The Creative Act

The Creative Act is an inspiring guide to making art as a consistent practice, informed by mindfulness and an open, playful way of being more so than by catering to the whims of the market.

In the surprisingly wisdom-packed kids’ movie Kung Fu Panda, Master Oogway teaches Master Sifu a lesson:  “Look at this tree, Sifu,” Oogway says. “I cannot make it blossom when it suits me, nor make it bear fruit before its time.” Sifu, however, insists: “But there are things we can control! I can control when the fruit will fall!” With that, Sifu hits the tree, and while a bunch of peaches fall down, most of them land on the floor — and one knocks him on his head.

According to Rick Rubin, we, too, are like peach trees, at least in our ideal state: When we neither resist it nor try to accelerate it, the force of creation will flow through us effortlessly. A peach tree is not in a hurry. It’s not trying hard to grow peaches. And it definitely doesn’t curse itself for being unworthy of its fruit. A peach tree simply grows, and once a year, a bunch of peaches will eventually be ready.

To embrace this effortless mindset of creation, try something simple but surprisingly hard: Stay open-minded as you go about your day. Smell the flowers on your way home. Stop to look at an interesting sign. Listen to the sounds of nature and people rather than playing music from your phone.

Only once you open yourself up to the creative forces flowing through the world will your artistic journey truly begin.

As children, we’re excited about everything we make, no matter how inconsequential. We show sandcastles and crayon drawings to our parents, and before we can hear their opinion, we’re off to build the next thing. Once we’re older, we’re used to stakes being high. We try to deliver our best performance every day, be it at work or in our household. Unfortunately, we transfer that attitude to art whenever we pick up the pen, brush, or guitar. We clamp up. Why is this so hard? It’s hard because we think we need to do well on our first try. But we don’t! The first time you get back into the creativity game, lower the stakes. Don’t try to paint an amazing landscape. Just paint whatever comes to mind. Don’t hope to publish your first essay. Write it only for yourself, and allow yourself to delete it if you don’t like it. Fun is the feeling that ends up making great art great, but if we’re too stressed about “doing well,” we lose our chance of imbuing our work with…