Creativity is our birthright. We humans have expressed ourselves creatively, in some form or another for millennia. Our innate creative urge has always been with us and can be seen as far back as the Paleolithic cave paintings of up to 20,000 years ago.
As artists in the 21st century there are infinite ways in which we can express our inner landscapes and a multitude of riddles to unwind and stories to be told. Yet, how do we show up for this work when there is little support and discussion around what the creative process actually looks like?
If we are called to the creative life, then in this current “culture of distraction” we must learn to govern our time, days, weeks and ultimately ourselves in order to see and hear the threads of meaning around us and learn to weave these into existence, through our daily creative endeavors.
In my upcoming workshop Creative Mindfulness I offer you a road map to tuck under your arm as we embark on a 12-week creativity adventure together. We begin with a commitment to Stillness, in whichever form is most accessible—a device-free, daily practice of either walking and or sitting—and in turn a daily creative task of choice.
“Perhaps the primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone…..the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself. The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.”
from The Creative Process, by James Baldwin from Creative America, Ridge Press, 1962
This practice gives rise to other facets that unfold to support our creativity, namely our intuition, our sense of wonder and a deeper connection to our lives, to nature and ultimately to our creative expression. So slow down, commit to your creativity and join me in March for Creative Mindfulness. I hope to see you there.
“Even a journey of a thousand miles begins beneath our feet.” Lao Tzu