Your Creative Joy

As you will know if you follow this blog closely (and if you do, I thank you!), on a Wednesday I answer a journal prompt from Jamie Ridler of Jamie Ridler Studios. I also listen to Jamie’s weekly podcast on creative living. Jamie is my favourite resource for awakening creativity, and since I came across her site sometime last year, I have steadily been letting out the reins on my own creativity.

I’ve been blogging for years now, so I’m quite happy with the written word as a creative pursuit, but other avenues have been pretty much closed as “I’m no good at” them. Jamie is helping me to remember that it’s not about getting it right, but about expressing your creativity and having fun with it. Many of us were shut down as kids when we tried something and someone else said it was rubbish. So we stopped doing it, even though we had fun. What a shame. Not only that we stopped having fun, but that we bottled up our creativity.

Many people believe they are not creative at all in any way, which I think is just bullshit. Everyone has a spark of creativity in them. Maybe you can’t paint like Picasso, or make music like Mozart, or write like William Shakespeare – but you can be creative in your own way. And I bet that there is some creativity in you that is crying out to be expressed. Expressing creativity is not about creating a masterpiece, it’s just about allowing your creative energy a chance to come out, to dance, to be joyously allowed.

Allowing your creativity a space to be expressed has several benefits. Firstly it’s FUN – remember that thing you used to do as a kid, just because it was fun? When did ‘because it’s fun’ stop being a good reason to do something in your life? Remind yourself of the joy of living by doing something JUST because it’s fun! Secondly, when you start to allow your creative energy to express, it gets stronger and you become MORE creative. And creativity is useful not just for finger painting or making pottery, but in business and in life – the more creative you are, the more easily you will find solutions for any problems you come across.

Thirdly, letting your creativity out makes you feel better – you feel less ‘stoppered up’ and choked, and you feel more free. Fourth, your creativity is part of YOU. Keeping it bottled up means that you are not fully being yourself. Letting it out allows you to be more of you. I’m not saying you have to have an art exhibition or do a music tour or make craftwork your new job. But maybe you want to think about the creative things you loved to do as a child and start doing them again. Not to ‘create art’ but just to express your creativity, have some fun, become more creative, feel good and be yourself.

I am all about creating a life you love, and creativity is a HUGE part of that. And there are so many creative endeavours that I am sure you can find something that captures your attention. Painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, crocheting, writing, sculpture, collage, photography, graphic design, pottery, jewelry-making, singing, dancing, playing an instrument, writing a song, acting… the list could go on for hours. By the way, do not make this hard for yourself. Don’t decide that you can’t do something because you don’t have the right equipment – be creative and do what you can with what you already have.

Leave me a comment and let me know what creative endeavour you’re going to try this week.

Love

Donna.x