I’ve been intrigued with creativity for a long time. I spent awhile watching people be creative – in college it was easy to watch, especially since i was an art major. then i entered adulthood and continued to watch kids be creative. little kids are the most creative and as we get older the creativity gets sucked out or squashed out.
then i began to read about creativity and how it works. how it’s a habit, something that can be cultivated, something that can grow with consistency. i read ken robinson, i read twyla tharpe, i read austin kleon and last night i finished reading elizabeth gilbert. and over and over and over AND OVER again i see the patterns, the consistent practice of creativity. it must be consistent and it is just that, practice.
i have struggled with identifying myself as creative all my life – as if it’s only the select few who get to use that title. but eff that nonsense now! i am creative. i can make, i can think of a variety of answers, i can cook, i can teach, i can do a lot of creative things. and. i still have more to cultivate. i am a selfish seeker of more creativity. and i’m ok with that.
so today i am grateful for my creativity and being creative. (because the more i say it the more it comes true).
so i have begun to formulate my “plan” for the holidays and how to both cultivate more creativity and navigate myself through the difficulty (or maybe not difficulty this year!) that happens through the holiday season. my plan for right now is to make a print everyday in the month of december based off of buddha’s teachings. i am going to make a mono print each morning after contemplating a teaching over the past day. because i am a planner and the sporadic nature of mono printing, i can’t read the quote that morning and respond immediately – i need that space for my brain to roll it around. i will post the quotes each week, before the week begins and if you’d like to create or make or meditate or write…or cook or whatever the universe brings you in response to the quote. i will post my makings each morning as well. with a blog post once week to culminate the week.
what do you think of that plan? how do you cultivate your creativity?
lizzie fortin 