This week is all about enabling creativity, as it's been a central focus for me in recent times. It can often be seen as a way to procrastinate or delay the start of a project, but ensuring that creativity has an opportunity to grow might be the most important part of the process.
The idea is a simple one I've no doubt mentioned in the past. Think of it like there's a big bowl where all of your energy and focus sits. Fill it up with everything that asks for your attention like people, work, eating, sleeping, etc. Stir it all up to represent mess and clutter both literal and metaphysical, then try and find creativity in the muck that you've made.
It's only by separating the elements and even removing some altogether that we can identify disparate items and make room for some to grow. This is why I spend a lot of time focusing on everything that surrounds and inhibits creativity, as it needs to be nurtured and given the space to exist and evolve.
It can be as banal as keeping a clean an tidy workspace, so that the mind is free of distraction when sitting down to work. There's truly something liberating about an uncluttered and tidy space, as it encourages focus. It's hard to be overwhelmed and sporadic when there's little to occupy your attention.
This also works philosophically, as shedding unwanted emotional baggage and unnecessary mental clutter has the same effect. I always run into artists with fierce egos, but that's one of the first things that needs to get out of the way. It's virtually impossible to rid yourself of ego entirely, as we are humans and flawed, but it's good practice to try and navigate around the demands of the ego and minimise its impact. After all, the ego inhibits creativity and many other desirable traits like compassion and humility.
Unfortunately I can't remember where I heard it, but I recall a famous musician talking about how they considered their role as musician. The point was that their job was to learn their instrument to a level of mastery that would allow them to step aside and let inspiration speak for itself. Rather than worrying about how their fingers were placed on their guitar, they wanted it to be second nature so that they could be a vessel for pure creativity.
I remember this sentiment, as I feel like it can be applied to just about anything in life, especially creative pursuits. You may not need to learn how to be a magnificent painter, but you need to learn how to get out of your own way to let the painting be created.
Of course, I'd be the first to say that my technical skills are pretty poor in many different areas, but I'm getting better at removing myself from the equation. I often stop myself from creating something, because I know I'm only keen on the idea because of how other's might see it. A lot of the work I end up producing never gets seen by anyone else, because it's for my own development.
In a lot of ways this blog has been a revealing experiment, as I've shown more work here than anywhere else. Of course it's all silly doodles and very little of it shows any technical accomplishment, but again that's not the purpose. Part of what I love about these doodles is that I have to get out of my way every time I put pen to paper and just go with whatever monstrosity ends up appearing.
All of this to say that creativity isn't something that can be limited to a finite space, whether literally, figuratively, or metaphysically. There's no limit to the space creativity can occupy, so it's often governed by the collage of elements taking up space.
Sometimes the best thing to do is prepare for the perfect conditions. You can't force a seed to turn into a tree, all you can do is provide the best conditions for it to thrive. I hope that I can eventually learn how to consistently get out of my own way to let creativity flood in.