Life Change & Creativity
tools for the transitions of life + coming soon
*this post is in partnership with Communion Arts, the second in a series of 4 articles around creativity and the unconscious
Sometimes the truth ain’t easy to find
I want to know all the answers
But I’m learning that these things take time
- Sanctus Real, “These Things Take Time” -
Life is change. Change takes energy. Energy is limited.
I am here today to convince you that these three disappointing facts, while burdensome at times, are also intricately stitched into the nature of our creative processes. Indeed – is it possible that life’s incessant change is the very flame of creativity? At least let me convince you that life’s changing nature can be a log on the fire of your creativity.
Validating change
We aren’t going to get rid of change. You aren’t doing something wrong when life throws a wrench in things or when one season turns to another. This is the nature of things. Life makes space for the mundane, but in its way and by its nature, moments turn into moments and years into new years. We do not stay in one space.
We do not meet change alone. The benefit of flesh meeting spirit is the power of an unchanging God alive and awake within us. We do not meet the changes and chances of life without mercy also in our reach.
Processing the changes of life is a mechanism of creativity. The noticing is stronger in the upset; the changes reflect back to us a vibrancy we might have missed otherwise. Unfortunately, sometimes that vibrancy is the pain of cuts and losses, other times it is the joy of the accomplishment of the moment, and even these hills must be hiked down, and another climbed.
Yet, change will help us notice. It is in allowing ourselves moments to process – to journal, to craft, to consider, to reflect, to discuss, to rest – in the change, that creativity will flare….
Article takeaway highlights:
Navigating change without exhaustion
The process of collecting - creativity through change
Coming soon:
Films of Fodder - my top films of late for relational insights
Welcome Spring - a collection of printable zines for emotional awareness and regulation
Welcome Fall - return to the Song of Songs with me and discover the many and various forms of intimacy in us and all around us
*find the first article in the series on creativity here