Transitions, Habits & Changes
Make Interesting Choices
The Choice Is Yours
Reasons Why Change Is Good:
- Change Keeps Us Flexible (flexibility stops us from getting brittle)
- Change Challenges Our Thinking (makes us get out of ruts and reevaluate)
- Change Reveals Hidden Strengths (you might have superpowers you don't even know about)
- Change Offers Novelty (if you're bored, you're boring)
- Change Makes You More Compassionate (if you are too comfortable you might not be able to understand the struggles of others)
- Change Brings Opportunity (even small changes can bring more choices)
- Change Makes You Grow (growing your wings is only possible when you are willing to change forms)
”We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.”- maybe Aristotle, but probably not...
Welcome back. In our last practice we turned our creative focus towards everyday life. Hopefully those observations also made you evaluate your own choices in designing your daily routines. Did you think about how you regularly make simple choices that don't even seem to be choices at all? It's because those things have become habits. Repeated actions become habits. What started as a choice, became a routine and is now a habitual behavior.
Take a moment and think of a few habits you have that are part of your daily life. Things like having a cup of coffee before you shower, the route you take when driving to work, bedtime routines. We all have these ritual habits that we don't think much about because, it's just the way we do them.
Time is often a driving force in why we do things a certain way. In an effort to be efficient, we often sacrifice creativity. And, honestly, creativity is often inefficient, but does offer freedom of expression. Creativity is an opportunity to make interesting choices, which can make us more interesting people. Our habits and routines become a huge part of who we are. So we have to decide where it is worth it to allow individual and novel expression.
Taking risks and changing up patterns in our daily activities can invite fresh air into stale situations. Reimagining daily routines is an easy first step to invite a new creative flow. Playing with our costuming can be another. The way we dress is unique to us and is a way to explore our individual style. You see, our fashion choice is costume design for the rolls we play. It is the way others see us and evaluate the character we have taken on. How do you present yourself on the stage of life?
I recently read The Beastie Boys Book and was excited to hear that they used costuming as creative play when recording albums. They would do things like only wear suits while working on one album, or only clothing made in a certain time period for another. They would carry briefcases on their way to and from recording sessions to set a mood. Embedding yourself in a creative mindset through, clothing, or ritual/habits really does have a way of keeping you connected to the artistic realm. We've all heard dress for success, or dress for the part. But, how often do we put it into action.
Beastie Boys
Play
The Suits
What do you want your creative character to wear? Have you thought about costuming as a creative act? Have you thought about how you present yourself to the world reflects back to you?
What habits are you willing to change to invite some creative fresh air? Can you allow yourself to change up your wardrobe to see how that might invites new ideas? Remember a few exercises back we talked about "play'...changing habits is a way to play and have new experiences, which keeps creativity flowing.
This week, lets do a few things in an effort to invite a creative flow to pour into our lives. Lets mix it up a bit.
Activities For Creative Choices:
- Chose to change your routines this week. Pick something that you do every day and change your approach to it. Documenting this could result in a new work.
- Costuming...at least one day this week redesign your day to day costuming and push yourself out of your comfort zone. What realizations does this give you?
- Design a costume for the creative you. We may not all have the items in our closet to present our most creative self. So make a collage, or a drawing or overall visual representation of clothing your creative persona would wear if money and fear were not an issue. Imagine you are going to be interviewed about your creative endeavors...an art opening, a concert, a book release, a business opening, etc. What would you wear? How do you imagine yourself looking for this interview?
- AND...take notice of your transitions. Consider how you transition between your mundane world and into your creative practice. Is it subtle? Do you have a ritual around it? Consider making a small ritual that can remind you that you are changing your focus as you begin your artistic work. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you would like.
Play with all of your routines, habits and ideas about how you present yourself this week. And share all your discoveries. Some people may find this challenging and others may be excited. We all approach this sort of play in different ways. I look forward to hearing about your experience. Share it on Facebook @Starling Creative Living, Twitter @artteacheramy or on Instagram @thestarlingcreative
Enjoy your process.