Stay Local to Your Creativity
Photo credit: swap.com | @swapconsignment
I saw this yesterday on my Instagram feed, but I first read it as 'Stay local...' but that seemed equally applicable and important. It feels more encompassing. First of all, creativity is in all of us. I hate when people say "I don't have a creative bone in my body." You do! You just haven't identified it yet, and it may surprise you with what it turns out to be. It does not matter in the slightest if you think you have no rhythm, can't sing, can't act, can't draw or paint, can't sew (or saw), are not a wordsmith, can't play an instrument, etc etc. Creativity goes so far above and beyond the stereotypical ideas of being a dancer, singer, artist, designer, writer, or musician.
By definition, it is the use of the imagination or original ideas. That can apply to something as fundamental and familiar as your job. Are there ways you could approach things differently? Could you suggest a change in methodology or protocol? For those people feeling jipped on the creative gene... A) You're wrong and 2) Start small, or rather start locally and try looking at everything in your life from a completely foreign perspective and see what comes up. Maybe you revolutionize your workplace. Maybe you discover a passion for cooking and invent new recipes. Maybe you do a spring clean and rearrange your furniture realizing you have an eye for design/placement. Maybe you are an organizational nerd and find new uses for old things infusing a bit more fun in keeping track of your stuff.
Now, for those of us who have a fairly steady el fuego de creativo burning we must consistently feed to avoid the cold dead feeling when it's neglected and goes out. Or is that just my over dramatization? ... my love of fire? Either way, for us arty farty types I believe it plays a critical role with how (well) we engage with the world and our general joie de vivre. But again, mayhaps that's just me. I've noticed a collective unconscious trend among my friends of staying loyal to their creativity in more local ways. For example, an exceptional professional photographer I know in L.A, Rachel Lee Stroud, has the sweetest and earnest passion for plants and has started sharing that and teaching others how to plant-parent. My magical friend and Rolf practitioner here in Savannah, Dawn Tanis, attends somatic movement dance classes to have a deeper understanding of her body and her work. She has even started channeling the coolest 3D anatomical collages. And one of my closest friends in California, who owns her own insurance business, unveils the most astounding wings, breathing life into entities within (Bryana Tepper Art) the melaleuca bark she finds in her area.
One a personal note, most of you know me as having been a dancer, a poet, or maker of weirdo collage art. All of those things still exist on some level, some more than others. In the last couple months though, I've been inspired in other directions, more local to my life here in Savannah and to this time in my life. I'm enjoying a time of peace, joy, partnership, love, gratitude, and simplicity.
So for example, I love trees. Like a lot. Like I have no problem walking straight up to one and hugging the shit out of it... with its permission of course. And I cherish meditation using mantras. Thus I've begun making mala beads out of acorns.
I've also recently dug out of my art box some shells I found eight years ago and have been toting around with me in and out of the country ever since. These shells and the way the ocean has worn/shaped them mirrors the strength and divine femininity I've discovered in my late 30's. (Funny how it's taken me till now, till this place in my life before I was "ready" to work with them.) Out came my Dremel tool as well, and I'm in the process of converting them into pendants and rings. While these endeavors are both close to my heart and home space, I'm also expanding my creativity. I've never made jewelry or any sort of intricate crafts. But what the hell right?
I don't see staying local as staying small or only sticking to what you know.... not. at. all. I see it as staying true to yourself.... to the things that make you YOU.... to the things that make you smile.... to the stages in your life. It's with that intention that your creativity will grow with you and stretch you creating both internal evolution and external revolution....because it is a gift. The world needs exactly what only you create (with love of course.) Let me say that again so you don't miss it: Internal evolution = external revolution so evolve through love.
Soooooo actually, I prefer my version.....
"Stay loyal and local to your creativity because it's a gift."
XOXOXO
"Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn
then always be a unicorn!"
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