What We Need to Live More Creatively

Want to live more creatively? Consider simplifying your life.

From time to time I go through bouts of paring down, de-cluttering, getting rid of things I don’t really need—which because of their existence, require me to see and consider them, think what to do with them—and that works to complicate my life. And lessen the time I have for what really matters.

We all want full lives, lives rich with meaning, but not necessarily full of things. Instead, we want around us that which energizes and enlivens and helps us to think in new and exciting ways.

Which brings us to creativity. Elizabeth Gilbert said that “a creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.” And with it, as Martha Graham believes, we experience “a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening.” Which is a pretty good reason to get up in the morning.

What We Need:

So…how can we go about living more creatively? What do we really need? Let’s talk about physical needs first–the supplies or equipment requiring a certain outlay of money. The answer to that depends upon what form our creativity may take. I’m a writer, so my basic needs are for pen and paper, and access to a computer. From time to time, I need to replenish my supply of ink cartridges and printer paper, and if I am putting together a manuscript, I like to have a three ring binder. Pretty simple needs, fairly easy to lay my hands on.

Musicians need mandolins, harps or clarinets, guitar picks and music stands. Visual artists require canvases and paint, brushes and brush cleaning chemicals. We’re talking basic needs here, what essential items we absolutely must possess in order to pursue our writing or painting or music.

But besides these physical needs for equipment and supplies, the things we can see and put our hands around, we have intangible needs which are even more essential—which will encourage and delight us and keep us going. And which we must cultivate.

These include:

  • A link with the Source from which all creativity comes—for we do not work alone.
  • Connection with nature and the physical world—in it, we find continuous enchantment and inspiration.
  • People in our lives—to love and to cheer us on.
  • Books, music, and art—for they tug at our hearts and lead our thoughts in new directions.
  • A sense of fun—because it makes everything easier.
  • Steadfastness of spirit—to stick to the project at hand.
  • Flexibility—to let go and allow what wants to be created to arrive in its own time.
  • Time and Energy—to accomplish all the potential that exists within.
  • Inspiration—it’s all around us, when we have the time to notice, and when we allow it in.

What else would you include on this list? A writing partner? A retreat? Confidence to exhibit your photography?

Parents provide their children with the essentials–food for their bodies, shelter, and safety. But they also provide love and encouragement, comfort and the direction children need to lead complete and fulfilling lives. Let’s do the same for the creative child that lives within.

Exercise for Living More Creatively:

  1. Make a list of three things you can eliminate from your life which do not add value and meaning. And which might work to complicate your days. Maybe it’s that stuffed closet you need to clean out. Perhaps those committee meetings which drain you..
  2. Now, think about what you’d like to concentrate on to be able to live more creatively. Perhaps you’d like to spend time meditating or taking walks outdoors. Maybe you need to clear an hour each day to play with your paints. Make another list of three things.
  3. Now pick an item from each of your lists. Eliminate one barrier to your creativity, and add one which will enhance and meaning to your life.

Wishing you a beautiful and creative week.—Lucy Adkins

For more inspiration, check out our website www.thewritingandcreativelife.com.

Or follow this link to purchase Writing in Community or our latest book, The Fire Inside.

 

The Writing Life: Keeping the Faith

Are you a writer? A visual artist or musician? As my writing partner, Becky Breed, and I write in  The Fire Inside, we are all creative, an inner fire aflame in us, urging us on. But it is not always easy—sticking to our writing or our art–we need to keep the faith.

I believe that the longer we live the creative life, creating poems or paintings, making music, loving our work, sometimes struggling in our work, the more we realize that our art is a calling, our birthright to create. And we are in it for the long haul.

We may come to the realization gradually, or it may be that after two or three years of writing, it suddenly dawns on us that this obsession of ours is not going away. This is not the fad of the moment we pick up for a while, and then drop as interest wanes. It’s more like embarking on a marriage, building a relationship that will last a lifetime.

There will be hard times: days when it’s difficult to get to your easel, when the words for your poem won’t come, or if they do, limp onto the page and fall flat. Nothing worthwhile comes easy, the old saying goes, and that is certainly true of our passions, our art. Still, it is our passion, our deep love, and we want to keep at it, knowing that our lives would not be as rich or as full without it. So you find a way to keep the faith, to keep on going. How do we do that? Here are some tips:

  Keeping the Faith 
  1. Look for the joy in the “every-day” of work. Relish those moments when the words flow from the tips of your fingers, when the brushstrokes come free and fluid.
  2. Read books like Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. These and other writers provide gentle encouragement and help keep you going.
  3. Set goals for yourself—such as writing a certain number of pages per month, or sending out a certain number of submissions—and ask a friend to hold you accountable.
  4. Celebrate your accomplishments—even the small ones. When you find the right color for your painting, the right word for your poem. Give yourself a pat on the back when you send out a story to a potential publisher.
  5. Develop a work schedule and stick to it as much as you can. Include in your schedule some down time, time to go “off-line” and free your mind.
  6. Don’t beat yourself up when you stray from your writing schedule or fall short of your goals. Give yourself a break. Be kind. Then get back on track.
  7. Become a part of your local artist community. A good writing group or artists’ group can provide a lifetime of support and encouragement, and is probably the very best thing you can do to nurture and sustain your creative life.

Elbert Hubbard said that “Art is not a thing, it is a way.” It is not the finished painting that matters, the completed novel (though these accomplishments are wonderful!) It is the everyday of work—the violinist practicing, the writer writing, the many happinesses found in doing what we love. This is why we wrote The Fire Inside—the joy in creating. We hope you pick up a copy and explore its pages. We hope you get in touch with your inner fire—and keep it blazing.

For more ideas to help you along the creative path, see our book, The Fire Inside. We think you’ll be inspired!

Listen to a Sample of our Audiobook!

The Fire Inside

The Fire Inside is now available as an audiobook, and you can listen to a sample by clicking on the arrow below. (We think our reader/narrator, Melissa Melottey, is great!) You may purchase through Apple itunes https://apple.co/3BprtCe or Audible https://adbl.co/3iDEPCq. Note that if you are new to Audible, there’s an option to listen free. Take a listen!

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