Something to Love
Creative Expression is a Source of Joy and This I Love.
Listen here and/or read it below. Thanks for stopping by!
One thing I deeply love is creative expression. It is the application of our imagination and an exploration of our feelings and state of being. It is where inspiration leads and is expressed / born into form in real time. Insights are revealed as we go. Let’s play!
Creative expression can reveal new insights through the act itself of creating and in witnessing the creation as both the creator and the observer. Tuning into the pulse of life from your unique perspective. It is aware awareness. It brings us alive and into the moment. It infuses us (and the world) with our own magic. It merges our humanity with our sacred truth, we are created to create.
To be creatively expressive you can start anywhere. You can start with low skill and high intention - what matters is the energy and your decision to operate from instinct and intuition. Intending to be creative is a creative act itself. If you identify as creative, then perhaps you branch out into a new area and surrender to the process. That way the skill of your usual craft can be unbounded by choosing a new path, or medium. In this act you are also the medium, a channel. Free yourself! This is the purpose of engaging in this way - to give space to what wants to be seen/heard/known.
There is often no fixed goal in expressive creative work. Though it can land there eventually, at a goal destination, yet the idea is to be in a state of discovery. Originality is liberated when it can be in free play without restriction. Being playful and expressively expansive in a conventional world is no small feat. However, let's not make a big deal of it and attach too much weight, even though your creative urges are important, building it up to be something outside of yourself will dilute the territory. This is about you and your expression of your experience. This is where we get to have fun without rules, or expectations. You are the only guideline and what you want to express. We do not need to be good at something to try it. In fact, allowing yourself to be uninhibited is going to be a lot more rewarding - a chance to be surprised. It's about the feeling, it's about the expression, it's about the joy of exploration.
Creative expression bridges the divide between you and your experience. It connects. It shifts perspective. It speaks from the void of the unknown. Creative expression can exist beyond style, and you can certainly infuse it with your style, your essence, by liberating any need to control and freely expressing who you are, what you care about, and what you're experiencing in the moment.
The modes of creative expression are many. If this is completely new to you there are some easier ones to try out. Dance, Photography, and Journaling are three good options. Daily I journal Morning Pages, a term coined by Julia Cameron in the Artist's Way. It is a kind of brain dump, done first thing in the early hours of your day. There are zero rules except to write 3 pages. You can write about anything and everything. Often, I look back at these scribbles and am surprised by what has come to the surface in my wandering rambles. It also feels good. Writing for yourself in this way clears space.
Photography is another quick entry point into the field of freestyle creation. Almost everyone has a camera these days. I invite you to take up the practise of moving the frame around in unexpected ways. Get down low, up high, explore angles, zoom in / out, experiment with filters and cropping, seek textures/colors/light meeting shadow, try out some ways of seeing through the camera that are uncommon to you - it's all about the adventure.
Then we have dance. Dance is about listening and feeling. Listening to your body, to your heart, to the music (or not - we can dance in silence or to the sound of a crackling flame). Listen to your body, really listen. It will make suggestions on how to move. Like your voice, your body has its own rhythm. Add a layer of music and there's a party going on. Soften your need to know how to move, let yourself feel how to move. Dance in the dark if you feel self-conscious. You can start gently, simply feeling and listening with your whole body. Make an acquaintance with and an inquiry to your own body - hello body how do you want to flow here? Music can be a great guide. Have fun with it!
This is part of how we tend to ourselves to create conditions to thrive. We could also call creative expression the art of self-awareness and an act of self-care. Open the door to this new way of communicating with yourself and you will be living a life overflowing with creative expression. There’s a plethora of joy waiting to be embodied through the act of creating and through this we attune ourselves to deep love.
XON
Nichola Napora < - > Mystic Peaks Studio
Protect our waters and our water loving friends and creatures by supporting sustainable stewardship and being the change through conscious caretaking of this amazing planet.
*All writting, audio, art, and photos created by Nichola tracking her path of liberation.