Why Creating Makes You Feel Human: A closer look at the concept of Flow

Nicole Ardin
4 days ago
3 min read

Neuroscience of flow, dopamine, and emotional regulation — explained in accessible, poetic

There’s a moment — subtle, almost sacred — when your hands start moving, your mind softens its edges, and something inside you remembers what it means to be fully, vibrantly alive. Whether you’re painting, gardening, scribbling in a notebook, rearranging furniture, or stirring spices into a pot of soup, a shift happens. Your brain exhales. Creating isn’t a luxury. It’s not a hobby. It’s a biological homecoming. And science has a beautiful explanation for this deeply human experience.

The Brain on Creation: A Return to Flow

Flow is that state where minutes melt, distractions dissolve, and you become one with what you’re doing. Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (famous for developing the concept of "flow" in Positive Psychology) described it as an “optimal experience” — but the brain sees it as something even more profound.

When you enter flow, your prefrontal cortex (the part responsible for self-criticism, overthinking, time awareness, and your inner commentator) temporarily powers down. This is called transient hypofrontality, and it's one of the reasons creating feels like relief from the constant hum of responsibility and rumination.

In flow:

Your inner critic gets quieter
Your sense of time softens
Your stress response calms down
Your brain shifts from survival mode into connection mode

It’s no wonder that even a few minutes of creating can make the world feel less sharp.

Why It Feels So Good: The Dopamine Dance

Creating something new — even something small — triggers a series of dopamine releases. Not because the result is “good,” but because your brain is wired to reward curiosity, exploration, and meaning-making.

Dopamine spikes when you:

Try a new brushstroke
Experiment with a colour
Write a sentence that suddenly clicks
Figure out how to fix a mistake
Feel the puzzle pieces in your mind connect

What's important to understand he ist, that this isn’t the addictive dopamine loop of social media. It’s the healthy motivational pathway that reinforces learning, resilience, and joy.

In simpler words: Your brain loves it when you play!

Creation as Emotional Regulation

Creating isn’t just expressive; it’s regulating. Studies in affective neuroscience show that engaging in small creative acts can lower cortisol, stabilise your nervous system, and stimulate the parasympathetic response — the body’s natural “rest and restore” mode.

Here’s why:

1. Creativity externalises emotions

Instead of emotions swirling inside your body, creating gives them form — colour, texture, words, rhythm. What was internal becomes observable. This alone reduces emotional load.

2. It anchors you in the present

Creating is a sensorial experience. The smell of paint. The pressure of clay. The tactile scratch of pencil on paper. Sensory grounding is one of the most effective nervous-system stabilisers we have.

3. It provides micro-moments of mastery

Even tiny achievements — mixing the right shade, completing a small sketch — activate the brain’s reward system and counter feelings of helplessness or stuckness.

4. It softens the stress response

Creativity engages networks that inhibit the amygdala’s alarm signals. You’re literally soothing your own threat system.

The Quiet Rebellion of Making Things

We live in a world obsessed with productivity, outputs, and measurable results. But creativity refuses to be rushed or quantified. It is inherently rebellious: slow, human, intuitive.

Creating reminds you:

You are more than your job description.
Your worth is not tied to performance.
You have an inner world that deserves airtime.
You’re allowed to be messy, playful, exploratory.

And in a culture that glorifies being busy, choosing to create is an act of self-respect.

You Feel Human Because You Are Human

Art-making — in any form — taps into neural systems that evolved long before language, strategy, or email chains. It’s connected to the sensory, emotional, relational parts of us. The parts that make us human, not machine-like. When you create, you’re not just making something outside of you. You’re remembering something inside of you.

You’re remembering:

Your curiosity
Your imagination
Your aliveness
Your capacity to feel
Your ability to transform raw experience into meaning

This is why creating feels like home.

A Gentle Invitation

You don’t need a studio, fancy tools, or “talent” to start with art. Just a moment. A pen. A pot. A brush. A camera. A daydream. Let your nervous system open the door. Let your brain follow the thread. Let your hands tell a small truth.

Because every act of creation — quiet or bold — is a reminder: