Creativity

by Cynthia Morris
This article originally appeared on Fuel Your Writing. It’s such an important topic that surfaces again and again, so we’re sharing it here. 

These days, it seems that if you’re not consuming something – videos, podcasts, blog posts, books, magazines, films, social media streams – then you’re probably asleep.

There’s so much good stuff out there and many of us feel compelled to keep up at a dizzying rate. My clients and students confess that their biggest challenge is finding time to create. Everyone’s busy and overbooked.
[Read more…] about Is Your Consumption/Creation Ratio Out of Whack?

I love making art and writing things. I made this poster to celebrate Original Impulse’s 15-year anniversary and to share a gift with you. I also wanted to practice the hand lettering I am learning in Sean Wes’ online lettering course. So I was happy to do about 12 drafts of this. That’s how it goes with making and learning – you have to practice. A lot.
Every single time I create something, I cycle through the wild and wooly creative process, as I know you do, too.
But near the end of the project I experienced what I know many of us face: dwindling interest in completing it. I saw my interest flagging and called on my creative pal Kristoffer Carter to hold my toes to the fire. Getting this thing over the finish line and here on the blog wasn’t easy.
All the usual crap – it’s not perfect, it’s not good enough, it’s amateurish…blah, blah, blah. Luckily I know better than to listen to that. Luckily I am willing to put imperfect things out there. Because I believe that our enthusiasm trumps perfection every time.
I am enthusiastic about learning. About hand lettering. About what we are called forth to as creative people. That making and sharing impulse is caring and daring, and that is what I and Original Impulse are all about.
I hope this inspires you to love what you love. To make things because it is so damn fun. And to share it even if you feel critical about it.

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It’s with a grateful heart and a deep bow of thanks that I share this post. This month marks my 15-year anniversary as a coach for people who want to write and create with joy.
There’s so much I want to say about running a business, being a healthy creative person and what I want for you. I will keep it brief, because I know you have work to do.

Celebrate with gratitude

I’m so grateful to have a business that allows me to do good work and have time to do my creative projects. I’m grateful for my parents’ genes and their model of how to work hard and which are the right sacrifices to make.

I’m grateful that I have earned the trust of my readers, students and clients. This is important to me and something I treasure with great respect. It means a lot to me to be invited into someone’s world and creative process.
I’m so grateful for all the coaches, mastermind buddies, teachers and consultants who have helped me grow my business. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Fifteen years ago, I would never have imagined what I am doing now. I didn’t know I would be able to bring my teaching online. I didn’t know I would realize my dream of frequent work travel. I didn’t know the field of coaching would explode, and I certainly had no idea how much work goes into making a thriving business.
I don’t know where the next fifteen years will lead me. I do know that here, in June 2014, I am full of wonder for life and for the mysteries of the creative process. I am full of awe for the people who show up to do the real work of making something new. I marvel at the courage and have great respect for their commitment.
You may not see the work ahead in bringing your book to light. You may not recognize the impact your work will have in the world. You blissfully do not know how much effort it will take to complete your big project. And that’s okay.
One of the biggest insights I have gleaned over 15 years of studying the creative process is that we are never fully in charge. Our big idea for our book, our blog, our business venture – we are only a small part of its evolution. Many other factors come into play. Timing. Support. Real-world constraints. The art of bringing something from an idea to an actual thing calls us to our highest expression.
It’s in the process of making things that we grow. All our ideas add nothing to our real power. Making, writing, publishing, sharing – stepping out into the world to share our hearts and our creativity – that’s a bold act, and one I salute with a big smile.
Here’s to all of us who show up to heed our original impulse – to create, to write, to express and share the things that mean the most to us. As Helen Keller said, life is a daring adventure and it’s my great privilege to be on this adventure with you as a creativity coach.

A coach colleague of mine practices something she calls ‘summer hours’. For her, this means that she takes Fridays off – no clients, no other work. She does this so she can spend more time with her grandson and savor the life she’s created for herself.
It might not be that easy for all of us to take an extra day off. Our bosses might resent that we are getting a break while everyone else is working!

But there are still ways you can ease off in the summer for the sake of enjoying the treats of the season. I’m going to try my version of summer hours. You can, too, with these three practices:
1) List your activities. Which ones can be put on hold for the next three months? Which priorities could be put on the back burner so you can have a little summer fun?
2) Layer in the pleasure. What would add an extra layer of summer pleasure to your work? Perhaps you make your favorite summer beverage to sip while working. Maybe you take your writing outside to the backyard or a park.
3) Define your fun. What is summer fun for you, anyway? Make a list of at 12 summer pleasures that you will enjoy this year. My list includes:
picnics
beach time
visiting other cities
filling notebooks with memories
watermelon and other fresh fruit
Here are more tips on how to make summer more receptive and free.
In the next issue of Impulses, I’ll share my summer art plans with tips on how to focus on your art, too.
One of the ways I’m practicing summer hours is by taking a blogabbatical. I’m focused on a major renovation project at Original Impulse, and aside from my clients, that’s taking all my work focus. I’ll still be writing about how the creative life in my newsletter, Impulses. Subscribe in the upper right corner to stay in touch with your life as a creative adventure.

It took a long time but I finally figured out my life purpose. If you haven’t heard it yet, here it is:
My mission is to love what I love, share that love, and inspire others to love what they love.
Simple! Love really is all there is.
So for YEARS I’ve wanted to make a dance video and show it. Because I LOVE to dance. But my inner critic and business manager teamed up with these questions:

Why? So you can show off?

How is that part of your business?

Is this your ego or is this something that will serve your audience?

Why? So you can show off?

And on and on until the dancing was just a private love affair I was having with myself.
How often does this happen to you? You have an original impulse: a sweet, innocent desire arises. And then your critical mind comes in with a bunch of logic and shuts the joy down.
Well, thank goodness we have friends who encourage us. My pal Kristoffer Carter posted in Facebook last month something about full-on self expression. So I put some music on and danced. And then the video came on and more dancing.
Then KC and I spontaneously challenged each other to a dance-off and the next thing you know my dance video is up on Facebook. And guess what happened?
My friends loved it. They felt the surge of courage and boldness that was required to post it. They felt the joy that I feel when I move my body to music. Best yet, people were encouraged to do their own bold things.
So it worked – my love and courage inspired others’ love and courage. And I remembered: Don’t hide the love. Don’t postpone joy. Show and share my love.
And you know what? I am showing off. I love being onstage. I love being in front of others and speaking, sharing, dancing…whatever. I love showing up and showing off. To deny that is to deny an essential part of me.
What does this have to do with art? I live and coach according to this:
“All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life.” – M.C. Richards
Here’s the video in case you want to feel the love and see my moves.

What about you? How can you ‘un-stifle’ yourself? How can you love more of what you love and share that love?

It’s a rainy Friday in Denver, a rare and beautiful thing. I’m supposed to be recording the lessons for Write Your Paris Stories, but Friday Art hadn’t been posted yet.
I went to Creative Mornings Denver and afterward, braved the incredible clusterfuck that is Trader Joe’s parking. Why? Why! For the cheap eats? No. For the flowers.
Since drawing and painting my CSA share last year, I’ve changed flowers from luxury item to necessity. Flowers are the love of my life, a daily, elegant love that fuels both my heart and my art.
With the arrival of Trader Joe’s, I am happy to say I can fill my home and office with beauty for $20 each week.

Flower Shrines

I think of the flowers all around the house as shrines. Every time I see and smell the flowers I feel a rush of appreciation and joy. A recent strengths test indicated that my top strength is appreciation of beauty/excellence.
I love drawing and painting flowers. Photographing them isn’t as easy. But today, on this rainy Friday, my flower shrines were making me so happy, I had to share them with you.
Enjoy! Maybe go make your own flower shrine.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L to R: Office Co-Worker; Stock with Show Your Art by Austin Kleon, just arrived!; Meditation Shrine; Office Shrine 2: Not Dead Yet; Kitchen Sponge Puja; Home Shrine; Lounge with Stock; Not Dead Yet

As I prepared the lessons for my upcoming Write Your Paris Stories class, I considered what makes a good story. Many elements contribute to a fictional or non-fiction story: setting, character, plot, point of view, voice, etc.
But there’s something underneath all that that really makes any story work: emotion. In a recent memoir class I took, the teacher started with emotion. She asked us to consider what the predominant emotion was running through the story.
My art mentor emphasizes the need for feeling to be present in every single art piece. Bringing feeling to writing or art isn’t easy. I hear her, I get it, but actually doing it? Still working on that.
My suspicion is that feeling shows up in the stroke of the pen or in the color added. With writing, it’s a bit more conscious, which words you choose and how you arrange them.
Ultimately a good story or piece of art moves us emotionally. Like a good dinner party, all the elements need to be in place – the food, the people, the hostess, the table, etc. But it’s the overall mood and feeling of the evening that makes it work, that makes it memorable. It’s the same for story.
This is one of the things we’ll be exploring as we craft our stories in my Write Your Paris Stories online class. It’s been awhile since I taught the craft of writing, and I cannot believe how fun it’s been to develop the class and write the lessons.
If you look at a recent story or piece of art you created, can you tell what predominant emotion it evokes? How do you get feeling into your work?