A Prescription for Winter: How Light, Color and Creativity Can Help Us Feel Better

A Prescription for Winter: How Light, Color and Creativity Can Help Us Feel Better

by Joan Clifford, Executive Director

 

By the time you read this, we’ve passed the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year, and the light has already begun its gradual return.

Short days and long nights affect our bodies more than we realize, disrupting sleep and lowering energy. When we spend more time indoors, moving less and seeing fewer people, even small stresses can feel heavier. It’s no surprise that this is the time of year many of us miss light, color, warmth, novelty, and connection.

That’s why art, and luminous, warm. shared spaces matter so much right now. These simple experiences help regulate mood and energy while restoring warmth and connection during the darkest months. They aren’t luxuries or distractions; they are practical, simple, ways of caring for ourselves during winter’s long stretch.

What many of us are feeling intuitively this time of year is now being recognized formally in healthcare: that light, creativity, and shared cultural spaces aren’t extras, but essential supports for well-being. 

Massachusetts is the first state in the U.S. to launch a statewide arts-prescribing program, partnering with Art Pharmacy to make social prescribing part of everyday healthcare. Through this initiative, known as CultureRx, healthcare providers can prescribe arts and cultural experiences such as museum visits, creative workshops, and performances, recognizing that engagement with the arts can support mental health, reduce loneliness, and improve overall well-being. The program is led by the Mass Cultural Council, working with healthcare systems, initially Mass General Brigham, and community partners, including the town of Franklin, to connect people to meaningful cultural experiences. As the initiative grows, additional healthcare systems are expected to join, expanding access to arts-based care across the Commonwealth.

Still, you don’t need a doctor – you can do this for yourself.  Use the same structure social prescribing relies on: start by paying attention to what you need today. Winter often calls for light, warmth, color, and human presence. From there, choose a small, intentional experience that meets that need—perhaps a museum visit, time in a luminous space, followed by a warm café stop—and schedule it with the same respect you’d give a medical or work appointment.

There are many indoor, luminous spaces in and around Boston worth seeking out this winter, including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Institute of Contemporary Art. In Cambridge, the Harvard Art Museums offer light-filled galleries and are free to all visitors. As a side note, reduced-cost museum passes for many of these institutions are available through the Milton Public Library, made possible by the Friends of the Milton Public Library. Beyond museums, you might also look for the greenhouse warmth of the Lyman Estate in Waltham, the quiet refuge of a high-ceilinged church with stained glass windows, or the sunlit main reading room of the Boston Public Library.

Timing matters, too. Late morning through early afternoon is when winter light makes the most of big windows. Bring a sketchbook or a journal if you like. Many of these places have cafés on site or nearby—an invitation to sit with something warm and notice or sketch one thing that stood out to you.

Winter here can feel monochrome, a landscape of greys. That can be a cue that you need a dose of intense color. You might prescribe yourself an exhibition rich with bold hues, or a visit to a fabric store, art supply shop, or flower market. Color is more than decoration: our brains and nervous systems respond to it before conscious thought, which is why saturated hues can lift energy, sharpen attention, and subtly improve mood. Color gives the eye something to rest on and the mind something to engage with, lifting us out of the flatness that can settle in during the winter months.

It’s also important to move from observing to participating. As adults, we recognize the value of hands-on, creative experiences for children, but we often forget that the same is true for us. Taking a class, joining a workshop, or learning alongside others invites us to engage more fully, not just as viewers but as participants. You don’t need talent to try something new; the value is in the doing, not the outcome.

That small stretch can reawaken curiosity, build confidence, and remind us that growth and play are life long needs.

Once you’ve named what you need, make it real. Put it on the calendar. Decide whether it feels better to go alone for quiet reflection or with a friend for company and connection. Treat it like an appointment with yourself, because intentional outings work when we give them the same respect as anything else that supports our well-being.

Long before social prescribing entered healthcare, Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, wrote about this kind of self-directed care through her idea of the artist date, a regular, intentional outing designed to nourish curiosity and attention. Her work reminds us that small, consistent encounters with beauty, color, and interest are not indulgences, but essential to creative and emotional health, especially during quieter, darker seasons.

What may be surprising is that the healthcare system has begun to recognize this as well. In the years since COVID, there has been greater attention to our internal states, how isolation and lack of stimulation affect how we feel day to day. That growing awareness helps explain why light, color, and shared cultural spaces are now understood as essential supports, especially in winter. Paying attention to what we need and miss helps us move through the season with greater resilience and connection. It also helps to remind ourselves that we are already on the upswing, with a little more light returning each day.