Do you have the time?

Having time, making time, and plain old time...

Hello…

It’s me again. I know, maybe three posts in a row is too much but I wanted to stop what I was doing (studio cleaning, scrubbing cat puke[wasn’t going to share that but, eh, it’s the reality], avoiding planning dinner) to talk a little about being all in and what that looks like.

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Even forgetting to clean out paint bowls can provide ‘shimmers’…

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Laura B.

(be sure to check out her Substack, Chasing The Blue Flower) commented on the last post and I felt her response would be something great to talk about. Having time vs. making time vs. plain old time. The creative life is hard to compartmentalize, to find that right spot to locate it for when we have the time to get to it. We have regular life-jobs, families, obligations, commitments, grocery shopping. All very ordinary, necessary items on our daily life list. If it is true that Everything we do has all of ourselves in it (Rick Rubin) then think of all those things, all those everythings, that have all we have to bring to the table and it becomes overwhelming to think that we can even conceive of one more “thing” to add.

I have the tremendous privilege of a life centered around creative acts. It hasn’t always been this way, and it isn’t always easy, and almost never profitable. But I do it because I have to. When something interferes with my ability to create, or capacity to be present (Instagram is just one example) the collateral damage from those distractions can be creatively crippling. I spent the last four or five months-perhaps more-saying yes to good opportunities that would allow me to work creatively and I thought it was what I ‘should’ be doing. My book and art project, The Writist, became something I was looking over my shoulder at as the distance and longing was growing.

I had a come to Jesus moment that made it very clear I needed to decide what I was going to choose. I swallowed my pride, pulled up my big girl pants as high as they would go (there’s an image for you), and with as much honesty and kindness as I could muster let go of those opportunities-knowing I would be letting people down in the process. Not easy.

BUT, I know not everyone can set down significant responsibilities to pursue creative endeavors, it isn’t realistic. Providing elder care requires full attention, child care requires full attention, accounting, therapy, teaching, leading—these things take all we have, require us to go deep.

BUT, even in those deep places we can discover shimmers, tiny fragments that reflect energy and beauty. We can breathe life into our creative being by looking for these shimmers in the places we find ourselves.

It doesn’t need to be a big gesture, like writing a book, or creating a masterpiece. It doesn’t have to require more of our time, or to let go of anything important,