Inspiration. Process. Practice.
This is an ingredient list for a "creative life." But it can read like a vague grocery list, cheese, onions, broth, what are you really making anyway?
One night over dinner, I picked up on a conversation thread that I had been mulling over a lot (read: obsessively talking about) the creative process. More accurately, my personal creative process and how I was wrestling with the “outcomes.”
Since I had so many ideas on this subject and because Michael has been teaching college students for many years, he suggested we teach a workshop on the subject: Unearthing Your Creative Process. This suggestion may have been put out there to get me to change the subject, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt because we did end up teaching this workshop.
When Michael and I set out to write the curriculum, we were pretty clear that an artist’s process was different than their actual practice.
We defined the process as your unique rhythm that sets you up for your practice of creating a form of artwork.
One part of your unique rhythm is grasping what inspires you and is that source of inspiration keeping you in a rhythm or flow state so you can easily step into your practice consistently. We had a lot of thoughts on this delineation. But I did keep asking, what about inspiration? How do you harness it and apply it?
I kept coming back to the inspiration part, what piece of a question, what thread, what mild obsession, what idea held you accountable to stay in a process lifestyle which leads you into a consistent practice?
In other words, I felt like understanding WHY are you creating helped define WHAT you were creating.
Over the years, as a friend, coach, and mentor, I noticed people seeking a creative life fall into a couple of camps.
The Jumping Bean: (Tigger, a hummingbird, you get the idea) someone more moves rapidly from one thing to the next without prolonged focus.
The Pillar of Salt: Someone refusing to launch because even though they want to create, they claim not to know WHAT to create. I believe there are some entangled fears here that cause this person not to take action.
The Person Out on the Limb: The person out there creating and creating, often quickly and in a measure of frustration because they are not internally resonating with what they are creating.
This is a light-hearted look, but as I type, I can genuinely share with you the vulnerability that accompanies every state. Just expressing this desire is an act of bravery in many cases.
I believe every person has a deep-seated, innate need to create. You actually are creating every moment of every day, whether you understand the concept or not.
Although bear with me for a moment, if you don’t believe you are always creating, remember that time when a car almost hit you on your way home. You spent the next 20 minutes cussing them out in your head before you stepped in the front door, and you bark at the kids and yell at the dogs in the same cussing tone from your head. You have just “created” a bad mood. I probably should have used a nicer example. Next time I’ll pick a family holiday.
Here is the good news, creating doesn’t have to be painful, it doesn’t have to be filled with self-judgment, and it doesn’t even have to take years to get it right.
Inspiration lies all around you, and it’s in every nook of every cranny of every day. You can be gently nudged out of these states, and you can find a path where the vulnerability either melts away or is embraced as a tool.
XO, Monica Lee
