“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso
Stepping away from the daily rigmarole of endless to-do lists and obligatory tasks in order to be imaginative is super important for all creative souls. As we become enmeshed with the daily demands that life throws us, we somehow slowly lose sense of our higher self. It’s almost as if the throes of responsibility becomes a sheath that impedes creativity itself. The very thing that obstructs our inner muse becomes yet another excuse to avoid that empty canvas. Like a tiny drop of water, one excuse drips onto another until all of a sudden we don’t recognize that the bucket is overflowing with obstructions.
It’s easy to identify our barriers but how do we get beyond these hurdles that impede our creativity? How do we return back to the drawing board and unearth our spark of imagination? Finding that balance between serving the inner need for artistic expression while adulting can be a serious challenge. For me that commitment has to be renewed daily. I need to write down my date with the art supplies in order to remind myself about the importance of artistic expression. I find that once I make the time to sit in my art studio a sense of great relief and happiness unfolds. By building a daily ritual I allow myself the space to reach into that headspace where magic can happen. All of a sudden, I don’t worry about productivity or quality of my work because my focus is set on my time with myself.
Even more surprising is that freedom that comes from our time creating. It’s not that the responsibilities go away, but the reprieve from them can be so rejuvenating that getting all of those things done now happens in half the time. Suddenly all those endless lists, the thought of which were depleting our energy, become a snap. No matter how you might find it, all of us need space in our lives to step away from the mundane to feed our inner muse. What is your story?