Finding the Still Point
How Music, Singing and Nature Help Artists Move Through Sadness and Creative Block
Periods of sadness, anxiety or creative “stuckness” are familiar to most artists.
This piece is offered as a gentle guide for those moments—a reminder that music, singing and time in nature are not indulgences, but practical tools for emotional release and creative renewal.
Nature: Creativity’s Wide Sky
Nature is gloriously unstructured. As Cassandra Jones of Imagine Theatrical Productions notes, “Nature allows us to confide in our feelings and emotions.”
There are no deadlines in a meadow, no comparisons in a forest. Wide skies lift the lid on our worries and invite us back to authenticity. This is the essence of Attention Restoration Theory (ART): natural surroundings quietly restore our mental clarity and emotional balance.
Music: Emotional Alchemy
Music bypasses the chatter of an anxious mind.
A song that makes you cry can be profoundly cathartic, helping the body process grief and release pent-up emotion. Rhythm synchronises with the heart and breath, while melody activates areas of the brain linked to memory, movement and emotional processing. Whether you sing alone in the studio or listen with eyes closed, music can gently carry you out of tension and back to yourself.
The Still Point
On difficult mornings it can feel impossible to begin. T.S. Eliot described “the still point of the turning world,” a quiet centre where movement and calm meet. Creativity often starts here—in a pause. Sit with the scattered thoughts; let them settle. From that stillness, the dance of paint or words can unfold.
Art as Movement
The act of making is itself a dance: brush and colour moving across the canvas in what Gillian Ayres called a “celebration of gorgeousness.” Allow your materials to echo music’s flow—swirling, merging, unafraid. When emotion finds motion, anxiety loosens its grip.
For Artists Facing a Block
If you’re weighed down by uncertainty or self-criticism, remember:
Step outside. Notice the sky.
Put on music that resonates, even if it brings tears.
Give yourself permission to pause until the still point appears.
These simple acts are not escapes; they are pathways back to creative freedom. By trusting nature’s rhythm and music’s resonance, you can move through sadness and anxiety and return to the work only you can create.