Retreat for Creative Perspective

Perspective is my way of viewing or thinking about something, shaped by my experiences, beliefs, and values. When I adopt beginner's mind and become more curious and open-minded, I am able to shift my perception to see things in their true, relative importance.

Then I might be able to accept what is and stop obsessing, and enjoy my life in the moment.

The third step is to choose creativity; once I am able to let go of trying to control a situation or how I feel, I will open space for intuition and inspiration. I can begin to visualize a way forward. 

Today I will begin a 3-day retreat for creative perspective for my life, my priorities, and my leadings. 

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"

2. Evaluate my creativity habits

3. Craftivism plans

4. Preschool plans

5. Studio

6. Do the smallest thing

1. Read "the Creativity Book":  

This year I am reading this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that? 

I'm on part 9, Be Truthful, and Week 33: Show Yourself. "Everyday creative people grow as artists by refining they sense of truthfulness and by doing an ever-better job of communicating their truth."

I can no longer ignore the hard work of communicating how I feel about climate change and biodiversity loss, and more than that - my testimonies of Right Action, Mindfulness and Awareness, and Integrity. I need to talk about why these are so important to me. And it's a big risk, because then I will open myself to criticism or indifference, both of which are likely to trigger some big feelings.

2. Evaluate my creativity habits:

Once a week I try to take stock of my creative habits: 

Have I launched into a large creative project, one worth exhausting myself on, and if not, why? 

Have I constructed a schedule for my creative work and am I keeping to it? 

Do I set goals at the beginning of each week? 

Do I have a daily routine that supports my creative efforts?

Journal: I've shifted to scheduling art-making in the morning, and created a script for arriving at the door of creative flow. I have some good ideas for projects. The next step is to get perspective on which projects will be most effective now, and make a backwards calendar for the next month.

3. Craftivism plans:

Today I have re-defined my three areas for What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it: The first is to make things with my hands to give away - things that inspire and teach, craftivism and / or writing. This is my late week focus, Thursday and Friday, and I brainstorm, plan and prepare on Thursday morning.

This week I plan to design a plastic tag - a paper tag mounted on plastic, like a milk jug - with information about the dire effects of plastic with a QR code and a brief list of how to avoid plastic, especially at the holidays.

4. Gift plans

My second (new) art area is gift-making. This will be my weekend focus, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and evenings as I can; I'll gather and set out supplies on Saturday morning. My first projects are: 

• Worry monsters for each of my grandsons, and then mini-monsters for everyone else?
• Recycled plastic bag crochet
• Small stamp prints of nature
• Printed copy of book intro with artwork and photos

5. Preschool and Advent plans:

The third kind of creativity I want is to make things with my grandsons - fun things, exploring basic skills, seasonal materials, and folk crafts. This will be my mid-week focus, Tuesday through Friday; on Thursday I will choose next themes, brainstorm projects, and define the nature and skills goals; on the weekend I will gather books and supplies (and take time to stash away the last projects and supplies); and I will do all the prep and making samples on Monday.

Next week is Thanksgiving Week: Ideas-

• Thank-you tree
• Collect greens for wreath
• Pie-making
• Native American Heritage Day celebration

6. Do the smallest thing:

Doing the smallest thing is a great way to make courageous creative work less frightening; also finding the "minimum effective dose", the amount of work that keeps me challenged and joyful, and if I keep at it will get me to the finish line on time. 

Today I will list specific goals for each day's creative projects; also itemize the supplies and preparation steps on a separate check list. 

My creative projects plan this week:

• Th: Write plastic tag info. Finish monster
• F: Print and make a prototype. 
• Sat: Begin to distribute tags to people and public spaces; start Christmas pudding
• Sun: Start Arthur's monster; Steam Christmas pudding
• M: Arthur's monster.
• T: Thank-you tree (cutting and drawing)
• W: Pie-making

Preparations:

• F: Collect plastic for tags
• Sat: Stash away last projects and supplies; Collect fabrics for 2nd monster; get pudding ingredients; 4 candles for wreath
• M: Bring in Thank-You tree and gather colored papers, tape
• T: Gather greens for wreath
• W: N-A books