Wellness! Museums! Connection!
Museums are Good for Us!
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. As a retired psychotherapist and a lover of museums, I’d like to share how museums and art fulfill us emotionally and improve our wellness.
I like to use the word wellness rather than mental health. Mental health often suggests negative connotations. Depression. Anxiety. Stress. Trauma. Wellness and wellbeing, however, these words shift the perspective to the positive, ways that each of us can strive for less stress and anxiety, and find more calm, focus, and delight.
One of the words that I like to advocate for is connection. Strong connections—whether with people, places, or meaningful experiences—benefit our mental wellness by providing a sense of belonging, reducing possible feelings of isolation, and promoting our emotional resilience. When we feel seen, understood, and supported, our stress levels tend to decrease, and our overall mood improves. These connections also activate the reward centers in our brain, releasing the feel-good chemicals of oxytocin and dopamine, which help protect us against anxiety and depression.
Connections in daily life often relate to people and can include acquaintances, neighbors, friends, significant others, and more. We talk with these people, smile with them, and participate in social activities with them.
Today, I’d like to expand connection to museums. How do we connect with museums? How do those connections improve our wellbeing?
Connection to Others – Visiting museums with friends and family creates a new foundation for our interactions. Speaking with museum staff and volunteers gives us new insights and expands our world.
Connection to History – Museums allow us to engage directly with artifacts and stories from the past and that fosters a deeper understanding of where we come from.
Connection to Culture – These connections provide a bridge to different worldviews, traditions, and ways of life, encouraging empathy and cultural appreciation.
Connection to Place – Regional museums, in particular, help people feel more rooted in their local community and landscape. Larger museums often connect us to our heritage and family history.
Connection to Ideas – Museums are excellent for inspiring curiosity and intellectual engagement by connecting us to everything from science, to art, to innovation, and to the big questions about life.
Connection to Self – Reflecting on art and objects can lead to personal insights, memories, and emotions that support self-awareness and emotional growth.
Connection Across Time – Museums often link together the ancient with the modern, helping us see patterns, progress, and enduring human themes.
Let me close with a reminder that while these connections can be in person when we visit museums, these connections are as strong when we connect online, through discussions, or reading books and articles.
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