As we approach back-to-school season, I’m reminded of the seasonal rituals that support our creativity. Whether they call them rituals, everyone uses familiar gestures, tools and rhythms in their creative process.
When I teach Capture the WOW, we focus on rituals around our making. Rituals tell us that it’s time to shift from the everyday into the creative mode.
Some rituals actually hinder our creative satisfaction. People moan about these distraction rituals:
• checking in to Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram before a creating session and losing precious focus
• checking stats to see how many people have read your stuff
• checking email
These ‘checking in’ rituals, as you know, often lead you away from the cherished creative focus you crave so dearly. We want to practice rituals that support our creative focus.
Rituals that work
Transitioning often poses a challenge for us, and having simple, non-pretentious ways to access our creative zone can really help make it easier. It seems to be getting harder and harder to corral our attention. This is agenda for many of my workshops like Capture the WOW and Drawing as Meditation – to train our attention so we can focus on things that are important to us.
My coffee is a ritual that invites me to sit and focus while I am drinking it. Maybe you enjoy a beverage ritual. Here’s a peek at some of the rituals my clients and I enjoy:
• pulling a Writual Blessing card at random before a writing session
• free-writing to drop in, clear mundane concerns and focus on your work
• doodling or putting paint or lines on the page to get into the flow
• a few minutes (only a few!) of tidying up the workspace
• lighting a special candle
• putting on music reserved only for creative time.
These simple actions are included in all my workshops.They’re a crucial part of designing a creative practice. I talk about rituals a lot with my clients, and it’s fun to see how much progress they make when they get in their stride.
Our time and attention are precious assets that help us take action on things that make our days feel rich. Rituals serve as an entry point to our focus.
What rituals help you transition to your creative zone? Share your creative rituals below.
I recently started “clocking in” on a clipboard with my time in/ time out of the studio. It’s been keeping me from getting sucked into the Instagram…
After that I light a candle- actually the rest looks a lot like what you described above. I regularly scribble and spill paint to start a drawing – it helps me release some emotion and not take myself so dern seriously!
I love this post, along with the idea of recognizing and honoring the small rituals that support us.
Beautiful as always <3
I love this Anne Marie!
Productivity experts always say to start with tracking your time. Using a clipboard or a timer definitely can help with the focus. You think twice before reaching for the handy distractions.
Glad you have a candle going, too! It’s a lovely sort of company, isn’t it?
It makes me happy to think of you making art. Your work is so beautiful.
I often start out my creative time by free-writing in a journal. This seems to empty my brain of worries, concerns, and the have-to-do lists. I gently nudge myself towards writing about my art and this usually pushes me to actually do it.
Donna,
I love it! Free-writing is such a great warm up. Non-threatening, gentle, but a way to begin to focus your attention.
It’s cool that writing about your art stimulates you to make the art. Perfect!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thanks for this reminder of rituals! Before going on trips, I do the ABCs on few pages as you suggested and prime the pages to create ! So love getting excited to see what will become of those pages!