“Basic Principles:
1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.
2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life -- including ourselves.
3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator's creativity within us and our lives.
4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
5. Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
7. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction.
8. As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.” ― Julia Cameron
So the above are clearly not my thoughts; however, these are the words that resonate for me. I have been playing with creativity forever but in the last several years I have ventured into many areas that I once said “I can’t” and I’ve used creativity as my path to deeper spirituality. In doing so, I also just began “Scrappy’s”, an avenue to share my creations with others. And then a dear friend asked for a workshop on creativity. That I have not developed as I don’t think it’s my time yet…and how does it get better than Julia Cameron’s work ~ she has laid this path in The Artist’s Way and The Right to Write. But I am happy to share what I have learned through my own process:
~ Simplify….shed items, tasks, activities, and commitments that do not add value to your life; this goes for your mind as well…whatever you can get rid of that has negative energy, fear, overwhelm and stress needs to be released to make room for daydreaming
~ Define creativity for yourself ~ creative expression isn’t just found at the MOMA; creating comes from parenting, food preparation and presentation, household organization, crafting, sewing, writing and coloring pages! I have a writing prompt in my e-guidebook May Queen Musings that might be useful here:
May Queen Musing #3
Write about what in your life you have given birth to, what have you created (children, art, crafts, hobbies, projects, businesses, homes etc.)?
~ Forget perfection and embrace your mistakes…they often take you on a path intended for you
~ Julia Cameron suggests “Artist Dates”…spend time alone in the world, taking it all in…nature, coffee shops, art stores, craft stores, libraries and the list goes on
~ Learn the art of mindfulness, the ability to be in this moment without looking back or forward and find the joy in those moments
~ Play ~ fly kites, stare at the sky, blow bubbles, by your own crayola set, doodle, walk barefoot in the grass, swing at the park
~ Laugh often and enjoy whimsy
~ Just jump in…I find that the more I create, I become more creative…as far as the “how to”, there are tons of blogs and websites full of tutorials and I use writing prompts as “creativity prompts” so the end result instead of a written piece may be an art journal page, an Artist Trading Card or a canvas
~ Finally, for me, I have to give thanks for every blessing and any gifts that God may have allowed to flow through me for the day
Celebrate the Creative Journey:)
