Finding Joy through Creativity

A few years ago I was at a conference where the keynote speaker asked us to close our eyes and think about all the things we loved and who we wanted to be when we were younger. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the smiles emerging across the room. Then the speaker asked us to think about all the times that someone told us that we couldn’t do something or dictated who we had to be. She asked us to think about who we had then become and how much of ourselves we had left behind each time the world forced us to. I think about that question often.

So much of this world is about production — how much we produce and how quickly we produce it — that it doesn’t leave room for us to engage in activities that are not readily consumed by others. As a creative, people often tell me that they could never do what I do and they just aren’t creative. But everyone is creative because everyone can be generative. To create is to bring something into existence as a result of one’s actions. All of us do this, but we don’t often do it for ourselves and for the joy that we can cultivate when we let ourselves dream and imagine.

A couple of years ago I stopped writing. I got caught up in the idea that other people I knew were writers and I was not, because they were writing and selling books, and I was mainly writing in my blog. I realized later as I grew back together with my practice that my blog brought me joy because I was writing for myself and to connect with myself and with others. It helps me explore who I am and who I want to be. It’s how I explore the possible.

I believe that creativity has the power to help us find joy. When we’re singing or dancing, writing or drawing, we’re letting go of the rigid structures of the world that stripped away the things we used to enjoy. We can find those things again. Creativity is a way to reclaim those joys.

Over the next six days, we’re challenging each of you to find your own joy in creativity. Each day we’ll give you the amount of time and the activity to help you (re)define what creative joy means to you. We’ll be posting the challenge on our instagram page (ig: novaliacollective), or you can find the challenge below:

7/25: Take a mindful minute

7/26: Dance for four minutes

7/27: Create a joy bank for five minutes

7/28: Contemplate on the phrase “I create because…” for ten minutes

7/29: Rest for ten minutes

7/30: Join us for 30 minutes on IG live to discuss joy and creativity at 12noon PT