And NO you don't have to be a poet to reap these benefits.
Shaloo Tiwari
Catharsis: The act of creating something deep out of nothing gives you feeling of a cathartic experience, a feeling of self-worth. This brings in joy and happiness and makes you feel better about yourself and helps improve your self-esteem.
Improves creative thinking and busts stress: While writing a poetry you need to wrack your brains and work on metaphors and imagery. Writing poetry can help foster and promote creative thinking. You become more creative and begin to think more and more which is a great exercise for your brain and helps divert your mind from other horrible stuff in life which in turn helps you beat stress.
Helps heal emotional pain: Whether it is postpartum grief or any kind of painful emotion you are going through, writing poetry expressing the pain helps you vent out your pain and hence makes you feel better. Many of the world’s most inspirational poetries have expressed pain in the most beautiful way. Memorializing or paying tribute to those you’ve lost makes you feel better and helps you forget your remorse.
Helps improve cognitive function: The steps involved in writing a poem, right from looking for the perfect word or crafting the sentences or fine-tuning the rhythm of a poem helps strengthen your cognitive functions.
Helps improve self-awareness: Poetry writing helps you explore yourself and see your inner-reflection. What you are attracted to or you like writing about. It gives you a positive perspective on life. Unstable emotions or indecisiveness may harm your mental peace. And once you complete writing a piece of poetry, you see a part of you in it.