Let out your inner artist
“Creativity is your wild side calling”
What is creativity? I love this question it conjures up a different answer for everyone. Essentially it is the use of our greatest gift, the imagination. Many of us never fully unwrap it. We leave it under the tree of real life for when we have more time. Opening presents is too indulgent when there is laundry to press and work calls to answer. Though creativity is a far more important call, it is your wild side and some way or other it demands attention. Wild sides, we all have one. As much as we try to tell it to be quiet, behave, leave us be with our sensible plans and determination to stay on track, whatever track that may be. And before we know it, the voice has giving us a headache that can only be cured with something radical. The pent-up release can take a variety of forms, though most of them not advisable.
What gives? Are we to live between the mundaneness of sensibility and extreme rebellion? Or is there an alternative kind of wilderness. I strongly believe that land is called creativity. Creativity allows you to draw beyond the lines of you that need exploring, without a hangover. A release that gives more than it takes, refreshes your soul without dehydrating your life. What happens when we explore it?
Quite a lot actually, engaging in creative pursuits allows you to explore your identity, the artist within that is bursting to get out. The physical and mental benefits of creativity are emerging more than ever. In light of how the world had encouraged us to slow down to give us more time with ourselves. When that excites us more than scares us, we are growing our creative confidence. Like anything in life, creativity takes time and practice to develop. Here are some tried and tested ways to get those creative juices flowing.
- Write to yourself
When this was first suggested to me via a writer friend, I made every excuse under the sun to avoid it. It seemed far too indulgent, and besides what good would it do? Temptation got the better of me when the creative buzz around her became impossible to ignore on our regular coffee meets. The one change she had made to her pretty solid routine was penning a few pages to herself in the morning, with nothing to lose I gave it a try. It’s different to any kind of writing I have done, intended for readers or requiring a response. The free flow, the “anything goes”, the privacy of you and the pen leaves space to let go of whatever needs to get out. Consider it a creative clearing of the throat. It leaves you feeling lighter somehow, more focused, inspired to let creativity drive your day, give it a go.
- Spend time with people and places that inspire you
Ever notice how a conversation can turn your day around? It could be a chat with an old friend, a random convo with a stranger in the coffee queue or a new client. Something about their energy lights up yours, I consider it a creative spark. People like this are an artist’s nutrition. The same goes for places, where do you feel happy, comfortable and free? Spending time in them is crucial, to let yourself of the creative leash many stay on, chugging at the lead to be let off. Have more conversations and spend more time in places that set your soul dancing and raise your vibration. They are leading you to creative freedom.
- Laugh
Every darn day! A sense of humour is the only safety belt you need for a creative life. I consider being able to laugh at yourself an essential life skill. Try and approach your creative choices with a smile, learn to say stuff out loud that your head might be telling you is ridiculous, ignore that voice, even better laugh at it. The more you laugh, not only the happier you will be, the more creative you will be, and that is no laughing matter.
- Give yourself permission
To start, to try, to fail. So many creators deprive themselves of the joy of creating, comparing themselves to others even living through their work. Remember every artist you look up to whether writers, artists or film directors all started where you are. With a dream, with a desire, with a creative urge, they followed it. We all have a creative pulse, give yourself permission to let it beat.
By Ashley Brown
Chickens in featured image: LHS by Anna Giangiordano, downloadable from 5th December; RHS coloured by Twig.
