Creativity – Rest Deeper

Creativity as rest

What I failed to note in a recent blog post, The Daily Rebound, is the need for creativity. Creativity is easily the deepest and most profound type of renewal. It is in a simple sense a way of re-creating yourself. Recreation is the common word for having fun – but think about it! A new composition, a new recipe, running around a ball field, a new drawing, a new way of mowing the lawn or working out a spreadsheet – all are a reflection or RE-creation of you, your needs and desires. They are a collection of all your experience being combined in a uniquely YOU sort of way.

I wrote that last article, to be perfectly honest, because I needed a rest and started pondering my own needs for rest and renewal. I mentioned in The Daily Rebound that a big luxurious breakfast is how I started my rest that day. Well I want to report on how that went. It was a struggle! I needed more – a deeper rest. When I finally picked up my guitar again, I immediately knew I needed a new piece to play. A rest from the drudgery of repetition. So I picked up my pencil and it is now four days later and I’m happy to announce that I gave birth! I wrote a new composition called A Distant Wind, dedicated to Hanna and Bo Isholm of the Faroe Islands. I’ll post a video soon.

The need for creativity

I can recount creativity’s importance for me on various levels. Another recent small example is a new recipe. I bought some milk thistle seeds because of their high nutritional benefits, but had no idea what to do with them. Too bitter for my taste, I decided to try combining them with flax seeds to make “milk.” I’m into super-foods these days, so I added some cacao and maca, a pinch of salt and and 1/4 cup of simple coconut milk (the real stuff in a can – no additives!). Voila! After squeezing it through a cloth bag – I had a rich creamy smooth milk as good or better than most store bought milk alternatives.

Creating a new type of milk is a small boon to my day. But the largest creative move I made is when I started composing as a regular activity in my mid 40’s. I have talked about how that came about in other articles, so I won’t bore you again here with details. It was a major change and was, and remains, restorative. It is both rest and restoration and it reclaims my deepest qualities of love of life and gives me a hold on the meaning of existence. Writing this article does a similar thing for me – it clarifies my mind and allows me to ponder and share deep thoughts.

Pride and vitality

There’s one other benefit of composition specifically – I get to hold my creation in my hand. In fact it has two or three forms it can take. It’s a miracle. I can hold the paper on which it is written and look at it. I can play it and have it evaporate into thin air. Or I can record it and listen – or video it and watch and listen at the same time I’m holding it in my hands! Fabulous!! I suppose I could even make it disappear by erasing it or burning the paper on which it exists.

My new piece, A Distant Wind, not only makes me happy, it restores my vitality. I want to move on and do more work. I need to get back to practicing and I feel rested and motivated to do so. So whether it takes a minute or four days or two months, it is crucial to keep the faith, to trust that you are doing the right thing, even if it is not what you are supposed to be doing. If it gives you energy and adds to your joy and health,then it has to be good.