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IN THIS ISSUE
Creative self-nurture
is a generous act
Blog posts you may
have missed
Cool links to stimulate
your brain
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WHAT'S COMING ?
Podcasts, e-guides and
other great content
More tips and tools
More cool links!!
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Big love
Creativity is fueled by nurturing the soul
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Although Valentine's Day was celebrated earlier this month, that's not (or shouldn't be) the end of celebrating love, or pondering its impact upon the creative process. Love and creativity have much in common - I've frequently compared the creation of exciting creative projects to a healthy loving relationship. And no less of an artist than actress Katharine Hepburn had this to say about love, which could easily also be said about creativity:
“Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only what you are expecting to give — which is everything. What you will receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and cannot help giving.”
This month's feature discusses how self-nurture, that most basic of loving behaviors, can facilitate creativity. Not only can nurturing yourself as a creative person produce more and better work, it can also help you feel better about yourself in the process.
This month's subscriber extra: Take the Creative Liberation survey. Please help me improve the newsletter by sharing a little bit about yourself and what your needs are as an artist and innovator. Thanks!
—Liz Massey
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Taking care of #1
Creative self-nurture is a generous act
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This month, we celebrated Valentine's Day, which despite its historical roots, has become almost entirely focused on romantic love. As awesome as a good couple relationship is, all the other forms of love are just as valid, not to mention important for a healthy emotional life.
When it comes to creativity, charity starts at home - self-nurture is the foundation of a creative life that has the potential to nourish others. It's as simple as the Golden Rule: it is hard to nurture anyone else if you aren't taking time to take care of yourself.
Author Julia Cameron popularized one type of creative self-nurture in "The Artist's Way" with her suggestion to have an artist date with oneself once a week. It's a great idea, but self-nurture designed to keep the creative momentum flowing needs more frequent care, just as daily acts of kindness toward your spouse augment "date night."
What can you do to step up your creative self-nurture to the next level? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Find a teacher to study with in your discipline.
- Block out time in your calendar to explore your creative medium.
- Design your schedule around your creative activities, rather than the reverse.
- Buy yourself quality supplies – guitar strings, trumpet valve oil, paints, colored pencils –
- whatever you need to do it right.
- Give your creativity direction with artist dates, creatively oriented road trip adventures, or worthy projects.
- Integrate friends and family into your projects - on their terms, of course.
- Set flexible, compelling goals for your creativity that pull you forward.
- Celebrate creative milestones, even little ones like finishing a challenging piece of work.
- Share your work with those who believe in your work and love you unconditionally.
- Appreciate and support the creativity of others - it builds reciprocity and community.
- Take time to “fill the well,” as Cameron says, and cross-pollinate your imagination with stimulating images, stories and ideas.
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Post haste
Recent posts to Creative Liberty blog you may have missed
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This post kicks off a new series that dissects how and why great creative ideas are born. The first quality examined is vision - both the ability to see fine details that other people miss and the ability to see the big picture behind a situation.
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Cross-pollination
Cool links to stimulate your brain
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Fast Company publishes its annual guide to the businesses that matter most - the ones whose innovations are having an impact across their industries and our culture.
Lifehack contributor Janice Mansfield presents a stimulating discussion of permaculture principles, which are aimed at developing a more sustainable means of food production, and how they apply to improving one’s individual productivity.
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The other stuff ...
Creative Liberation, Vol. 3, No. 8, February 2012, All Rights Reserved.
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