Nurturing the Creative Spark

"One day a student of Zen asked his Master, "What is the most difficult part of painting?" His Master said: "The part of the paper where nothing is painted is the most difficult."

I love this quote because it shines light on an interesting way of looking at the dilemma we face when starting something new, or searching for a creative idea to solve a problem, or perhaps a new art project that we want to create. Some people think that Artists are constantly punching out ideas like a machine. That is not always true. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I felt a huge letdown when I finished a project that took over six months to complete. There was a daily flow of energy moving into the project, but once it was completed it was done! I was staring at an empty page every day. Creative ideas do not always come to you by turning the handle of a faucet, they are often generated out of a sense of well being and by taking time to recharge your creative batteries. Creative ideas can also come to you as the solution to a problem, or a trauma that you may have suffered. Through the process of writing a poem, creating a sculpture, painting a picture or your kitchen, you heal your own pain and thus end the suffering. Not that pain and suffering is the way to creativity, but it is often true that creative people are people who have had difficult challenges in their lives to overcome and found through becoming masterful at creating things, they remained whole.

Many years ago I read a fantastic book "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron
http://www.theartistsway.com/. She points out many of the ways that Artists often block their own success and sabotage their creativity and offers suggestions for helping to regenerate it. Sometimes all it takes is a day by yourself reconnecting to nature, by walking on the beach, or just finding a quiet spot to
meditate in, and just drown out all the voices in your head. Or maybe poking around in an interesting antique store or a great hardware store is your way to discover something to spark your interest, or spend a few quiet hours in the library going through books.

Whatever approach works for you, the key is to do something radically different from your normal routine, preferably something quiet and by yourself. For as much as we love our family and friends, they can sometimes be our worst enemies when it comes to our creative life. Out of love and a sense of responsibility, we are often so committed to our families that we sometimes leave ourselves and especially our creative project, for last. Many times, in the midst of a very difficult, project I would stop and just leave the project to attend to someones needs. To get around that I developed the ability to work many late hours, into the night, alone with only the radio for company, so that I would not disrupt the "flow" of creativity. Often I would suffer for it the next day, but maybe that is why so many Artists have that disheveled "lack of sleep" look!

But seriously, being a free-spirited, creative individual, as I said before, takes a lifetime commitment and dedication to allowing, respecting and nurturing your artistic dreams, whatever it is that you want to achieve. By shutting it down for everyone and everything that comes along, we ultimately diminish ourselves. Not only that, the world doesn't get to have what we have been given to share--our gift of creativity, whatever it is....music, painting, writing, poetry, sculpting, dance or any of a hundred thousand creative gifts.

Think of what our world would be like if Beethoven, in the midst of any of his famous Symphonies had stopped to take care of the children (he had 12?)....No doubt many famous artists were single most of their lives, along with famous writers, athletes, musicians and anyone who has made huge contributions to the world of art or they had spouses who totally believed in and supported their creative gifts as well. No doubt, it is a selfish life, that of an Artist, if you want to achieve your dreams.

It is not always possible to find balance when you are in the creative flow. It is an energy force that takes over your life, at times, consuming your entire days and nights. The laundry may pile up, the house may not get cleaned, and dishes may pile up in the sink, beds will go unmade for weeks and yet you keep working on your "project"...until it is finished. Then you can catch up, until the next wave of creativity flows over you and you are back to the drawing board again, facing another blank piece of paper.