Week after week, I kept scheduling two hours of messy studio time. Week after week, I wasn’t putting in those two hours. This was the time to work on my own personal artwork - outside of teaching and client work. I should be excited to do it! It should be easy!
I would think about it. Sometimes I would even go sit in the chair. But nothing much happened. It left me feeling frustrated, a bit scared that I “lost the touch,” worried that my own creative well had dried up, sad that this juicy part of my life seemed to be locked away from me, nostalgic for all the joyful time I spent in the messy madness of making something mysterious and new.
I started to check in on some things. Mentally, I had been consumed with some business projects. Emotionally, I had been concerned about other people. Physically, my space was kind of a mess in an uninviting way. Spiritually, I felt disconnected from the soulful message in my art.
So, it was time to stop worrying and start asking myself, “How do I create the container?” Because the creative spirit requires a safe and nurturing environment to reveal herself and dance.
Imagine you have just bought a house with a yard for your kid to play in. You can’t wait to see her running outside and playing happily! But behind the yard is a forest that isn’t safe for a young child to venture into alone. And the house is a busy street with cars zooming by. And, right now, there isn’t much to do in the yard. It is little more than dry dirt… You really don’t feel great about your kid playing there yet.
So you fence in the yard and put down some grass seed. You cultivate a small garden with flowers and vegetables and install swings and build a sandbox. You see the tree is perfect for a treehouse and build one.
Now, you feel good letting your kid run freely out the back door! You couldn’t stop her if you tried! From the window, you smile as she explores and gets dirty and makes things and grows things and lays in the grass. You can rest knowing you have built the perfect container for your kid to be the creative, imaginative, free-spirit that she is.
Well our ego isn’t much different than being a parent. Its job is to keep us safe. If there are perceived dangers, then it is going to find ways to keep us from doing something. These dangers could look like threats of being not good enough or not having what you need. If you haven’t been creating much, then your internal space might look more like an abandoned lot versus a fun playground. This space will need some nurturing and your ego will need some reassurance before it will let your creativity out to play.
We can do this by tending to the different parts of ourselves, making them safer and more inviting. Mentally and emotionally, we need to tend to our thoughts and fears. Fears around your creativity need to be recognized and accepted. (We all have them and, if they are not heard, they will wreak havoc!) Physically, we need to tend to our making space. What do you need it to look like and feel like and smell like and sound like to be inspired? Spiritually, we need to reconnect with what our Soul needs and make a conscious decision to honor and trust it.
This is a process you can do in minutes or it can take days or months. But if you keep showing up for it, you will be rewarded with the powerful, fun, unique, life-giving presence of your own creativity. It took me a few weeks this last time, but once the container was constructed, I played and played and played… And I’m still playing!
What can you do to cultivate your creative container? How can you make a nurturing space mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually for your creativity to play in?
Want help creating your container and get a creative project done? Join us for our next Create It Class: Idea to Creation in Four Weeks this April! Want a more personalized approach? Check out our One-to-One Creative Coaching.