Creative chaos
Recently my living room looked as if it had been burgled - cupboards were open, with some of their content spilled onto the floor. The dining table was invisible under layers of paper and paint, jam jars with paintbrushes were stacked in the kitchen and discarded bits of paper littered the floor. My computer desk was similarly scattered with books and post it notes and my windows were full of scribbled notes that looked like a 6 year old had been let loose with a lipstick.
I was wandering around in the middle – trying to figure out an idea for some teaching I wanted to do. I stared at the chaos and wondered when I would be able to start making something – or would I stay permanently locked in a cycle of creative chaos?
I did eventually develop an idea and I slowly breathed life into it – after I had cleaned up the mess.
I see now that the most important part of my creative process is the chaos – it is both physical and mental in my case. As I grapple with an idea I roam around the house trying to find ways to give it shape and a voice – I write or draw it or try to find more information. In doing this more and more layers of apparant chaos build up around me.
It is just part of the process of exploration – creating spaces for more ideas to grow. It is a time of expansion – moving into new territory. I need to trust that the process will work and that I wlll have unexpected, positive findings along the way. It does tend to lead me to the place I need to be – even if I can't see it whilst I am in the midst of a paper hurricane.
This is the scariest part of the journey. The chaos feels massive and sometimes overwhelming and there is not a single useful idea in sight – yet I need to push on – I am too far from the shore to swim back. The only option is to go on or even worse - go back to the beginning and start over again.
This time round I actually drew my process – as you can see here. The most important part is to crash through the chaos barrier, to come out the other side into the light of understanding – where the new ideas, outlooks and creations can come to life.
This is what the cycle of creation and creativity looks and feels like for me. The time of chaos is like the winter – you know things are growing, but can't see them yet because they are under the ground. You have to trust that at the right time the flowers and trees will start to grow again.
Similarly, during the cycle of chaos you can't see the ideas yet, but you know they are there somewhere if you can give them the time to come out and be patient with yourself. When you can trust the process, yourself and the chaos to produce the environment for the ideas to blossom – magic can occur and the most amazing, interesting and out of the box thinking can arise.
What do you need to foster a more conducive environment for creative playfulness? What does your cycle of creative chaos look like?