I’ve been reading a wonderful book called The Artist Way Every Day. It is so inspiring! One thing that I found to be really important in the book was that creativity does not have to be perfect.
Our ego will stop us from creating sometimes, it will tell us that what we create has to be perfect, that it should be a reflection of the way we see ourselves…perfect! Our ego can stop us from being creative before we even begin. We will tell ourselves that we have to be in the mood to be creative. Being in the mood is a waste of time, and will often prevent us from those serendipitous moments when we create something that surprises even ourselves. The best thing we can do is just get started and see what happens.
I remember a painting in particular that I started because I loved this turquoise color paint I had. I wanted to make a piece that was all about that color. By the end, the finished product, didn’t have a trace of that color in it. It ended up being yellow and silver with hints of hot pink!
One thing I’ve learned through Yoga is that we evolve through practice. Practice evolves. This same mindset can and should be applied to our creative endeavours. Practice creating out of your element, practice creating when you’re not “in the mood” and practice creating when you’d least likely create. This will give your mind the new perspectives it probably needs to go in a totally new and unexpected direction, and unexpected directions are what we as humanity often call genius.
