Nurturing Your Creative Self

Nurturing Your Creative Self

Creators give something of themselves to every creation they make. If we create stories, films, jewellery, sculptures, or any other thing our energy is going into the act of creating. This can leave us feeling flat and empty if we do not actively work towards re-energising and nurturing our creative selves.

To nurture your creative self take some time off from your work of creating. Schedule a break. Make time for nurturing. This is an important part of living a creative life.

If your work of creating involves spending a great deal of time on your own, as is the case for writers, see if you can arrange to have a fellow creator take time off with you. If your creating involves being surrounded by people and organising people, then make some time for you to do you nurturing alone.

Try any of these suggestions which spark an interest in you. This is your time so feel free to rearrange, combine, or change any of these suggestions to suit you. There is no "have to". There is only "want to". So feel free to follow your own ideas too.

1) Play. It has been said "Play is the work of children". It is also the best way to get in touch with what really matters to us. Playing can be anything you wish to make it. Find a friend to play checkers (draughts) with and spend a few hours playing together. Go to the local playground and swing on the swing, slide down the slippery dip. Shoot balls through the hoop, if you are right handed try it left handed and vice versa.

Play involves doing it for the fun of it. Play to play not to win.

If you have been so busy being grown up you have forgotten how to play take a child along and let them take the lead. If you havent any small children of your own, borrow a niece or nephew, grand child, neighbours child, or friends child. If you play the game the child's way and let them make the decisions you will have more fun and so will they. Four year olds are great for this. They love taking charge!

2) Try a new art or craft. If you are a writer, paint a picture, if your are a painter, sculpt a figure, if you are a filmmaker, try drawing. If you draw try writing. The point of this is not to stress and struggle over getting it right. Just do it. Make mistakes and give yourself permission to do so. If you find the adult perfectionist stepping in trying to do it all right then consider doing it with your less dominant hand, or do it blindfolded, or in some other way make it harder for you to get it perfect. The idea is to create using an unfamilir medium. Try finger painting. It is messy, fun, creative, and the sensual experience is wonderful. Create for fun.

3) Play a musical instrument. Choose an instrument you have never learned to play. You dont need to buy one, just hire or borrow one. Fiddle with it, play it, see if you can make patterns of sound with it, can you make the instrument sound good? Can you make it sound really bad? Enjy creating the sounds you can make with it. Appreciate your own skill and the fun of playing it.

4) Read for fun. Read for enjoyment. If you are busily writing that new screenplay or novel, and long for some relief try reading a trashy romance, or perhaps a cowboy story or speculative fiction novel. Read something from a genre you are not writing in. Read poetry, if your inner critic is getting in the way then read some shakespeare poems back to front. Mess around with words. When we write we give our words away. This can leave us feeling dry or blocked. So reading can help give us some words back. Read from a dictionary or encyclopedia. Read something you do not normally read.

5) Go to a film festival, try one with lots of short foreign films and simply enjoy the feeling of being in the audience and all of the atmosphere. If the film is in a foreign language dont read the sub titles. Just enjoy it. Enjoy the sensual feeling of sights and sounds. Let your imagination run rampant.

6) Revisit your childhood. No. I dont mean to go back and vist the house you lived in, though you can if that is inspiring to you. I mean revisit the things you enjoyed. What was your favourite thing to do at age 12? Try it now. What was fun when you were 8 years old? Have a go at it now. How did you enjoy yourself at 4?

What is it you wanted to do when you were little and you weren't allowed to do? Were you not allowed to climb trees? Give it a go. Find a suitable tree and climb it. Were you not allowed to play certain games because your family didnt aprove? Try it now. Give yourself the approval you need to play that game. What toy did you really want to own but never got? Go and buy it now. Let yourself have the one thing you always wanted. Give yourself a present of having the very thing you wanted and play with it.

7) Be silly. Do something very silly. Enjoy something very silly. Read something silly. Being silly is fun. It revitalises the soul. If you need some suggestions for reading something silly. Try Ogden Nash, Dr Seuss, or similar authors. If it seems silly to turn up to a family gathering late do that. If it seems silly to go water skiiing on a cold day do that. If it seems silly to ride on a merry go round, then do it. Give yourself permission to be silly.

8) Good Food. Eating fresh food, salads, fruit interesting cheeses, new foods can be refreshing. try eating very slowly. Enjoy the tastes. Allow yourself to eat the peas one at a time, or to eat the mango right off the seed. Experience your food in a new way.

9) Exercise clears the mind. Try exercising for fun. Swim laps without counting them. Walk without knowing how far it was. Jog, run, skip, join an aerobics class. Learn a new sport. Exercising for fun gives you a chance to enjoy the activity without worrying about anything.

10) Meditation, prayer or quiet time. Take some time just to be still and quiet. Find a nice place to sit where your back is supported. Against a tree in the park, by the duck pond or in the kids treehouse. Spend 20 minutes each day just being quiet and still. Try focussing on one thing, a leaf, a word, god, or a duck or other animal. Just allow your mind to gently settle on that one thing. If your mind begins to wander just accept that it wandered and gently take it back to the one thing you are focussing on.

Enjoy nurturing your creativity