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Befriending Your Creativity
by
Jennifer Louden
Do you secretly hold an “ascetic self-flagellant,
it-must-be-hard-to-be-good, that’s for other people” attitude about
your creativity?
(Don't waste your time telling me you aren't creative -- life is the
ultimate creative act and you are alive, or else you wouldn't be
reading this).
Self-care and creativity are best friends -- one cannot exist without
the other. Yet we don't often think about befriending, romancing,
inveigling our creativity. Instead we:
* Compare our efforts to others. (Look at the colors she uses in her
knitting.)
* Raise the bar. (I said I would write for 15 minutes and I did but you
know, Toni Morrison writes for longer than 15 minutes and so 15 minutes
isn't good enough and I'll never amount to anything and...)
* Fight with our work. (Paint, if you would just do what I what you to,
we wouldn't have any problems. I hate you, paint!)
* Run from the creative energy in our bodies. (Oh I'm feeling so much,
wow, I can't take this, I better go clean the kitchen.)
* Indulge in shadow comforts to soothe away comparisons and
self-criticism, and to ground our energy. (Cookies are very grounding.)
For years, I've been actively researching and experimenting with ways
to make creating effortless, joyful, and fun.
Here
are three ways I use to create--writing, parenting, life--with a light
heart and a saunter in my step. See what you think.
1) Be a servant of the universe
Right before my first book was to be published, The Woman's Comfort
Book, I called Conari Press to ask about a resource, published by their
house, that I was quoting.
Years
later I learned my casual phone call had caused quite a stir. Conari
was about to bring out a book from the beloved author Sue Thoele
entitled, The Woman's Book of Comfort.
Now some people would read this and say, "See, ideas are everywhere and
you have to grab first and work secretly and fast or someone will get
there first."
I
couldn't disagree more. I believe the collective unconscious, the
cultural Zeitgeist, the mind of God -- whatever you want to call it --
is an endlessly infinite source of creative energy equally available to
us all.
If you hoard your ideas, if you hold onto them too tightly, or if you
fall in love with a certain expression of your creativity (a particular
title or that your idea has to be expressed only as an opera never as a
one woman show) you stymie the creative flow. You limit your gift. You
increase fear and decrease productivity.
Instead, do what Katherine Olivetti, MSSW, suggests: "If you take the
stance that you are the steward of the words, the servant of the
universe, the baggage handler of the collective unconscious, unlimited
ideas will pour through you. And treat the words as if there are ten
more better ideas for any one that you throw away.
"Don't
hold on to the one great sentence or paragraph that you think is the
best you have ever done. Throw it away and BELIEVE that there is even
more that is even better."
Instead, imitate the Greek poet Sappho, the Sufi mystic Rumi, the
stunningly prolific Leonardo. Be bold. Expect more. Listen to the
cosmos.
2) Nobody expects the Spanish
Inquisition
This line from a famous Monty Python skit reminds us that we never
expect things to go differently yet they often do, and perhaps never
more so that when we are creating. This is also known as Murphy's Law.
When you stop expecting perfection and start accepting twists and
turns, as well abrupt, sometimes painful halts, you save a tremendous
amount of energy -- energy previously spent trying to control the
outcome of what you are working on and energy spent demanding life be
fair (my daughter's favorite complaint).
You
also allow yourself to adapt to what is -- a basic principle of
evolution and a very powerful place to create from.
Expecting the Spanish Inquisition DOES NOT give you permission to be a
negative cynical old poop who walks around muttering, "I told you so."
That
is living in resentment and that just gets you suffering and stuckness.
It simply means when something goes differently, don't waste your time
resisting. Instead, learn.
3) Creating is physical
We can change how we create by changing the shape of our body. As
renowned yoga teacher Rodney Yee says in his book Poetry of the Body,
"I don't understand what is so mysterious about it -- you create
different shape with your body and it creates different emotions."
I
would add, when you create different shapes with your body, you create
different ways of being in the world.
My teaching partner Suzanne Falter-Barns is a tall, slender woman who
has perfect posture. But most of her life, she slumped. Until she
started singing lessons.
Her
dream (to write and star in an off Broadway one-woman show) brought her
to singing lessons and the physical act of creating (singing) brought
the change her body needed to pursue her dream.
Ask yourself, "What is the body of creating for me?" Put on some music
that makes you feel creative, close the blinds, and experiment with
embodying this question. Find the posture, the breathing, the movement
of your creativity.
Don't
think, instead bring your attention into your body and sense, play,
make subtle adjustments, be wild, be quiet, notice the body of creating
for you.
Another great creativity practice is to find a physical discipline to
play with -- aikido, yoga, Tai Chi -- and as you do your yoga or catas,
bring your creative blocks, challenges, questions, into the practice.
That
is how YogaWriting was born -- I noticed the incredible creative energy
and insights generated during my yoga practice. So I started bringing
my notebook into the yoga studio and asking myself questions about my
work.
I also
noticed that the way I create is the way I do yoga -- surrendering,
letting go, and grounding intense energy are issues in both places.
So by
paying attention to and working with the different poses AND how they
relate to my creative process, I began to change the way I create.
I hope your creativity flowers with delight. I'd love to hear how it
goes.
Mail
to: Jennifer@comfortqueen.com
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jen_Louden
Jennifer
Louden is a best-selling author of five books, including her
classic, The Woman's Comfort Book, and her newest, Comfort Secrets for
Busy Women. She's also a creativity and life coach, creator of
the Inner Organizer, and a columnist for Body + Soul Magazine.
She leads retreats on self-care and creativity around the
country. Hear her live on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius
Channel 112 every Sunday at 8 am Pacific, 11 am Eastern.
Visit her world at: ComfortQueen
Site of Suzanne Falter-Barns: How Much Joy -
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