I haven’t painted anything in over two weeks. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I get it together? I wonder how she can create so much and still blog and take care of her kids.
These are thoughts that used to pass through my mind when I wasn’t creating something. I used to beat myself up for not creating as often as I see others online do. I was caught in the comparison trap and didn’t even know it.
Our fast paced society places its value on product – the final result. It’s all about: create, create, produce! It has shaped a vision of what things are “supposed” to look like and it couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, we have it all wrong. We’re missing the big picture. We’re missing out on the entire process, on the wondrous journey. We are missing out on our lives.
There is much more to creativity than just banging out products.
It’s full of mysticism, ready to be explored and acknowledged. The creative process flows and shifts, like water. It’s not this hard, clean-cut thing.
Creativity is not a stone.
It takes on many forms. It heals, it transforms, it opens up your heart, it creates a pathway to your intuition… into your soul.
This creative source flows through you in more ways than just producing. Ideas incubate, inspiration is gathered, supplies are organized. But even after the creative thinking takes flight and you move into creating, the creative process continues to move through you. The work gets documented, shared, and reflected upon.
Each of these phases of the creative process are worthy of recognition. And once I realized this, everything changed for me; I reduced the internal comparison chatter and eased up on the harsh self-judgment.
After all: We all have our own way of creating.
Turns out, there’s nothing wrong with me, the way I create, or how I produce my work. I enjoy some of the other phases more so than the actual creating because…I’m a gatherer. I love to gather inspiration and research. I can spend months – even years – nurturing an idea.
When I honor this, I honor my natural creative process and embrace the creative spirit in all of its fluid ways, releasing the guilt of not creating constantly. Instead, I can confidently move forward, aware that I’m still doing important creative work even when I’m not the producing phase.
We are all beautifully unique. Even in how creativity flows through us.
When we get intimate with it, we can freely embark on our individual creative journey.
P.S. This article is an excerpt from my FREE e-book: Water – The Fluid Ways of Creativity. Download your copy HERE. :)
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that was wonderful… i beat my self up for not doing much art in the summer.. then i remember i am out side gardening…..
I’m a gatherer. I love the sound of that….much better than other less positive words I can think of to describe my wonderful obsession with paper…and all things to put in my journal!!
You said it beautifully and I wrote most of the post in my journal. Your words remind us of the magical entity that creativity is in our lives..always flowing, changing but always there if we take the time to contemplate.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. xo p.