This pile of books has started to become symbolic in the lead up to my Fellowship.
Most of these books were obtained in preparation for the Fellowship and show the vastness of my interest and potential research, there is so much I want to know!!
Frustratingly I have not been able to read or fully read these books.
They currently spend most of their time sat on my desk staring at me, reminding me I need to pick them up and read them!
But they also have become a reminder of all the amazing things I am going to see.
They highlight the many layers of the role of art, culture and nature in healthcare environments and health care provision.
They remind me that my head is full of so much stuff right now and that its hard to focus on one thing.
There are a number of key elements that underpin my Fellowship research and one of them is ‘Neuroarts’. This is the study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behaviour and how this knowledge can be used in specific practices to advance health and wellbeing and I really want to understand some of these principles further to inform the work I do.
I am already imagining what it will feel like to walk into those Hospitals in the US and have my ‘neuroarts’ experience.
How will it physically feel in my body to stare at and interpret a piece of art on the wall of a hospital atrium?
How will it feel to look at the view of nature through the window of a hospital ward?
How will it feel to be standing in a different community within a different culture to mine?
These experiences I can’t get from a book so maybe it is ok that these books don’t get fully read before the Fellowship. Maybe sometimes its just as important to put the book down, stop, look and take note of how you feel surely that’s an invaluable way to try understand, truly experience something and learn.
Lottie Barnes 