“Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” — Pablo Picasso
Many years ago I read Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. Two of her tips were key to starting my career as an author and writer. The first is to take yourself on an artist’s date. The second is to write “Morning Pages” every day. Cameron believes we all have a creative side. However, to flourish and blossom, you need to nurture that creativity. Her suggestion is to take yourself on a weekly artist’s date to foster creativity. By engaging your creative brain, you start to awaken a different side of yourself. This applies whether you are an actual artist (i.e., painter, sculptor) or are a writer or a business person who wants to come up with creative and novel solutions.
You can do any number of activities to spark your creative nature. For example, why not play with some Play-Doh, go for a walk in nature, or go to a museum? Alternatively, you can go to a concert or play, plant flowers or herbs, or walk through a botanical garden. They key is to do anything that can inspire or uplift you. I find that being in nature calms and grounds me. It’s a good place to start; as Cicero said, “To the relaxed mind ideas flow like lightening.”
Cameron says that even ambitious business people can benefit immensely by bringing more creativity to work. Perhaps you come up with a solution to a problem while you are pulling weeds in the garden or while on your lunch break strolling through a park. Sometimes it is easier to solve a problem by letting your subconscious get to work while you relax and focus on something completely different.
My best writing occurs when I’m treating myself to an artist’s date, as well as doing daily “morning pages” in my journal. Cameron recommends journaling at least three pages a day. Sometimes my journal entries turn into blogs.
In my shopaholic NYC days, I started taking a pottery class. So, instead of spending my weekends shopping, I’d spend hours with my hands in clay in front of a wheel. Not only was pottery a great replacement for shopping, but also it was calming and grounding as I connected to the earth. It also forced me to focus and center myself. It is impossible to center a lump of clay on a wheel unless you are also centered. A distracted mind shows up as a very wobbly pot! Pottery was the perfect antidote to the stress and adrenaline of living in a big, bustling city.
What if a desire to consume is masking a deeper desire to create? Not only did I spend less simply because I had less time to shop, but also I left the studio feeling deeply content and satisfied regardless of how well my pots actually turned out. This is what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow, would call a “high flow” activity. Many people have the need to work with their hands, to produce something tangible and real, but are in jobs that have nothing to show for their efforts other than some documents online. If you work all day and feel as though you haven’t accomplished anything real, then I’d recommend doing more hands-on activities in your spare time to compensate.
The career assessments we use in the Career Change Kit will reveal if you have a need to work with tangible or physical things in order to feel satisfaction at work. And, while I’m perfectly content and happy working in the abstract world of life coaching, I still found great joy in making pots even though I didn’t “need” to. I also loved being in the local choir despite the fact that I have very little natural singing ability. I sat next to a strong singer to stay on key!
If you have any hidden natural abilities, you may find that your satisfaction and joy is even greater once you start incorporating tangible tasks on a regular basis.
See what you are naturally dawn to, follow what piques your interest and experiment to see if it works for you or provides a different sort of energy. You may notice that different activities nurture you in different ways. I found ballroom dancing euphoric while pottery was very grounding, and choir was fun and uplifting. You may need a mix of different hobbies or activities to really feel completely satisfied, depending on your unique abilities and needs.
To learn more about your unique talents and abilities take the Career Change Kit. And go take yourself on an artist’s date today!
