Make Time To Be Creative

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Make Time To Be Creative
Article Written by Linda Foltyn
You need to make time for your creativity (it requires passion, intention, dedication, perseverance) it’s just not out there in the ethers, some abstract thing that we can only touch if we are free and clear of all of life’s responsibilities.

Being creative is supposed to be spontaneous and comes in fits and spurts right? And when it comes you should just drop everything and go do that creative thing right? Or in order to be creative we need to be this free flowing, not responsible for much in life so we can just “be” and let all of our creative juices flow right?

Well some of us “creative’s” have a family and a job that requires specific amounts of time dedicated to logical repetitive tasks. What happens when “it” hits us and we can’t take time to let that creative idea take form right then and there?

We could write down the idea and pursue it at a more convenient time. Well what if the convenient time comes and we just can’t get motivated?

You need to make a specific time each day or each week where you can allow yourself to just sit and do this creative thing. Maybe nothing happens the first time you sit down and do this “thing”. You may only sit and stare at this thing you are about to create, and not make any progress, but in allowing yourself this allotted time, you will be setting the intention that you are going to do this thing the next allotted time, and in a sense, letting the flow of the idea of it to make it happen.

I made this new hand-made necklace. My intention to make it was over a year ago. I saw it in a crafting magazine and I absolutely fell in love with the design, so I set out to make it. Why did it take me so long? I must say that I didn’t make time for it. It was out where I could see it everyday, all the parts and the instructions, I would walk by it thinking, “I’ve got to get started on that”, but other things would always come before. All the logical, repetitive tasks I felt I needed to get done first and out of the way before I could sit down and “be creative”. Well that time never came, because I always had something else to do.

I also know being creative takes passion, intention, dedication and perseverance, some of which you need to possess in order to follow your creativity to completion. I was passionate about the necklace because of my excitement upon seeing it; I felt I just had to make the necklace. My intention started a year ago with buying all the components, my dedication came in finding the components and trying to follow the instructions and my perseverance is what you see below.

In the beginning I had to purchase all the components; beads, string, clasps, needles, because this was my first ever beading project. All the items where listed on the instructions, but finding the specific beads, was no small task, the leaf beads I originally ordered where drilled in the wrong direction. Also, I could not find the color of the beads I wanted from the instructions, so I had to find another set in a range of color that would compliment each other.

I am not a “read the instructions and understand it” kind of gal I’m more of a “hands-on” learner. I came to this one spot that stopped me for a couple of months. Crimping, I had the crimping bead, but was clueless how to use it. You see, the instructions are not made for beginners, and they assume many things I knew nothing about, but I persevered and finally found out what I was supposed to do with the crimp bead. I slowly continued on with the project, until I finally said, “I am taking 1 hr. each day, at this time, and I am going to sit down with the necklace and see where it takes me. After that I had it done in no time. I then saw something on the instructions that made me laugh, it said “2 hour express” project. A two hour express project that took me a year!

What did I learn from this? Your creativity can come out even on structured time, if you allow yourself that 1 hour a day, or 1 hour a week, and contrary to what being creative implies, you need to set creative time aside to allow yourself the space to begin, otherwise you will have found yourself one year later with a completed project that would taken you two hours!

Be Well

Linda Foltyn
15 Mohawk Street
Binghamton, N.Y. 13903

Phone: (607) 724-6422
Fax: (607) 724-6422
Email: wbbs@stny.rr.com

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