Creating a better mood

Lemon drizzle loaf cake: easy to make, and the combination of lemon zest, juice and sugar provides a sweet, zingy lift to any day; it's a joy to prepare as well as to eat.

"They say baking soothes the soul" 

Interesting article in the Guardian last week about whether baking can improve mental health.  Journalistic hyperbole?  Quite probably.  However, the benefits of creative activity helping your mood is not new. Alys Fowler has written recently about how gardening can have a positive effect on mood.  Monty Don is another gardener who talks about the pleasure of gardening, and has written that "Gardening should, first and foremost, be a pleasure.  If you are not enjoying it then you can be pretty sure that you are doing something wrong".

I try to take the same attitude to the things I do; that when sewing, baking or whatever activity it may be, I am doing it for my own enjoyment.  Once it stops being something that I take pleasure from and instead becomes a source of frustration and failure, it is time to take a break.

Maybe the benefit comes from focusing the mind (similar to the technique of mindfulness).  There is also a meditative quality that comes from the repetitive action of sewing or stirring ingredients together.  It is an opportunity to slow down and focus on what you are doing in that particular moment.

Knitting can be a way to find calm after a busy day - counting stitches instead of sheep!

The words "slow down" are important.  I enjoy baking when I can do it at my own speed, pottering about the kitchen with the radio on in the background.  I think this is why I like baking but find cooking horribly stressful - a meal has to be ready at a particular time, and all the elements have to be ready.  You can take as long as you want to make a cake, it's not going to spoil, and is not normally being done to a particular deadline (I make most of my cakes the night before they are going to be eaten).

And let's face it, creative activity can also be about positive reinforcement, an opportunity to think "wow, look what I can do".  I'll be the first to admit I haven't always been good at recognising my own achievements, but I am trying to get better at this.

There is one big proviso though - it doesn't matter if what you try doesn't work. Baking, sewing or any other activity will never be an aid to improving your mood if you start your task expecting perfection. But pausing to enjoy the process can be its own reward, regardless of the results.  The best thing we can create is a calm mind and a sense of contentment.

Ok, so this is a little bit decadent, but sometimes its nice to spoil yourself - chocolate cupcakes topped with my favourite chocolate?  Oh go on then...