Free Wild Autumn and Halloween Creativity workshop: Tomorrow, Wednesday October 22, noooooon pacific, threeeee eastern on Zoom A rare workshop open to all, live is always best but recording available for 48 hours. Art,writing especially for the intimidated beginner but for anyone who loves creativity and may feel stuck. Register in advance for this meeting
Dear ,
When I’m craving chocolate, (even Hersey’s Kisses as long as they are wrapped it in that little piece of shiny foil and with the little feather in their cap*), I’m in need of comfort.
But in order for my jeans to fit and my blood sugar to behave, I need a lower calorie solution. I happen to know a few, that, like chocolate, release dopamine, but also provide deeper, more meaningful outcomes. Painting and writing (or really any form of creativity) are low calorie especially if I reframe from chewing on the eraser or eating the chartreuse. They both require courage.
When I sat down to make that little animation ^, I felt myself sink into that timeless ageless, flow creativity gives us. The complaint desk clocked out for a lunch break—self-scolding was muted, anxiety about the country paused, and my jackhammer ambition—hushed. That, to me, is freedom.
To invent, design, play with words, brush around water-filled colors, and liberate stories from the mysterious subconscious … to give motion to witches and include a message I feel passionate about … gives a feeling of control in a world that is raging with chaos. It gives me purpose at a time many of us are sinking into emptiness, sadness, and anger. It buffers life’s harshness with a joy that is personal and global at the same time.
As I write this little essay, adding the quirkiness I’ve come to know as my voice, beneficial chemicals are running around with sparklers, singing songs — oddly from Mary Poppins, buoying my spirit. I am in love with words and art. They remind me of who I am and grant me a way to connect with others.
The creative process is full of different forms of freedom, (see a few of them listed below). But first you have to get through the barbed wires. Most of us deal with -- feeling resistant, not feeling good enough, uninspired, and hesitant due to the myriads of fears that naturally come up. Fear is a big one and, right now, loss of pleasure in what we used to enjoy is a symptom of the world’s unrest, the loss of decency, and the dread of an unpredictable future.
Creativity is my oxygen and reason for getting out of bed. It’s essential ... for everyone. Playing with a pen, singing, gardening, dancing should be integral parts of our self-care right alongside nutrition and exercise — but people refuse to enter this world of healing, validation, and delight because they are scared of not being good enough or feel uninspired.
My message to you, is:
Do not let fears stop you. They are a normal part of the creative process. When we forge into our creative interests despite our fears, we develop courage … and courage is freedom. When we sit on the sidelines, fear wins.
If your inspiration and pleasure seem absent, know that it’s normal during a time like this, you’re not alone. A little guided instruction, with really low expectations, permission to play, and encouragement to be imperfect, (in minuscule steps with patience,) can be better for our spirit than a hot fudge sundae, really.
Freedoms in the Creative Process
To create your own universe of characters, story, beauty, emotion
- To break the rules – expressing a defiance that is satisfying for reasons of unfairness, neglect, or anything that doesn’t set right.
- To break the rules to discover your own original way of doing things
- From having to be a certain way
- From having to be perfect or meet anyone else’s expectations
- It’s freedom from the mundane, the daily routine, the quotidian maelstrom, dubious distraction.
- We have freedom to think, feel and choose how we think of the world and our lives
- To use creative thinking to be mindful: to pay attention where we want and notice what feels best.
- Freedom to release ourselves from our problems, using resourcefulness, flexibility of thought, and cleverness.
- Freedom from judgments, perfectionism and limitations of the creative self.
- Freedom from the ways you were brought up that didn’t resonate with you.
- I think those freedoms are worth the sometimes non-linear, uncomfortable journey to get there.
Hope to see you tomorrow,
Jill
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