THE EXPRESSIVE INSTINCT HOW IMAGINATION AND CREATIVE WORKS HELP US SURVIVE AND T
Throughout our lives, we're driven to express ourselves. Sometimes that urge emerges quietly in everyday moments; other times it demands to be channelled into something bigger, something artistic. Girija Kaimal's fascinating exploration reveals how this impulse becomes far more transformative when poured into creative forms. She challenges the stubborn myth that artistry belongs only to the naturally talented, arguing instead that it's woven into our very nature. The questions she poses are deceptively simple yet profound. Why does art matter so much to us? Do we genuinely crave beauty and natural surroundings, or is this simply preference? Is making things and engaging creatively actually vital for living well? Drawing on more than a decade of rigorous investigation, Kaimal weaves together evolutionary science, neurobiology, and her own rich experience as a practising artist, therapist, educator and researcher. The result feels both scientifically grounded and intensely personal. Her central argument is compelling: we cannot afford to abandon our creative instincts. The creative life isn't frivolous; it's survival equipment. Making art, whether on canvas or in any other medium, lets us externalise our wildest thoughts and imagined worlds. In doing so, we develop the psychological flexibility we desperately need when facing life's inevitable upheavals and uncertainties. Art becomes not decoration, but a vital vessel for everything we experience as human beings.
- Author: Girija Kaimal
- Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
- Genre: Social Sciences
- ISBN: 978-0197646229
- Pages: 253 pages