Blog posts I’ll never write
The other day I had an interesting conversation with a couple of creative practitioner friends and we were talking about all the ideas that we have that will never become actual things. And we lamented that in many instances it’s actually the ideas that we love about our work, rather than the doing/acting on them, […]
Spark Summer School Week 2 – Look Inside
Hello! Welcome to week 2 of the #sparksummerschool. This week we are going to be spending time looking Inside. Last week’s focus on Play was an opportunity to take a break from ‘work as usual’ and to create a little distance between our thinking, over-analytical minds and our creative impulses. I hope you managed to […]
Spark Summer School Week 1 – Play
Hello! It’s the first week of the #sparksummerschool and we’re going to be looking at the theme of Play. When I devised this course I had considered starting with ‘Looking Inside’ as it always feels most natural for me to start with a bit of introspection, but then I realised that a real issue for […]
Spark Creative Practice Summer School
Join me as I share things I’ve found helpful for exploring and understanding your creativity – things to read, watch and listen to. There will be activities lead by guest tutors and a chance for you to share your own go-to sources of inspiration. #sparksummerschool 4 weeks devoted to re-igniting your creativity: week 1 – […]
Self Care in December: incubation
With the solstice only days away, we’re right in the middle of the darkest part of the year and also the busiest. It’s a combination that can easily lead to feeling over-stimulated and over-tired, the adrenaline of trying to get it all done matched with the lack of time we give ourselves to rest or go slowly. It’s obvious how this can affect us emotionally and physically, but how about creatively? In this blog I spend a lot of time wondering about the creative process, and how we can support our creative practices to become as full and expansive as possible. I have come to believe that December is in some ways a natural enemy to creativity, as it is a month that makes so many demands. It expects us to be dynamic and positive, giving so much energy out to others, while not really allowing time and space for us to maintain that energy. So be it. I can’t change December, it will always be this way. But I can change how I respond to these circumstances. So, instead of resisting and feeling annoyed with myself for feeling stretched and tired, I am going to go with it. I am not going to expect anything great from my creativity this month. Instead I am going to take care of it.
Self-care in December: gathering
December is a challenging month on all fronts – professional and personal – that it can be easy to get lost in all the activity and things to be done and forget to look after yourself. All this month on the blog I’m going to be taking self-care as my inspiration and looking at ways you can look after yourself a little better. I’m going to be sharing ideas for finding energy and preparing for the new year in your creative practice, and suggesting ways to support your mental wellbeing. No matter how much you’ve got going on with work and family this month, the goal is to reach January feeling fresh and ready for the new year, not exhausted and in need of recuperation.
Today I’d like to think about one of the most important elements of sustaining your creative practice: gathering.
Books to inspire: Wired to Create
I am fascinated by creativity and am always happy to read anything that might give me better understanding about what is happening in the minds of those people I spend a lot of time with – namely highly creative people working in all sorts of disciplines (not just the obvious ‘creative’ arts jobs). I enjoyed this book because not only does it helpfully break down creativity into 10 traits (and thus makes reading it in short bursts at bedtime that much easier) but it is also based on current research in neuroscience and psychology. Because, who doesn’t love pages of notes to follow up with? (Ok, maybe not everyone, but it gives me a nice sense of being in good hands).
Books to inspire: Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet
This month’s book recommendation is something that has been on my radar for years and I’ve always had a ‘yeah, yeah, Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet – that’s got all sorts of insights into being an artist. I know I should read it, but…’ attitude towards it. Which, of course, was stupid. And I (wrongly) assumed it was quite long. So when it was recommended, again, by a newsletter I love and trust completely I was compelled (in the spirit of doing stuff now and not putting it off) to go out and buy a copy. And blow me if it isn’t a tiny wee slip of a book (52 pages) and this edition cost a whopping £1. That’s right, people, £1. There are NO MORE EXCUSES for you not to read this!
Now, this isn’t a life-changing book, because what writing can live up to the hype? But it is full of interesting ideas on living a creative life, and insights into the mind of a formidable creative force, and that’s really all I need on a grey autumn day when I don’t have a lot of energy to be focused and concentrate.
Books to inspire: The Element
This month’s book recommendation may look like a personal development book from its title. I must admit that that’s why I picked it up at first, thinking that maybe it contains the secrets to finding your passion in life (and thus will change everything). I’m sorry to say that this book may not actually help you find your passion in life, but it does show us how creating the right educational environment, and honouring the role creativity plays within society, will lead to everyone having the possibility of discovering their passion. Which is something I feel strongly about.
Looking back to get unstuck
I’m feeling stuck. It’s Tuesday evening and I need to write a blog post for Wednesday, my arbitrary, self-imposed deadline. I really don’t want to miss a week and yet I can’t think what to write. The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a struggle in terms of work/life/creative me balance. Events in my personal life are derailing most of my attempts to get work done and as for creative things… well, they’ve ground to a halt. The creative well is dry and no amount of scraping around at the bottom, hoping for something miraculous, is going to help me right now, to write this now. I need a quick fix.
I am fully aware that this is not an ideal situation. I know that I should have been topping up my creative stores with inspiring and nourishing activities, feeding my curiosity and paying attention to the little things. But we are all flawed humans, none of us is perfect, and despite knowing what we ‘should’ do, we often don’t manage it. I have a note in my diary to remind me to be kind to myself, so no berating today. Instead, what small act can I do to help? How do I unstick myself when there isn’t time to gently revive my flagging creativity? I look back.