ART & LIFE COACHING BLOG |
![]() If you are an artist or creative, you have probably hit those frustrating moments when it feels like you have made no progress in your creative life, career, project, or basic development. We all know that there can be ups and downs, but sometimes it just feels like those downs are the same place you have been a million times and you are getting no where! I recently went on a retreat with my authentic movement peer group to a fabulous place called Wisdom House. They have a labyrinth on their property. Light bulbs went off for me when one of our group talked to us about why she loves labyrinths. It seemed like a perfect metaphor for deep process, so much better than spinning around a circle, or a spiral - though those have their merits. This image works for a creative cycle, a healing cycle or a spiritual cycle- these are all so interwoven! ![]() As I walked the labyrinth I noticed so many aspects that are familiar in the creative cycle - maybe you can relate? You stand at the entrance and can see a straight line to the middle- the goal place. It is like seeing the image of the piece you want to create, the book you want to write, the life you want to have. It is straight ahead and as the bird flies, not far at all. But the journey to get there is not a straight line- even vaguely, and it is long! You start, one step at a time, following the path in so many turns around the middle. You just have to have faith that it will take you there because, honestly, in so many ways, the direct clear logic gets lost along the way. Sometimes the rhythm of steps and turns is quick and you are deep in a single area of exploration, and sometimes you are on a long stretch that takes you to a completely different quadrant of the labyrinth- way over to the other side. It is disorienting and maybe a little exhilarating. You did not feel finished with that first place- is this a tangent, or part of the path? Trust and keep going. Sometimes it feels like you are moving toward the center, slowly, meticulously going back and forth, and then the path take and unexpected turn and you are back at the outer edge! Even though you are still in the labyrinth, your attention is drawn to the landscape that surrounds you. Life is going on out there and there is a very thin barrier between you in your creative process and the rest of life. You could just step out and lose your place. The world outside the process feels vast and you wonder if it is worth it to stay in this weird internal place. You take a breath and keep going. The next hairpin turn that takes you back into the thick of it, back and forth in a quick patterns that feels like all your attention is in the immediate next steps. Focus is required or you could accidently go out of the narrow path and lose your place entirely and all the progress that you might have made! A number of times you come close to that original line you saw between the beginning and the center- you can see the intention, the purpose, the direction. But of course you are quickly sent out into another part of the process, far from clarity. Notice what you notice. Trust the journey. Enjoy the beauty of the process even when you do not understand it. Finally you get to the center and WOW- it is surprising how much space and breath there is in the middle. You open yourself to the sky and earth and feel the beauty of being in the middle. It looks and feels so different in there than it looked from the entrance moment. Your original image wasn't wrong- it was just not complete- not felt- not fully articulated. Not like the clarity that you have now. And it is a little anticlimactic How long do you stay? Not forever. The journey back out has just as many twists and turns. You have been there before. It takes patience and dedication and it is a little harder to stay in the process- somehow going toward the middle is full of anticipation and curiosity and going out is harder to stay in process. You think about cheating, just stepping out and getting back to regular life. The idea of bringing what you learned by the time you got to the center, the revelation, the complete creation, the arrival, out into the rest of the world is a big part of the labyrinth. It is an equally complex process, requiring attention and involving many different aspects. And so it is with bringing your creative work out into the world. If you do it with the same kind of curiosity, awareness and integrity you had in the process of creation- it is pretty cool. If you cheat- and try to just walk out in a straight line, you miss so much. And your heart is not in it so it feels icky and transactional and diminishes the value of the process of going in. The labyrinth reminds us that the process of creation is sacred, confusing and ever changing, as is the process of bringing the work out into the world. I am very curious if you have had experiences with labyrinths and how you see your creative life in relation to them. Hit reply to send me a note about it! Warmly, Val ps- they make finger labyrinths- but feel free to print and use this one!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
|