Creativity as a Sacred Act
“Creativity adds to life. So how each day are you adding to life?" -Jai Dev Singh
Loves,
I don't often write about my personal creative practice, or the external practices in which I teach. Perhaps because I am not an art teacher. Yes, you heard me, I don't consider myself an art teacher, I consider myself a spiritual teacher who uses art as one of her sacred tools, and the act of committing art a sacred act. For me, and for the work I do, art is ritual, life is ritual, and all of it is a sacred experiment. My mentor recently told me that what I do could be called the Contemplative Arts.....she is brilliant. Everything I do, everything I teach, the tools that I use and the communities I create are all designed to give us access to what is going on inside of us, contemplate it, get curious, and shift what needs shifting. It is a way to get out of our default settings, patterns, and
Get Out Of Our Own Way
“Staying on default settings is a major gamble. And it's gambling with the most precious thing you have got, your happiness. Don’t gamble with your happiness. The remedy is creativity. Where is your inspiration drawing you right now? Make it simple. Do little things to add to life. "-Jai Dev Singh
Creativity for me is a way to slow down and see where I am stuck in my default settings and patterns because creativity is what is called a "pattern interrupt or disrupt". Anything that we do in a creative way, in an experimental and curious way, disrupts the patterns in our brains, the constant worry, the inner mean voices, the lack of motivation or inspiration. By taking a simple creative act, even when I don't feel like it, opens up the door to possibility and brings in inspiration, ideas, wisdom, and connection to my Inner Knowing. This could be as simple as grabbing two markers in each hand, breathing and scribbling, while contemplating and watching my own thoughts. Or sometimes asking a specific question. I can also create this same state chopping vegetables if I am doing intentionally, mindfully, and as a ritual. That's how simple doing a creative act can.
I know many of my beloveds don't take the time to create because you think it takes too much time, or because there has to be an outcome, a finished project or:
Oh my God what if it's ugly?
Do you have any idea how much "bad" art and how many unfinished pieces and projects I have? Who cares? Thank Goddess I don't let that stop me from making things. I can't imagine how dull my life would be, and how much heart wisdom I would not have heard if I let those things stop me. Sometimes I start an experiment and when I have received what is needed from it(either spiritually or artistically), I move on. But those pieces are often just a background for something else; something new; a new inquiry into my soul. Nothing is wasted. Not time, paint, or paper.
Every time I touch pen to paper or paint to canvas it is a ritual, a sacred act, a calling in of my Divine, and a stepping out of my sometimes over-active mind. It is a way for me to gather the bones and sing over them, getting the information that is all-important. Soul information. This ritual is a practice and my meditation, and it heals. I promise. Creativity is a sacred tool, one of many in the wisdom tool chest.
So for this week I invite you to unpack your sacred tool chest, grab your most sacred tool, and begin to create, whatever that means for you. Just do it is a sacred act, a ritual, let go of the need for outcome, and just disrupt.
Love and Light,
Dina