Rediscovering Creativity

Greetings in the New Year! Hope the holiday season brought some joy into your life. My husband and I had a much needed vacation with a meandering road trip across the country and a delightful visit with family.  We are finally back at home, settling once again into the winter weather with a good bit of snow on the ground. That's fine with me, as I have work to do in the studio and a whole parcel of new books to read!

The drawings above represent the transition to the new year. The one on the left is the daily drawing for December 31, 2015 (now dipped in the beeswax) and the one on the right is the first drawing for 2016. The practice of the daily drawings continues. I find it a delightful exercise and a source of surprise and wonder as the drawing emerges each day.

I am not a big one for new year's resolutions, per se, but that doesn't mean I don't think about changes I'd like to make in the coming year. I like to think in terms of recommitments and reconnections with the things I value that I've let slip by the wayside in the turmoil of life. If I call them resolutions, I already feel doomed to drop them. 

I am reconnecting with my trust in the body. I've said numerous times here on this blog, how I think through my hands when in the studio, which means that the best work comes from the flow that happens when I am in the moment. I am out of my head (only) and experiencing the moment through the body. In saying that, it still sounds as if I make a distinction between the mind and the body, which I don't think really exists....the mind/head is just a part of the larger whole. 

If I want to do my best work and live the fullest life I can, I must honor my body. The author Barnet Bain speaks of this in the book I am currently reading, The Book of Doing and Being.

Here are a couple of quotes that resonated with me:

"One of the greatest secrets to living a creatively vibrant life is to recognize that your feelings occur in the body and not in the head."

"Not only do our feelings occur in the body and not in the head, but creativity itself is born in the body. In other words, the body is the home of our creativity."

I think that we forget that we experience the world through our senses and thus our body. So it should not be a great surprise that the expression of our experiences, which is the essence of our creativity, would most fully come into the world through our body. For me, it is most keenly felt through my hands. 

Often though, I feel disconnected from the rest of my body. I become lazy and would sometimes rather nap than take a brisk walk or do yoga. But, I want to be in touch in a more vibrant way with my creative life, so I must commit to moving my body in new ways....for my health and to invigorate the creative life I want to live. I just finished a short session of yoga....rather than that nap I wanted on a gray, wintery afternoon. So glad I made the decision. 

I was also pleased to see another truth I hold dear quoted on the back cover of The Book of Doing and Being. "Your whole life is a creative act." Amen!!! We are creative beings and each play a part in the dance of life.

Hope you have an inspiring and creative year!