So I wanna share with you some hard-earned wisdom. After 20-plus years of living as an artist, I’ve got three BIG ideas about life. This post is part three of a three-part series. Today I’ll focus on how you can nurture your creativity. Like this:
Part 1. Three BIG ideas about life.
Part 2. Your only job is to crack the shell of your resistance.
Part 3. How to woo your creativity.
Let’s go!
Part 1. Three BIG ideas about life.
BIG idea number 1. Your purpose:
You’re here to expand your creativity.
BIG idea number 2. Your process:
You’re in the process of making a beautiful life.
BIG idea number 3. Your practice:
Your only job is to crack the shell of your resistance.
Part 2. Your only job is to crack the shell of your resistance.
In Part 1 of this series (Curiosity Did Not Kill The Cat), we look at what it means to express your genius. And we touch on how curiosity helps you thrive (BIG idea number 1).
In Part 2 (Why Your Job Is Just A Fabulous Excuse), we look at how thriving means owning your desires and living your values. And how discipline is remembering what you want (BIG idea number 2).
In a nutshell, you’re here to expand your creativity. And the first step is to own your desires and pursue your curiosity. That’s how you go about expressing your genius in your own unique way. And in the end, it doesn’t even matter what you do, because you’re not actually doing it. You’re letting it happen. You’re letting your genius flow through you.
Today, let’s explore BIG idea number 3. Your only job is to crack the shell of your resistance. To get started, let’s define resistance:
Resistance is not allowing yourself to receive your good.
Resistance feels like being stuck. And since feeling stuck shows up in a million different ways, it’s easier to say what resistance is not. Namely, resistance is not being in flow, feeling satisfied, or embracing ease.
Resistance can show up as wanting to prove your worthiness because you don’t feel good enough. Or wanting to fix something about yourself because you feel broken. Or wanting to earn approval because you don’t trust yourself. Or simply feeling like you’re always yearning for something that’s missing.
And so, this is our being human conundrum.
Ultimately what we all desire is to feel good. And at the same time, we’re dealing with our own resistance to feeling worthy enough to have what we desire. Eeeek.
For example, when you use the excuse that you’re not artistic enough to paint, that’s just your resistance rearing its ugly head and keeping you small.
Because the truth is that your creative genius is already inside of you waiting to flow out. Your only job is to crack the shell of your resistance.
Part 3. How to woo your creativity.
So what’s the solution to our being human conundrum? The solution is to forgive yourself.
Yep, you’ve gotta forgive yourself for not being perfect.
Only then can you feel self-compassion.
Only then can you accept yourself just as you are.
And only then will you crack the shell of your resistance.
Everyone has an inkling, a glimmer, of who they really are deep down inside. It’s the way you feel about yourself when you’re doing something that feels so right that you know you were born to do it right now, just the way you are.
That glimmer of purpose is everything.
You’d think we’d hold on to it for dear life. But no. It’s so surprisingly easy to forget. Which is truly insane. The one thing that makes us wanna open ourselves up and live out loud, well, it’s the very same thing that we forget lickety-split in the day-to-day survival of our ordinary lives.
And ya know what? That glimmer of purpose happens when you’re expressing your creativity.
Yep. That’s why nurturing your creativity sparks your enthusiasm for life.
“You will never be genuinely happy unless you dedicate your body, mind, and soul to a lifelong courtship of your true creativity.”
- Gay Hendricks
The greatest gift you can give yourself is to woo your creativity.
You woo your creativity by appreciating it. By giving it the time, space, and energy it needs to thrive.
Like this:
1. Carving Out Time
Give yourself the gift of time. It doesn’t need to be a whole morning. It can be 20 minutes free of distractions. This means no phone and no internet. The quality of your creative play time is way more important than the quantity.
Once you experience for yourself how crucial this little bit of time is for your well-being, there's no turning back. Smile.
“Creativity thrives in an atmosphere of lavish appreciation. The more I appreciate my creativity, the more creative I get.”
- Gay Hendricks
2. Creating The Right Space
Give yourself a dedicated spot in your home where you can work on your projects undisturbed. You want this time to be free of distractions. So keep your phone on airplane mode or leave it in another room.
• Make it easy. Keep your art supplies in a box or drawer close at hand.
Take note, the right space for you may be a quiet room in your home, a cozy coffee shop, or a peaceful park bench. So you may want to keep all your supplies in a kit that sits by the front door always at the ready.
• Make it fancy. Create your dedicated spot as luxurious as possible so that you look forward to spending time there. Think music, flowers, fragrances, noise-cancellation headphones, snacks, tea, smoothies, etc. And make your space inspiring, too. Think photos, art, objects, mementos, etc.
3. Maintaining Consistency
Maintain a routine that you can stick to. Set aside a specific time each day or week to work on your creative projects.
• Make it a break. It doesn’t need to be a big chunk of time. If all you’ve got is 10 minutes, then spend it getting your art supplies ready. Or putting together an inspiration file of beautiful images.
• Make it a practice. The regularity of showing up for yourself creates its own momentum that helps you keep going. And remember it’s not about finishing anything. It’s only about creating the habit of nurturing your genius.
4. Cultivating Curiosity
By maintaining consistency, you'll be cultivating your curiosity. And when you cultivate your curiosity, you practice mindfulness.
Your curiosity helps you be present and open to possibilities. And it helps you foster what’s called beginner’s mind. In other words, by being curious you develop a sense of wonder. Like when you feel you’re doing something for the first time. And this sense of wonder is the key to unlocking your imagination and unleashing your creative genius.
“The essence of true creativity is genuine wonder. Wonder is when your mind is roaming freely, unshackled from criticism, with total permission to explore as it pleases.”
- Gay Hendricks
5. Giving Yourself Permission to Play
Allow yourself to explore and experiment without any predetermined expectations. Remember you’ve got nothing to prove. You’re being creative just for the fun of it.
• Play is productive. Play allows your mind to wander freely and make connections. By stepping away to play, you’re open to unexpected insights and solutions to problems you may have been stuck on.
• Play is valuable. Your life is a collection of experiences and memories. And you create some of your most valued memories by spending your free time being frivolous. As in, giving your full attention to a loved one in a state of play.
To bring more creativity into your life, you don’t need to become a more creative person. You only need to give yourself permission to play.
Creative play is a means to express yourself for the sheer pleasure of being alive.
You’re never stuck if you can play.
The counter-intuitive part about being more creative is that you’re already creative. You’ve simply got a lot of resistance to expressing your creativity. It’s actually less work to drop your resistance than to keep resisting.
Read more about why curiosity is good for you in Part 1 here:
https://twinkiwinki.com/blogs/twinki-winki-headquarters/curiosity-did-not-kill-the-cat
Read more about what it means to thrive in Part 2 here:
https://twinkiwinki.com/blogs/twinki-winki-headquarters/why-your-job-is-just-a-fabulous-excuse