you’re unsure where to begin your artistic journey, reflect on and reconnect with aesthetic arts experiences that resonated with you as a child, using them as a starting point.
Dedicate time to activities purely for enjoyment, without any agenda or productivity goals, to cultivate genuine pleasure and a break from outcome-driven thinking.
Engage in improvisational artistic activities, such as jazz or drumming, as this practice can shut down the brain’s perfection-seeking regions, facilitating flow states and enhanced creativity.
Institute a weekly art-focused date night with a partner or friends, experimenting with activities like theater, painting, or other creative endeavors to foster connection and shared enjoyment.
Challenge yourself to engage in an hour of art daily for 100 days, experimenting with various forms without judgment, to cultivate a consistent and enjoyable artistic practice.
Actively cultivate attributes associated with flourishing, such as curiosity, wonder, awe, creativity, novelty, surprise, and ritual, to move beyond merely coping and truly thrive as a human.
Be intentional about designing or choosing your physical spaces, prioritizing elements that positively influence how you think and feel, rather than solely focusing on efficiency.
Seek out and engage with immersive art experiences, such as walking into a painting or multi-sensory exhibits, as these experiences amplify your sensorial perception and compel you to move beyond your cognitive mind.
Engage in immersive art experiences to stimulate brain regions similar to those activated by psychedelics, thereby gaining a fresh and different perspective on life.
Actively work to amplify your human sensory systems and capacity for creative expression, recognizing that these abilities will become increasingly vital as technology further integrates into daily life.
Recognize food as an art form fundamental to survival, identity, and culture, and prioritize eating together, as this practice fosters agreeableness and collaboration.
Approach cooking as an art form, recognizing your agency in creating and combining ingredients, similar to making a painting, and also value the act of eating together.
Practice mindful eating, fully tuning into the taste, texture, and smell of your food, as this enhances the experience and provides an aesthetic dosage.
Engage in regular activities like dancing (e.g., weekly) and making meals together, focusing on the sensory aspects of cooking, to foster fun, laughter, and connection.
Intentionally pay attention to scents around you, recognizing their powerful ability to evoke emotions and memories.
Approach experiences with curiosity and a beginner’s mind, being open to new things and wondering about the world, as this is a fundamental aspect of an aesthetic mindset.
Practice playful exploration by engaging in activities without an intended outcome, judgment, or criticism, which is crucial for fostering an aesthetic mindset.
Actively engage in sensorial stimulation and cultivate awareness of all your senses, as this deepens your connection to your surroundings and is part of an aesthetic mindset.
Regularly switch between being a maker of art and a beholder of art, as this dynamic engagement is integral to a comprehensive aesthetic mindset.
Cultivate a lack of judgment towards yourself and open up space for artistic exploration, as self-compassion makes it easier to engage without feeling shamed or inadequate.
Actively work on being less dismissive to foster an open mind, as this can lead to discovering valuable new perspectives and benefits.
Consciously work to avoid rushing frantically through your day and ticking off to-do list items, as this can hinder your ability to tune into beneficial experiences.
For mothers experiencing postpartum depression, engage in singing and humming, as these activities have been shown to improve mood and overall well-being.
For Parkinson’s patients, engage in drumming, other musical instruments, or dance, as these activities are incredibly helpful in minimizing symptoms related to gait, motor movement, cognition, sleep, and mood, with increased benefits from consistent practice.
For individuals with dementia or Alzheimer’s, explore therapies utilizing 40 hertz sound combined with light, as this sequence has shown amazing results in potentially cleaning brain plaque.
Advocate for or implement the prescribing of arts (e.g., museum visits, dance) by healthcare professionals, as other countries are successfully using this approach for cognition, stroke recovery, and other health benefits.
For those involved in creating spaces, adopt a neuroaesthetic perspective in designing environments like schools and public housing, as conscious design profoundly impacts individual and community well-being.