Express Yourself

We used to be artistic.

We used to paint, dance, journal, draw, play music, photograph, write.

Now we just look for creative ways to balance the demands of our busy lives, to prevent a toddler's meltdown, or magically pull dinner out of a hat after a hectic day. We create moments of artistry on the fly by wordsmithing the Winsmith proposal 'til it's a thing of beauty. Or we rearrange plantings to perfect the perennial bed.

flickr by Amy2008

Such ran the conversation with a group of parent friends.

And there's nothing wrong with any of it. Your priorities and resources shift with the seasons. When you're sleep-deprived with an infant or coping with the long term disability of your child, you don't get much 'me time,' much less consciously think about creative expression.

But for the rest of us whose situations are busy but not quite so intense, it's a bit of a shame when creativity falls by the wayside. Perhaps creating [whatever we are called to create] should be as much part of our daily routines as exercising, eating, or brushing teeth.

Creating something new or beautiful feels good.

It lifts your mood.

It generates energy, opens you to possibilities, makes you feel vibrant, vital, and alive, spawns additional ideas and project possibilities. Just like physical exercise, you build your creativity muscles and the effort fuels the rest of your life, so that you more effective in other areas of your life. For example, interspersing creative moments during your workday may make other more mundane tasks feel less of a chore. If nothing else, it gives you something to look forward to, e.g. 'after I correct these infernal invoices, I'll spend 15 minutes on my blog.'

So get out those oil paints, tune up the piano, sign up for dance class, and write that poem. Do what you used to do. Or try something new. Either way, the rewards can spill over to enrich the rest of your life with renewed passion and energy.