Have you heard of Neuroaesthetics?

It is honestly what I have known in my bones to be true all these years so this expanding field of research is so exciting for me. Let’s dive in! Neuroaesthetics is basically the way you feel when you take in art and beauty. Us humans are wired to be drawn to the magnificent and it is hard wired apparently. Think of how calm you feel when you sit in a beautiful courtyard filled with green plants and you hear a flowing fountain. Or the emotion provoked when you are watching a movie. Or the peace you feel when you are in nature. Neuroaethetics explains why good art can literally move us to tears. Sometimes it can feel as if the artist has imprinted on you the emotion they were feeling. Neuroaesthetics explains why good art can promote deep empathy.

Being with beauty can light up the circuits in our brain where we feel pleasure and joy. It activates all the good neurotransmitters like dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin. And this happens when we take in art and beauty as well as when we create it ourselves. This is why accessing your creativity can feel like unkinking a hose and being in a flow state. Anyone who knows that place understands what wonders it can do for our vitality and feeling alive! We need hospitals and assisted living facilities and mental health facilities and crisis centers move form a cold institutional place to places that exude warmth and inspire life.

I did not have this term when I started doing this work so many years ago however I absolutely knew that this was happening on a biological level. That beauty making and beauty imbibing is healing. That tending to your space calms your nervous system and makes room for more positivity to enter your room and your brain and your life. This kind of transformation absolutely activates and elevates the quality of your life. I feel more confident knowing that the gift of my sensitivities are proven to be true. I really hope further research in this field will see art and beauty as an integral part of our wellness and a necessity for us all.