It would seem that Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow and I have little in common, but we share the belief that our breast cancer experience was a wake-up call to take better care of ourselves and the reason we approach life with renewed zeal. While few of us may harbor ambitions to become a recording artist of Crow’s caliber, we all have the capacity to promote our healing. Our best medicine is at the ends of our fingertips when we tap into our creativity as a healing tool. We are the patient and the prescription. I’m here to share with you some of the many ways you can benefit from tapping into your creativity.

Creativity influenced my recovery enormously. Please don’t misunderstand; I’m neither a Britney nor a Marilyn – and although I did have a cousin named Madonna, she was famous for her baking, not for writhing on stage dressed in virginal white. I have no entourage, nor do I have a posse. I’m just Mary. I am somebody’s wife, mom, sister and friend. Someone you’d see at the grocery store, or at church. And I’m here to freely admit that my “drug” of choice produces a 100 percent natural high. It’s called using your creativity.

Your creativity is a chameleon and takes many forms. We are all creative beings. Making time to play is engaging your creativity. The word “play” brings to mind sports and games, but play is also about attitude. Opportunities to be creative surround us: trying a new recipe, taking a new route to work, watching the travel channel instead of a MASH rerun, taking a walk on the coastal trail, enjoying the sunset, arranging flowers in a vase for the dining table.

My favorite creative expressions are writing in my journal and making collages. A collage is a visual version of a journal page and the only supplies necessary are a glue stick and your favorite magazines. It can be as small as an index card, or as large as a poster. After collecting images from the magazines, simply glue them down and watch what happens. The resulting collage may affirm an intention, reveal a passion, or awaken a purpose for you. No writing experience is necessary to keep a journal. It is a safe place to vent, a trusted friend and a tool for healing. Your journal can be anything you are comfortable writing in: spiral notebook or leather-bound one, loose-leaf paper or index cards or even calendar pages.

The hands-on experience helps you focus your energies on the present moment. I am fascinated by how a piece of paper, glue, charms and a bit of whimsy becomes an incredible piece of art. Indulging in creative expression actually changes our brain wave patterns, and affects the autonomic nervous system. It can affect every cell in the body, changing the immune system and blood flow to all the organs and creating a healing physiology.

Using your creativity produces cool stuff. There is nothing like the joy of accomplishment and the bonus of being able to wear a work of art – a work of art of your own hand. I made my favorite piece of jewelry, a booklace (combination book and necklace) at an art retreat. My first art retreat adventure had me feeling a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole into another world, but it was great fun. To get started close to home, visit the public library to peruse their books on crafts, pick up kits at hobby stores, browse crafts magazines, or download free directions for crafts off the Internet. Creativity novices may also find help and advice at small independent craft stores. Of course, you will meet some very interesting people also on their creative path. These individuals are often rule breakers and free spirits who use their imaginations to see endless possibilities, not boundaries. When they are given instructions in class, they take them as suggestions, or as safety precautions, never the final word.

To help others along this journey to discovering their creativity, I’m offering two types of workshops. In the Permission to Play Workshop, we unleash our creativity through collage and simple journaling exercises. No writing experience is necessary. The Simple Abundance Close-to-Home Workshop offers an opportunity for women who find themselves hurdling through each day as if it were an out-of-body experience to slow down, take stock of their world and perhaps make changes in their lives. Close-to-Home Workshops are based on Sara Ban Breathnach’s 1995 New York Times bestseller, Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. For more information, visit my Web site at www.openuptoyourcreativity.com.