Creative Arts

Creativity lies inside each and every one of us. While some have grown up believing that they are not “creative”, it is an innate talent — there is not one person alive who is not creative. We create our life every day as we go along — we make choices, we see various aspects of our reality — all this is creative.

The arts of painting, sculpting, acting, and music all require stepping outside of ourselves — out of our habitual patterns, or habitual thoughts, to let our creativity, our inner self, express itself. These arts can be very healing and meditative. As we focus on the task at hand, the mind chatter quiets itself, and a certain joy comes over us as we give ourselves to the dance, or to the creativity of art.

In these times of “stress management”, the creative arts are a natural way of reducing stress, of attaining balance in our lives, of establishing a state of calm and peace within our being. Whether or not you think you are “good” at it, or whether you believe you need to “practice”, the fact remains that the act of creativity is in itself a healer, a balm for the hectic pace of our lives, a spiritual contact for our soul.

Zen teaches “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water... after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water”. Nearly anything in our lives can be described as a creative art and enlightening, if our mind and attitude is so directed. Washing dishes, sweeping floors, driving a car, swimming, cooking, working... all of these can be done with the devoted attention that one gives to art, and to living with mindfulness.

So in our lives, the attitude, focus, concentration or “presence of being” that one learns in art can be carried over to our daily experience. The focus, attention, devotion, the love... all of these are part and parcel of creativity... of creating our daily reality, right here and right now, using the tools we have around us.

"Reaching The People You Most Want To Reach"
Copyright 2006 ~ InnerSelf Publications ~ Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada