Bunnies, Art & Emotional Healing: Why They Don’t Get to Win

Good morning, my friend.

I’m going to share something with you this week, and I'm going to be completely raw and honest. Just when I didn’t think things could get much worse, I was pushed to an absolute, extreme breaking point. I found myself feeling deeply betrayed, manipulated, gaslit, and abused.

In that exact moment, I hit a choice point. It’s that split second where you have to decide: do I live by my values, or do I step away from them? For that moment, it felt like time stood still. With a big, fuck-off brutally honest mirror staring right back at me, asking a very direct question: So, what are you going to do, lady? What’s it going to be?

Give up? Drink? Eat chocolate? Walk away and deal with the fallout of a choice that seems easy right now, but brings with it a whole world of different pain later? Or, do I stand firm in my values? Do I challenge myself, remain persistent, hold deep compassion for myself, and stay mindful and grounded in each day? And protect myself with loving, deliberate actions?

To live by my values has to be the answer.

In the middle of an absolute shit storm this week, my survival instinct didn't just default to panic – it chose to create. Make no mistake, what I did wasn’t an instinct to avoid the pain; it was an instinct to heal it.

I leaned directly into creativity to soothe and heal my nervous system, because I know – with all my training and experience – that this is exactly where I find my peace.

I bought a piece of chipboard, some wood, cheap paint from the two-dollar shop, found some old bamboo bowls in my shed, and built a weird and wonderful piece of framed art. It depicts all the vibrant, messy colours of my emotions with little ceramic bunnies climbing up them. It was a tactic that spun my world 180 degrees in the other direction, bringing me a sense of pure joy that was nothing short of magnificent.

There is absolutely no "woo-woo" fluff here. This is pure physiological brilliance, and when you can master this, others will want to know exactly how you do it. This kind of action against emotional storms is backed by solid neuropsychological science. I didn't just make art; I literally executed an emergency chemical intervention on my own brain.

Here is the psychological and physiological breakdown of what happened to my body this week, and exactly why my art was the ultimate medicine to soothe my nervous system.

1: The Anatomy of High-Stress Abuse and Manipulation

The Issue: Traumatic Helplessness and Cortisol Flooding

When we are subjected to prolonged stress, manipulation, or gaslighting, the brain perceives it exactly the same way it perceives a physical predator. Because you cannot physically "fight" a corporate institution or "flee" your immediate circumstances, your nervous system registers a state of learned helplessness.

Here is exactly what happens inside your body and mind during that panic mode:

• The Amygdala Hijack: Your brain's alarm system (the amygdala) gets stuck on high alert, entirely bypassing your logical brain. It forces your adrenal glands to pump a continuous, toxic cocktail of cortisol and adrenaline into your bloodstream.

• The Shutdown of Logical Decisions: Because your body thinks it is fighting for survival, it diverts energy away from the prefrontal cortex – the area responsible for logic, reason, and structured decision-making. This is why making a simple decision can feel completely paralysing when you are overwhelmed.

• The Destruction of Short-Term Memory: High levels of cortisol are highly corrosive to the hippocampus – the brain's memory centre. Chronic stress literally disrupts the neural pathways, causing memory blanks, brain fog, and the frustrating inability to recall specific details or context when you need them most.

• Nervous System Dysregulation: Your autonomic nervous system gets locked into the Sympathetic (Fight-or-Flight) state. Your heart rate increases, your breathing becomes shallow, and your muscles tighten, keeping you in a state of chronic physical exhaustion and panic.

2: The Neuroscience of Creativity and Healing

Shifting the Focus: Why the Brain Shifts Too

The brain cannot exist in two opposing states at the exact same time. It cannot be in a state of survival panic while simultaneously being in a state of focused, joyous creation. When you intentionally shift your hands and eyes toward something creative, you force a cognitive realignment.

Your brain naturally shifts because creative expression requires spatial awareness, colour choice, and fine motor skills. This forces the prefrontal cortex to come back online, effectively stepping on the brakes of the amygdala's panic loop.

How Creative Activities Soothe the Nervous System

• Processing and "Dissolving" Cortisol: Engaging in a tactile, rhythmic craft triggers the release of dopamine (the reward chemical) and serotonin (the mood stabiliser). These feel-good neurotransmitters act as a natural antagonist to cortisol, neutralising the stress hormones and helping your liver filter them out of your bloodstream.

• Activating the Parasympathetic Safety Net: The focused, repetitive motions of painting or crafting induce a flow state, which stimulates the vagus nerve. This flips your nervous system out of "Fight-or-Flight" and into the Parasympathetic (Rest-and-Digest) state, lowering your heart rate and allowing your body to finally feel safe.

• Bypassing Traumatic Language Barriers: Trauma and manipulation lock down the language centres of the brain (Broca's area), making it incredibly difficult to talk or write logically about the pain. Art allows you to process complex emotions visually and symbolically, releasing the trapped emotional energy without needing to argue, explain, or defend yourself.

• Restoring Agency and Personal Power: Manipulation makes you feel completely helpless and stripped of control. When you take raw, unrelated objects – a cheap piece of wood, a box of old bowls, some paint – and consciously choose how to shape, colour, and construct them, you instantly reclaim your sense of control, agency, and power over your immediate environment.

The Trophy of Resilience

Painting the bowls and placing those bunnies climbing up through the colours of my emotions was a brilliant piece of somatic therapy. I will be honest, I was really suffering. This experience was incredibly uncomfortable and there were a lot of tears. BUT – I successfully combined my logical grounding tools – dropping anchor, naming and taming, and 4-7-8 breathing – with a deep, physical expression of joy and play.

I looked at the chaos around me and said, "I am going to build something beautiful out of this mess instead." That piece of art on my wall is the ultimate trophy of my resilience. Whenever I look at my little bunnies climbing up those bowls, it reminds me that my nervous system is finding its way back up to safety, one deliberate brushstroke at a time.

There was no trip to the bottle shop, and there was no trip to the fridge. Wine, I knew, would only make me feel worse about the world the next day. Chocolate would have woken me up, and I need my sleep more than ever right now so I can heal. But the art – oh my, the art filled up my cup.

I am so incredibly proud of myself. I am completely sure-footed with my values these days, because I know they never let me down, and they always guide me to the right path.

And, guess what? To the folks who think they are tearing me down – ha, you haven’t won. Not today, not ever. I’ve got superpowers of resilience that you will never, ever have.

How are you feeling looking at your own masterpiece today? If you have struggled, lost your way, lost your voice, and found yourself paralysed after you have been manipulated, gaslit, or abused by someone you trusted, get in touch, perhaps I can help.

I’m here, holding your creative hand.

Fleur Elizabeth x