There's no codified process or single answer to the creative life.
The inner life of creativity is an ecosystem of mutually supportive forces. We have to nurture these forces that together can bring our creativity alive. It's a flywheel of inner & outer collaboration, exploration & learning.
So what are these reinforcing factors that build the momentum of the creative flywheel? Well, I imagine it's different for everyone, but these are some of the principles I've found in my own life:
1. Unconditional Self-Love & Self-Acceptance
Understand that it's ok to be you. You're a creator in your own right. Just like anyone that came before you. Just like those who will come after you. You're allowed to explore. You're allowed to create. You can be yourself fully. Give yourself permission to explore with total self-love and acceptance. Commit to love yourself no matter what. Give yourself permission to freely explore your medium, without judgement, good or bad.
If you give yourself the space to explore your work beyond judgement, then you can focus on the process, instead of getting hung up on the outcomes.
If you don't fully give yourself permission to be who you are, your self-judgements become barriers to creating. The perfect ideal becomes the enemy of producing anything at all. The better thing you created last time prevents you from giving your whole self to the present work. So love yourself, unconditionally, regardless of what comes out. Love yourself by showing up to the process.
This may sound nice and flowery. It's easy to dismiss if you think it's "sentimental". But those who are called to the creative life know that it's an act of courage to give oneself clear space and trust. The work of accepting yourself requires an ability to face and come to accept both our power and our faults. This is not for the faint of heart.
In my experience, this is itself is one of the most stubborn barriers to a creative life.
2. Surrender to the Joy of Creative Practice
Allow yourself to surrender to the joy of your work. Saturate yourself in it. Soak it up. Become immersed. Find the thread that you can't put down and give yourself to it with the totality of your being.
Surrendering to your creative practice means different things on different days.
Some days it means an act of total determination—cutting through your distractions and excuses to completely embody your practice. Immersive focus.
Other days it can mean simply looking, watching, reading and listening. It can mean walking slowly and being present with your inner and outer world. It can mean giving yourself the space to be where you are, and accepting the rules of the medium.
No matter what it is that day, showing up for the work is paramount. Find out what your practice needs most to thrive, and surrender to that.
And, most importantly of all, enjoy it. If you don't enjoy your work, then you're doing the wrong thing. Allow your work to shape and guide you. Give yourself to it with presence and warmth. Creative practice is such a wonderful way to spend the heart and mind.
3. Detachment & Curiosity
The more that you create, the more work you'll have to show. Don't get hung up on your output. Don't worry too much about what you're creating; just pay attention to what you're creating.
The creative works are not "yours" anyway. Are you responsible for being born? Did you arrange all the world to bring you or your creative gifts into existence? How can you claim ownership of your outputs when you yourself are a mysterious force?
The point here isn't to deprive yourself of the satisfaction of taking pride in your work. But it's important to make sure your pride is pointed in the right direction. Rather than taking pride in the finished product, repeating mantras of narcissistic self-gratification, take pride in the fact you're working. Take pride in the fact that you're hooked on the creative process and that you won't stop. Feed the story of creation, not the idolization of what you have created.
In my experience, the creative process and its outputs are best thought of as gifts from somewhere else. You're responsible for managing the process and making sure they get here safely. But if you try to control your work too tightly, or try to force it to come, you'll only get in the way.
4. Fearlessness of Sharing & Publishing
Another great way to let go of your creative work is to share it. Publish it. Hang it in a gallery. Put it out there. Sell it. Get rid of it! The longer that it lingers—taking up space in your heart, mind, and studio—the less space you have to allow the next idea to come through. It's as if the creative works—the ideas, the paintings, the songs—are waiting in the wings. Waiting for a space to come through.
And the ideas want to be shared. They know the places where works are being published and shared, where ideas are getting through to the world. The ideas look for spaces to replenish.
So don't worry about finding new inspiration. Just focus on creating what's in front of you, and then get it out into the world. The more you get it out there, the more you can relax into the moment, into the satisfaction of your creative life, and the easier it will be for new material to come through you.
The process is alive right now. If you nurture it then it will be fed and it will grow. The flywheel will spin, and your creative life will thrive. It's actually pretty simple. If you create and share, then you'll create and share. If you don't, then you won't.
Shouts out to Simon Scotting for contributing to this piece.
