A Field Guide to Joy: A Creativity, Health, and Nature Workshop

Spending time in nature—especially observing birds—has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety. Studies have found a strong correlation between bird sightings and increased happiness, with even birdsong contributing to stress recovery and improved attention. Whether you live in an urban or rural area, birds are all around you.

Creativity, too, plays a vital role in our health and well-being. This new online workshop led by visual arts in health professional Tina Mullen blends time in nature with creative practices such as mindful observation, photography, drawing, and writing. Through these experiences, you begin to develop a journaling habit that enables you to create your own personal field guide to joy.

During our time together, we use birds and nature as a visual metaphor and combine observation with mindful attention as a strategy for enhancing attention, cultivating balance, and compassion. We use the creative processes of drawing, collage, photography, watercolor, poetry, and narrative to connect our experience in nature to our sense of well-being. It’s not about creating perfect art, rather about fully engaging in creativity to foster joy, wonder, and connection to place. These are not sidebars to a fulfilled life but their essence.

Keeping a sketchbook is a visual manifestation of these investigations. A place for ideas to grow and a place to hold memories. Using visual art and writing in partnership with mindfulness, we can advance our creative practice, hone skills, and deepen our understanding of our own health and well-being. The goal is to understand how both the concept and practice of everyday creativity can assist you to thrive throughout your life. You identify how well-being, creativity, and engaging with nature intersect, and the health benefits associated with creative art practices. By the end of this workshop, you develop a practice that helps advance your creative ecosystems.