Day 012 of 100 | Creativity is an embodied experience
#100DaysofWonder | What does creative momentum feel like in your body?
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PROMPT | DAY 012
What does creative momentum feel like in your body?
MY REFLECTION:
When I think of creative momentum, I think of creativity as an embodied experience. Sometimes “creative” gets paired with “thinking,” and it is easy for creativity to be considered an abstract mental concept when creative momentum lives just as much in our muscles and our movement.
Embodied creative practice grounds momentum in our presence and our practice rather than just our outcomes.
If creativity remains intellectual, momentum can feel tied to visible results: finished pieces and published posts.
But when creativity is embodied in our practice, momentum can be felt in the middle of the process before anything else is complete.
There’s a moment for me that sometimes comes when writing feels like flying. Like I’m standing on the edge of a coastal cliff at sunrise with my arms held wide enough to hug the sun. It used to come more frequently before my brain injury, but slowly I’m finding it again.
This is the kind of momentum that is magnetic and sacred and brimming with joy.
And embodied creativity builds a reservoir of resilience and tolerance for the times that aren’t comfortable. For the moments when language feels more like quicksand and writing like sinking. The awkward early drafts. The glare of the empty page. The anxiety of wondering if the right words can be found in the fog.
The more my creativity is approached as an embodied experience, the doorways I have for inspiration, and that can make all the difference in the world.
Share your thoughts in the comments. How do you experience creative momentum? What are tiny actions you can take to set yourself up for finding momentum again when things feel stuck?
All my love,
March 7
Describe the Energy of a fresh creative beginning…
I have stopped creating new cards and this is what came to me…
Like a succession of taps on my shoulder..
Orders for my Andi’s People cards
Dribble in
Three cross country skier orders
In a row then
Musician birthday cards
My piano man
Still a personal favorite
And today the Sax Guy
It’s like a a request from the universe…
In Florida sunshine
Away from Winter’s last blast
I discover
A watercolor class
At a local art center…
What a gift to be among
Warm, friendly artists
And in the midst of strawberry
Season
Paint strawberries
And of course
Then the pursuit of
Strawberry shortcake…
And amid trembling
In the world
I desperately seek
Peace in my heart
Big enough to share
I sit gazing at the vast ocean
Seeming to surround me
And feel untouched
And touched
At the same time
In my own way
Affected by world unrest
And all that tugs
At my heart
And people ask me
To send Andi’s people cards
And I do
And maybe
They bring a smile
To not just me…
And we begin
To drop one grain of sand
In our deep bucket
Of hope.