No matter if you are living a life where your business counts on you being constantly creative, or you are creative in order to give yourself the energy and presence to serve your very full life….just like taking care of the plants I grow- so too do I look after myself so that I can continue to receive from the infinite well of creativity.
A while ago, I made a critical change which was that I no longer have my phone by my bed. I don’t look at Instagram just before my head hits the pillow and I don’t look at a screen the minute I open my eyes in the morning.
Instead, I do three things in what has started to become in popular culture called “your morning routine”. Usually they are quite regimented, but mine focus on me being gentle with myself.
I start with writing– usually not on the computer – usually with my favourite Blackwing matte pencil. I write whatever. Could be a list, could be some thoughts or ideas or plans or questions. It’s not something that I share. And like Julie Cameron had made famous 30 years ago in her book The Artist’s Way where she shared the idea of Morning Pages – where you write 3 pages of anything and then you destroy them -in so doing freeing yourself to write anything in the knowledge that nobody will ever read it. I don’t do that- but this is not writing I share with anyone.
Next I drink a cup of water in my tea cup and then pour my tea ( water consumption already begun, check, I’m crushing the morning before I’ve even started it!)
I take my tea and sit in silence for a few minutes– I might be staring out at the tops of the trees or I might be watching the birds or I might be opening up the garden places for the day or simply walking and observing….smelling the scent of the early morning, enjoying the sounds before the neighbourhood wakes up and wakes up the machines that fix and build the things and in so doing create the constant noise all day.
In my video that I am sharing here, I refer to some research about the health benefits of staring at trees as I do— here is a link if you are interested in learning more about that https://cpa.ca/psychology-works-fact-sheet-benefits-of-nature-exposure/
My third thing in my morning routine is that it changes… sometimes I have put on my runners and headed out to see the sunrise, sometimes I have put on my runners and headed out to Jazzercise (which I plan on starting to do again) and sometimes I head back to the table in my studio to continue working through a creative problem.
The key here is that I don’t let the outside world, be it the news on the radio, instagram, email, texts be the first impression I have of the day.
I talk more about this in my video but for the purposes of creating original creative work and of leading a creative and healthy, mindful life—- I start with my own thoughts, gentle impressions from nature, my tea and silence – importantly so that I can tune into my internal voice– often not even something that I am consciously aware of until I spend these moments with quiet intention.
Here is my video from the garden on creativity taking Gentle Time Before the Day Begins…..