Creation is the ultimate form of pursuing ourselves, giving to the world when shared, and using the power of our subconscious. It gives us joy, and to every artist, it is the ultimate (flow) state of happiness.
The Act of Creation
The act of creation is an outlet. It gives joy to us when we create something out of nothing, we block out anxiety or boredom.
Creating should be done like:
a kid in mind: effortless, exploring your thoughts, and seeing where it leaves you, as Picasso said: He wouldn’t have bothered to start a painting if he knew the outcome.
a play1: flawless and free.
calm like the water: flowing wherever your mind is going.
to fulfill yourself: by portraying your never-resting thoughts. Share it with the world. Create with joy and love in mind.
follow your train of thought: see where it leads you. You start somewhere, on an unfinished emotion, a task, or anything to ponder on.
Creation, and especially writing, can help resolve the unresolved.
Creation to Make a Difference: Joy and Laughter
Creating is also about making a difference. If nothing changes in you, the people, not enough value was added to your creation. Any creation should trigger something. But foremost, the process of creation should change something in you, some release, a good feeling, it must feel right. If it does nothing, an empty feeling, the creation might not be there yet.
Create with love and empathy in mind. Liking someone is one thing, but giving love, caring for someone, and integrating that into your work is the ultimate way to create.
Create joy and laughter. Speak the language of people, make them happy by creating enjoyment.
Following Our Emotions without Boundaries
When we follow our emotions without any boundaries, following our instincts, we get into a state of deep focus and deep concentration where all thoughts can be resolved.
Creation is our inner Instinct. If we follow and nourish it, great things can arise from it. Treat it as an outlet for your body and mind. Go with the flow, follow along. Create for the sake of creation.
Learn for Life, Follow Your Own Uniqueness
The act of creation is following your own life rhythm, for example, the Pathless Path. It is the ultimate form of connecting with yourself.
All creation is unique, unique specifically to you as the creator, but also (hopefully) to the reader, viewer, or consumer of your work. Your creations live long after your death; others will connect and create new works from them. It’s giving joy after you’re gone.
Learn for Life, as I like to say, has been my earliest mantra when starting any of my creations shared online. The common definition of success is reaching a desired outcome. The Scientist’s definition of success is: if you learn something new, you haven’t failed, as Anne-Laure Le Cunff says on How to Design Tiny Experiments Like a Scientist.
How to Design Tiny Experiments Like a Scientist
For example, a scientist defines it like this: if you say you want to write more, instead of just writing, you define ‘I will write for at least one month, or at least 10 articles. And then you don’t stop before that. Success is the experience, not the outcome.
The Outcome of Creation
The act of creation is a slow process that needs time and experience. A slow life, an ordinary, boring life even, to focus on the details, using the craftsmanship refined over the years, and retrieving joy from the process of creation.
What matters is the quality and outcome we are proud to release to the world.
Gifts Shared with the World
You create for yourself with no return in mind, you just share it as a gift for the world, for anyone to consume.
Creation thought of as a gift is an easy way for you to create without the burden of pleasing people, as it’s take-it-or-leave-it, like a gift. No strings attached, just making gifts.
A Curious Mind is Mostly a Subconscious Mind
When we create, most of our subconscious is driving the thought. Just let it cruise and see what the outcome is. Use the conscious mind for fixing errors and making sure the sentences make sense later, but don’t start with it.
The Spark of Joy Philosophy
Different flairs for designs to add ease or user delight to your creation. Similar to the “Spark Joy Philosophy”, which is very fitting when creating for the enjoyment of the reader.
To me, creation sparks joy for myself, it’s the outlet for me to release and organize my thoughts. It avoids the shallow happiness that I get from social media, binge-watching Netflix, or other brainless activities on the phone or TV. Sure, there’s time for that too, to calm down, but if we are not careful, the algorithms will take over and we default to always choosing the easy choice.
The Reward is Long-term
Creating is hard, there’s friction, it does not directly work, but the reward is long-term, with deep happiness and a deep flow state: “It’s magical that they just tried to be there”, which is the highest form of happiness artists get (see The Artist’s Way) as we discovered in Finding Flow, with escaping digital distractions through deep work and slow living.
I hope you find your outlet for creation, an act you can partake in to develop happiness and joy for yourself, getting into that deep flow and having a slow process where many small gifts of creation can be shared with the world.
This article was created with the inspiration of reading How to Live by Derek Sivers in Cavallino, Italy.
I was watching kids play football on a campsite football field in Italy, so free and joyful. ↩︎
I was watching kids play football on a campsite football field in Italy, so free and joyful. ↩︎
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