Shaping A Slow Creative Habit That You Love
In my work with my creative coaching clients, we often begin in the big questions. What they truly want from their creative life. What their work is really about. What their big dreams and goals are. What’s holding them back.
Step by step, we go through those big questions and draw smaller and smaller circles. With most of my clients we eventually find ourselves here - exploring the daily creative habits. Because when it comes down to it, that’s what both creative projects and life is. A long series of small moments.
I wholeheartedly believe that we should make our daily creative habits as joyful as we can. To figure out what that means for you, I’d like to ask you a couple of questions.
How do you want to feel?
When you sit down (or get up) to create, how do you want to feel? Envision a perfect, joyful creative moment. How are you feeling?
Is it a calm, free feeling? A bright and bubbly one? Cosy, inspired, motivated? I encourage you to take out a piece of paper and write down a couple of words to describe your feelings. It can be surprisingly illuminating.
What makes you feel that way?
When you have an idea about how you want to feel when you create, we can turn our attention to what makes you feel that way. Here’s where you can think about some small acts of slow living you’re fond of. If you for example want to feel calm and cosy, perhaps a scented candle makes you feel that way. Or if you want to feel motivated, maybe a walk and a certain type of music can help you.
If you wrote down how you want to feel, scribble some notes on this as well. Make a list of things that can get you into the right mood and mindset.
When is your best time for creativity?
As often as we can, I think we should lean into our natural energy flow throughout the day. Likely, there are some parts of your days and weeks that is better for creativity. It’s different for everyone, so this is important to explore for yourself. At what time does creative work come easier for you?
If you struggle to answer this question, try flipping it around. When is the worst time? Perhaps you like me feel too tired to create in the evening after a work day. Maybe you always feel fatigued in the afternoon after lunch. Then look at the time slots that are left.
Creating a ritual
Now you have a couple of puzzle pieces that holds great information about what a joyful creative moment might look like for you. It’s then time to put them together in a little ritual.
Try to find a recurring time slot that you can dedicate to you creative habit. This is completely dependent on your lifestyle of course - for some it might be daily, for others an hour a week. Just find one that works for you and your life.
Then look at your list of things that makes you feel the way you want to feel. Are there some things you’d like to incorporate in your slow creative habit? For example, I almost always make myself a cup of tea when I’m getting ready to create. I’ve often taken a walk just before as well, making me feel awake but calm. When I feel like it, I light a scented candle too.
When you’re creating a ritual, it can be helpful to experiment and try out some different ones to see what suits you best.
Protect it fiercely
When you have shaped your slow creative ritual, it’s the act of doing it many times of that makes it a habit. We all know how easy it can be for life to get in the way of creativity, and sometimes that will happen. You know best how much flexibility you want and need in your creative habit. The stronger the habit becomes, the more we can be flexible with it without it disappearing.
But as much as you can, try to fiercely protect your slow creative habit. Love it and nourish it. Doing so will support you like nothing else in your creative projects. Because when we have strong creative habits that we love, we will happily come back to creating again and again.
Save this blog post on Pinterest
