Finding Your Rhythm

Last night in calligraphy class, our teacher asked us about our homework. She asked how it went and if anyone found their rhythm. I did and I was glad to have it acknowledged and understood.

The art of creating is a process, it is a mindset and it is a physical task. There are different levels or energy required for the different aspects of creating. There is the mental energy exerted to take an idea from your brain to paper, moving the idea that sparks a thought to an idea that can actually be executed by your skills. Sometimes this energy is the hardest to get flowing. It can happen in the oddest of situations or in baffling circumstances. And then there are times when we want an idea, we want to be inspired and nothing happens. The grocery list comes to mind, or the to do list hanging on the refrigerator, the laundry sitting in the basket or the bills to be paid…but nothing inspiring or creative emerges from our brains. We feel frustrated and wonder if we will ever feel creative again. Then driving down the street or sitting in a meeting that creative thought comes fleeting through our heads – Shazam! I always try to write down my inspiring thoughts so I don’t forget them. It is a terrible thing to have had a GREAT idea, only to lose it in the weeds of our brains. Inspiration comes to all of us in unique ways; it is then transforming that inspiration into a physical work of art that can be the great mental challenge.

There is then the physical work of creating. The skill, working with the tools and handling the objects or supplies needed to create the creation. Taking what may be a simple piece of paper or ink or paint of wood and converting it into an entirely new creation.  Making our minds, hands, skills and tools work as a team to convert the inspiration into a work of art. It takes time and energy and commitment to continue to mold and transform things into the final work. Sometimes it takes making big mistakes, ruining valuable resources, wasting supplies and or time in order to move from the initial thought to a final product. Being willing to fail is key to change, being willing to move past the failure in order to reveal the inspiration to others is liberating.

All of this is a process. For each artist that process takes on different forms, levels and time commitments. For some it starts early in the morning and some very late at night. For some it only takes place after they have already put in a full day of work at home or in the office, or even both! For some it means painstakingly crafting and designing a rough draft, for others everything is done on the fly in one grand creative burst. Sometimes it happens in the studio or the classroom or even in the driveway. The challenge is to stay committed to the inspiration in order to bring it to life via the process of creating. It means finding your rhythm for your process. It may take days, weeks or months of trial and error to figure out your rhythm, and yet it is the first step in the creative process. Acknowledge that you have a way that you create and allow yourself the freedom and autonomy to create. Find your rhythm and then allow your ideas and creativity to thrive within your rhythm. Once you find it you will know when you are in or not in the rhythm, and your best works will develop when you give into the rhythm and stop thinking about being right or wrong. Picasso once said, “To live the creative life, we must first lose our fear of being wrong.”

So I encourage you to take the time to find your rhythm of creating and then do just that – create. Even if no one will ever see it, you will be better for having given yourself, your skill and your dreams over to the rhythm of the creative process.