According to Julia Cameron, from the book ‘The Artist Way’, creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy – pure creative energy. Everyone is creative, every living human being. Creativity resides within all of us.
However, sometimes it can be hard to tap into this creativity and feel inspired. It can feel like you’re stuck and, in a place, where creativity doesn’t seem to be flowing to you. I definitely have periods like this, especially when I feel burned out or overwhelmed. It can sometimes be hard for me to pick up my camera or write down my thoughts.
I therefore created a guide with some ideas and practical tips about how to nurture your creativity. And I hope that this guide will help you keep your joy to create burning brightly.
What is in this creativity guide?
One of the things that is closely tight to creativity is play. Esther Perel calls play ‘the infinite testing ground for creativity’. When you play, you explore without it needing to become anything. So before reading this guide, I want to invite you to view creativity as a form of play. Play is a place where you can take risks, connect to yourself and your fantasies, and which is done for your own pleasure.
Within the guide I will explore different topics like curiosity, reflection, slowing down, embracing frustration and the letting go of perfection. I will explain how each of these topics are connected to nurturing our creativity. And each topic comes with a practical assignment. I will share one of these topics with a task below.
Embracing frustration & loss in your creative practice
Life not only gives us beauty, but it can also be hard and give us frustration and loss. I believe that these moments can also really fuel our art and creativity. It was for example the loss of my father in the first place that brought me to family photography and filmmaking. And photographing my journey through a miscarriage also helped me mourn it and helped me to give it a place. It is important to embrace these harder parts of live. They are unavoidable, and above all it will help us grow, also in our creativity.
Nurturing Your Creativity Task: work with limitations
I think having limitations can help us in our creativity. Taking something away or only being allowed to do one thing can help us stretch ourselves.
So, for example in photography just being allowed to use one focal length for the day. Or photographing with analogue and taking away the ability to check your work, or photographing using only one technique etc. If you are a writer, you could only allow yourself to write 600 words. Or to write 5 different stories on the same topic etc. If you love painting then decide to only use the colour blue, or to make something using no brushes.
Giving yourself limitations within your art form can be really beneficial in helping you think out of your own box. Limitations and loss can help you grow as an artist, just as limitations and loss let you grow as a human in life.
Do let me know your thoughts on creativity. I would also love to hear how you nurture yourself and to hear what helps you to keep that creative spark.
Do download the guide through the form below to read more of my ideas on nurturing your creativity.
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