The Cycle of Creativity
After months and months of slowing down inevitably because of the pandemic, but also consciously to repair and take care of myself, I feel ready to be creative again, to come out in the world and share my process.
I feel like a bear that is slowly coming out of the cave after months of hibernation.
Now I say I feel creative again, but it would be more precise to say that hibernation is also part of the creative process. It is necessary. It is when we allow this cycle of creativity to take place naturally, that we connect more to a process of flow.
In our world where we are so used to always push, achieve, move forwards, pick up ourselves, toughen up, keep going; where we measure our success from what we have achieved, how many objects we have accumulated and so on, we are pressured to be constantly in a creative process. A creative process in the sense of always being at our most productive, being efficient and useful. However, when we constantly are in this kind of creating mode, it can well lead us to exhaustion, burn out.
The cycle of creativity, very much like the cycle of life or the cycle of a day; the sun is rising waking up life and activity, a brief slowing down to nourish and replenish our energy, a burst of some more activity, before we slow down again for a bit longer this time allowing sleep to come and fully heal and reenergise our bodies. In the creative process, we have the waking up of an idea, an inspired thought that lead us to some creation, brief breaks in between to refine, edit whatever it is that we are creating, another burst of activity and the release of our creation to the world, before we slow down to retreat, rest, replenish. And so, another cycle is ready to start…
Now what I experienced in this current landscape was shame and even guilt, wanting to go back to the creation part of the cycle. I spent a couple more months, holding myself back, as if I will be insensitive if I allow the natural flow to come back in my life. It feels weird, nearly like a rebellion to reconnect to my creative self that wants to birth new ideas and create new projects, when the storm hasn't passed yet.
But then it occurred to me, that I am not honouring myself, my life or others, when I deprive myself of my creative juices and the positive reverberation this can have to the world.
When we stay in limbo, waiting for things outside of us to get better, life just trickles away from our hands.
It is a necessity to connect to our creativity if we are to fully inhabit ourselves. And it is imperative to share this with other people, as it is in this sharing that we create community and our hearts open wide to receive. Receive the gratitude and beauty of this very sharing.
This quote has been my guide: "Find out who you are and do it on purpose" – John O’Donohue.
Aligning my creative process to who I am. It is in this process of alignment that creativity cannot be held back anymore, it overflows from the love to one’s self, the love for life that always moves forwards, even when we slow down. Actually, more so when we slow down, because in the slowing down lies the acceptance of the natural flow. But hey, slowing down deserves its own blog.
So which part of the creative process are you in at the moment?
Are you feeling you are in limbo in the middle of this crisis? Are you resisting it? Are you able to surrender? Are there creations that are awaiting for you to come out of the cave? Are you in need of hibernation?
Wherever you are on the cycle
Recognise it – Accept it – Surrender to it and Repeat.