Seven Steps to a Daily Creative Practice

Seven Steps to a Daily Creative Practice

I talk a lot about creative activities and things that you can do to improve your creative self but I want to talk to you about creating a daily creative practice. I advocate a lot that your creative time spent does not need to be more than ten minutes in a day. But how does one create a daily practice? Here are the steps to developing a ten minute daily creative practice.

  1. Set a specific time that you can be creative each day. It works best if it can be at the same time every day, however, I know life comes up so make an effort to put the time in your calendar each day so that you know for those ten minutes you are occupied with being creative. Think of being creative as part of the work of your soul. Your being needs creativity to thrive. Otherwise, unused it festers into something else. Making time for it is of the first importance.
  2. Make room for it. When I began making pendants all I had was a tv tray in the living room where I would work on creative stuff while everyone around me was watching television or playing games. I didn’t have space to myself but I had a space that was mine. If you are lucky enough, and your kids are back in school or all grown up, then you get to have some space to yourself. But create some room for being creative. This is the second most important part because if you don’t have somewhere to be creative, you won’t do it.
  3. If you don’t know where to start, start anywhere. Unsure if you want to paint or write or uncertain what you like creatively? Look at what you are drawn to. If there are several things, try one thing at a time. Maybe one day your journal for ten minutes, then you try a poem the next day but the day after you watercolor paint or play with clay. Eventually you will find what it is that calls you. If you don’t like it, then you have only spent ten minutes and you can try again the next day. Think of it a a sort of spiritual playtime to connect with your creative self.
  4. Begin. Make a commitment to start your practice on a certain day and commit to say seven days in a row. Then commit to two weeks in a row and so on. The new research shows that it takes an average of sixty-six days to form a new habit. Build it a couple of weeks at a time and by the time three months have gone by, you have created your new daily practice.
  5. Continue committing and recommitting. I have learned this through my new exercise routines as life comes up and trips and other events get in the way. Don’t beat yourself up over it, just recommit to starting over and keep going. It isn’t the end of the world. Life isn’t going to always stop for us plus we need vacations and outings with friends or have family dinners. Do the best you can to make the time sacred and commit to it but allow yourself to be flexible and not rigid. There have been times where I skipped my creative practice for meeting with a friend and was more inspired through that meeting that I came home and did creative work anyways.
  6. Try new things. The problem some people have is that they get bored doing the same thing every day…some people thrive on the routine. Don’t change the commitment. Change the activity. Scour Pinterest for new ideas. Read craft blogs or DIY blogs or writing blogs for other ideas. Even here I list prompts every Thursday as well as ten minute projects on Tuesdays. You don’t have to do the same thing every day.
  7. Just do it! That’s it. Show up every day and be creative. Allow  yourself at least ten minutes. You might find yourself expanding to fifteen or thirty over time depending on what you are working on. Ten minutes to just to open that window and let some light in on the creative soul. It doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Grow from it. It will feel great to move into your creative self more often. Your soul needs it.

There you have seven steps to creating a daily creative practice. Do you already have a daily practice? What does it look like? If you don’t, what would you like it to look like? Feel free to answer in the comments or on the Facebook page. Happy creating!

Ten Minute Tuesday: Talking to Your Critic

Ten Minute Tuesday: Talking to Your Critic

We all have at least one in our head. One critic that doesn’t shut up. He or She is the critic in the stands that Brene’ Brown often refers too. They aren’t supposed to matter because they do not get down in the arena with you. They don’t wrestle with the world and come up dirty. This critic tries to stay above it all. Always criticizing  but never trying. Since this is National Letter Writing month  let’s write  a letter to this critic, Tell this critic what you think of them. See who they are clearly in your mind. Man or woman? Insolent child? Think of this letter as standing up and addressing them directly. If they are a critic that is not willing to get down in the mire with you, do you fire them? Send them on vacation for a while? What do you want to say? I once wrote a letter to this critic firing them. He was a cranky old man in my head. One who was never happy with anything at all. It didn’t matter how good something was, HE did not like it. So I fired him. Now, I will warn you, since firing him, he does not come around as often, though a couple of new ones took his place. But everyone once in a while the cranky old man slips past my defenses and into my head once again like an employee who never gets the hint that he is doing terrible at his job. So I have to fire him again. Here is my letter to the critic in my head and how I fired him.

Dear Critic in the Stands,
I’m letting you go.
I’m saying good-bye to your harsh tones and your sandpaper words
that scrape away
the soft parts of my heart.
I’m turning away from you,
and
Leaving you standing with your arms crossed and
frown lines on your face
while tapping your foot.
This relationship is not working for me.
I do not enjoy having you shred my skin away,
expose the broken bones beneath
while you are up in the stands, keeping your hands clean
and your bones safe.
I have made my list of the ones who matter,
tucked it in my pocket… the loved ones who get down in the mud with me.
So, I will tell you again.
I’m letting you go.
I’m saying good-bye.
Please leave the arena now,
you are fired.
Sincerely,
Susan

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