Where Does Creativity Originate For You?

I am a writer. Nearly every week for at least eight years, I have written a blog post, and the last few have included a creative meditation in the form of a haiku. You will also find a children's book floating around on Amazon - that I wrote and self-published many years ago. And there is a follow-up book that has yet to be illustrated and published. I have also come to love graphic design (thank you, Canva) and dedicate many of my evenings to generating social media posts and website content. In addition, Fashion Design was my first degree, and I also like to paint (mainly trees) and cook. I don't often question the how, what, or where of inspiration. It seems to always appear in the right place at the right moment, and I have finally begun to trust that it will.

Whether you claim to be a creative person or not, our brains are constantly working on something (many things), way down in the depths, where all the scary, innovative shit hides out until it is ready to make a grand entrance. And I always know that mine is working overtime down there when I am super distracted, forgetful, and over-the-top spacey. I sometimes worry about early on-set dementia when I find myself trying to remember if I had done routine tasks. Did I take my thyroid med, or do my eye drops? (It was getting so bad that I set reminders on my phone.) Did I put salt (or herbs) in the tomato sauce already? Or, when leaving the Center - did I turn down the heat, lock the backdoor, and put the stool in front of the kitchen cabinet so Digby Doo Cat can't get under the sink?

I have always believed that mindfulness is a fantastic ideal to aspire to - except it is often involuntarily drowned out with a deluge of fresh, unconventional, original, and sometimes obsessive thoughts tangentially related to whatever I am working on at the moment.

Creativity works differently for everyone and sometimes in various ways for each of us. Over time, I have discovered, the essential piece for me (usually), no matter how the inspiration first appears, is to keep my fingers on the keyboard. It is the same for painting, working with fabric, or cooking - I am very tactile - I have to feel it (taste it) and, most importantly, play with it.

The other thing I have learned is that I can not force innovation. When an idea is not fully ready to be expressed - no amount of trying (external coercion) will influence (compel) it to completion. If I don't allow for the quiet spaces where inspiration develops, steeps, and brews and then make space to play with it in real-time - all that delightfully, juicy ingenuity will dry up.

Intrinsic motivation is firmly bound up in the satisfaction of following your creative energies to a where ever they take you - whether it be a finished product or simply the joy of the experience. 

That is the foundation where self-directed educational philosophy firmly sits. No matter where inspiration originates for you - it can, ultimately, only be controlled by you.  

PS - My husband, Mike, is in a creative musical space. I am proud to share this original song that he's been working on this past week. Watching him take a deep dive into the creative process partially inspired this post. 

Weekly Creative Meditation

DRC News

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