Welcome to A Creative Spark - Part II
This is an example of the creative encouragement you’ll get every Friday when you subscribe for free.
All of us are creative. In these weekly emails of A Creative Spark you will be prompted to explore this side of yourself.
Recognize how you are already creative and what you gravitate toward. How you express yourself creatively occurs daily, even in mundane ways. Are you intentional, even daring, in how you present yourself to the world? Is your home your canvas to express yourself with carefully chosen objects, unique furniture, and thoughtful color combinations? Or do you relish documenting your life with your camera phone, taking the perfect shot? Perhaps you find an outlet in baking or landscaping?
However you exercise your creativity, how does it make you feel? Excitement, pride, delight, sense of accomplishment, peace? When you think about it, why do you do it? Does it happen under certain circumstances or in specific places? How often does the creative spark hit you?
We can categorize life into the things we need to do, the things we should do, and the things we want to do… In which category do your creative endeavors fall? Your creativity deserves to be nurtured, not put off, cut short, or worse, ignored. For many, creative or artistic pastimes are wants; however, the more you cultivate this part of yourself and begin to reap the benefits*, these hobbies and activities start to become a way of living that you need to do. Art-making can be pleasantly addictive!
So, today I ask you to reflect on how you express your artistic side, consider how often you tap into it in contrast to how often you would like to. Set aside some time today – even if it’s just 10 minutes – to indulge in whatever creative activity you want. What’s the first thing that comes to mind?
My suggestion: If you’re able to, have a dedicated space for your creative endeavors so that all of your materials are set up and ready for when you have the free time and when inspiration hits. As I work at home, what works for me is to have two desks. When I finish with a work task, I just swivel the chair to my artwork. I’ve found that this increases my overall productivity immensely.
*More about the benefits of creative hobbies to come. Please subscribe to A Creative Spark.