Sustaining a serious creative practise – or even getting started with one! – is itself an art. Several distinct pillars have to simultaneously be kept in place, inner and outer worlds need to be synchronised, and we need to prise a certain level of freedom from the condensed tightness of expected-conformity that surrounds us in the modern world. Many creative folks get stuck before even beginning; “I don’t have the time, the space, the energy, the ideas, the enthusiasm…!” – or they run out of any/ all of these elements, over the years.
The 3 main factors in getting to a seriously liberated creative life:
- look at and really appreciate what free time/ energy/ enthusiasm that we already have
- fully occupy this
- with intelligent use of leverage, gently expand on it
It can seem impossible to prise the time and space to create, from our rushed consciousness. It’s getting easier and more ‘normal’ rather, to give in to the onslaught of superficial stimulation, global concerns, the sense that we are in a state of emergency. Creativity might feel like the last thing we should be doing, whilst forests are burning, ice caps melting, people killing each other…
But there is profound meaning and purpose in removing ourselves from the conventional mindset (and behaviour), and to begin carving out space to make, time to ruminate, energy to express ourselves, deep attention and focus to allow whatever needs to, to flow.
It’s a revolutionary act to begin to harness and harvest our time – much as we return to food-growing and reclaiming our capacity to live off the land – taking our focus away from consuming and from forcing things into being and bringing it into the quiet magic of the underlying perfection of Life.
If you have any kind of creative calling, it’s very likely that the universe (and other humans) will support you in it. It’s not an accident that we’re born with such passions and callings that want to come through us, so daring to step into our time and space as sovereign, sacred, this is of the most powerful healing acts that we do in this world. You might notice a form of ease developing, the more you dedicate your resources to your gifts: effortless slowly becoming more normal.
Slowing down and taking time immediately changes our life perspective: the space we create in our own mind, in our emotions, and in our physical space around us, allows everything to align. This in turns re-calibrates our relationship with the world: we’re better able to see solutions rather than being tensely worried about the problems, and to feel our way into our pleasure and fulfilment rather than fixating on what is hurting us. We begin to inhabit a spiralling upwards dynamic rather than the conventional burnout cycle that has become so accepted. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, whichever pattern we follow, so why not choose the positive.
The key steps from someone who lives fully in their creative freedom:
- Start with a physical space to make in: You may be blessed enough to have a spare room or a garden shed that can be adapted. But even if you have a sewing box, a shoebox or a sketchbook on the corner of a dining table: begin filling this space with your ruminations, your thoughts and feelings, your dreams.
- Make the time: This is your life; it is sacred. When you start treating even a few minutes in the day to offload in, to think more deeply, to just feel… things begin to flow, where before they were stagnant or stuck.
- Make the time and the space special: Each moment is extremely precious, and beginning to treat it so
- Each day, make that space just a little bigger: Ask for what you need! Negotiate, demand, beg, pray, know what will make your creative space the most perfect; think on it, and move towards it methodically.
- When you get blocked, work through it: There is nothing that can hold you back if you set your mind to it, break everything into bite-sized pieces, and chew on those pieces consistently!
A final reminder: no successful artist waited for a steady income, a clean home, the perfect studio and tools, to begin creating. We tap in first to the flow, and follow that – we make full use of what we have, and use our creativity to access more of it. It’s that simple, and that complex.
Blessings on your day, and on your creative expansion into the divinity of life,
Clare