The Relationship between Calmness and Creativity

As you know, I value Rick Tamlyn’s input in my life. I recently attended his online seminar about how to be calm in the midst of ongoing crisis. Rick said something which really made me think, “Calm is when I feel creative with my world.” Hmmmm!!!

I decided to try this out yesterday in my studio. I hadn’t made any art for many months, so I took a big sheet of 200 lb watercolour paper, pulled out my watercolour crayons, and went to town creating a nice big bold piece of art. I painted for about 10 minutes, then stopped and asked myself if I felt calm or not. I realized that during the 10 minutes of painting, all I could do/did do, was to focus on my art making and it took my complete attention. I did feel calm and I did feel joyous, as nothing makes me happier in the moment than choosing beautiful colours and making an abstract painting with them.

After I asked myself if I was feeling calm, I started thinking about our world, wondering, for instance, what the COVID case count was for today in Ontario, in Canada, in the USA and in the world. I stopped my painting to check all this, and I felt my anxiety rise.

Then I went back to making my big piece of art. Very soon, I was focussing on my artmaking completely, and the feeling of calm returned.

Cool! I discovered that for me, calmness and creativity are very linked.

How do you exercise your creativity? Is it making a needlework piece?Is it making an abstract painting? Is it writing a poem? Is it gardening? Is it making a beautiful photograph? Is it making jewellry? Is it planning a workshop for others? There are so many different ways!

I invite you to try the same experiment. How do you feel inside when you are creating? If calm, then I invite you to ask yourself how you can find ways to expand the amount of time you spend creating in a day.

I am hopeful as we enter the fall and winter, that thinking about how to exercise our creativity will help us cope with the world situation in which we are immersed.

Dear Lord, please bless us all with the ability to endure and even sometimes, to thrive! Amen.