It is a need every morning to start the day with a drawing. Any. Even if I do not have a design in mind. I prepare the structure of a mandala and let it happen.
That takes away the brain fog, sleepiness and thousands of scattered and disordered thoughts and ideas.
It gives me balance and calmness. It is a world and a higher dimension I have to enter, and my whole being requires to in order to be in balance, satisfied within.
The effect can be then seen on the outside with the relationships and with the people around me. If I do not respect this ritual, if I let it slip away and sacrifice it for other important priorities, my whole being become confused, restless, nervous and empty.
Art and in my case, drawing and painting, but also photography, is a healing method to calm the mind, put order to thoughts, focusing on Beauty instead, and you never guess it, to give me the words to write posts and many more ideas.
While I draw or paint it seems that I enter the Land of Wonder where ideas live and receive insights in everything creative I feel like doing, or even about life problems. Without it, it feels like something is missing and I am lost.
The quality of the work is affected by the state of the mind and our surroundings. When you are creative, you become like a transparent foil, where each energy present is reflected out on the paper through any medium you are using. Because what you are really doing is expressing emotions.
Every distraction, noise, conversation, health, and issues, appear together with the original emotion you wanted to express, like those rocks attached to the diamond before it is cleaned and can acquire its real value.
Creativity is the manifestation of an emotion, of an invisible something that is manifested into the visible world, we are channels of that manifestation, like radio transmitters. And as such we pick up all, we become very sensitive and vulnerable to all the frequencies around us, and that is noticeable when we are trying to manifest our diamond. It takes practice, one has to be strong and conscious to discern all that does not belong and disturbs the act of manifestation
I have learned that this is achievable through daily practice with a fixed schedule, being present at the same time every day. It seems incredible but repetition makes you focus on that recognizable frequency, and with the habit, you learn to discard that which is only noise or distortion.
Sometimes our emotions are in turmoil and that is when Music can save us. This is when I put on my earphones and listen to some beautiful music, whichever sound is right in that moment, and then I am in the flow again.
I became aware of this one day when I was coloring a mandala and after I started listening to music, I saw it differently and decided to change colors, making it much more beautiful.
It will take time and practice. Meditation also is an excellent form of training the mind to focus on one thing, even if there is noise outside. You only concentrate on the breathing and with practice, the mind will be less prone to be attracted to outside noise or fly away with thoughts. The same is with creativity, with patience and daily practice, the work will reflect the quality of your ability to concentrate and focusing only on what is important for your creation.
I am at this stage of not being fully satisfied with the quality of my work. I am also working with materials I didn’t usually use for my works, which is colored pencils and fabric painting. But the magic of creativity also comes with working with what you have, appreciating the opportunity to learn something new and grow. Like in Nature, time is slow, and perfection does not come at once, it takes a lot of practice and hard work. Much patience and like someone pointed out lately, a lot of Passion. A fruit or a flower takes its time to reach its full potential.
So I relax and keep working every day, whatever happens. If I continue sometimes I will see the result, but if I stop it will never happen and you are only left with a sense of failure which is completely unrealistic and unnecessary.
There are many articles you can read from James Clear that can help in creating a schedule. I started using The Paper Clips Strategy and The Seinfeld Strategy after reading The Evolution of Anxiety. And it is working really well.
I have divided my work into different tasks, each with its necessary Paper Clips and each one with a different color, reaching the whole of the Rainbow. So my goal each day is to complete the Rainbow and make it Shine throughout the whole Calendar!
SunFreeStar 