Live Life - Inspired

Today is Sunday. The start of a fresh new week.  This week, I would like to challenge you to cultivate creativity in the mundane.  We rush around our lives, hurried. Always in a hurry.  Our inner creativity gets sucked up into the vacuum that is the every day.  As our creativity drains from our souls, we hurry more and find ourselves multi-tasking when it is often not necessary.  We do more and think less.  We feel less.  As a result we subject ourselves to living a less inspired life.  

9/27/13: Taken on the walk out to the bus stop with Maya.  A necessary function, the bus stop walk, transformed into 

a creative moment that made me thankful to be alive, and thankful I grabbed my camera on the way out the door.  

Having two small children I like to surprise them with simple things, like the “Friday Night Pancake Party” we had this weekend, or last night we had planned a “Star Gazing Hot Cocoa Party”, and when the clouds and wind rolled in, we had a Hot Cocoa Party instead.  Whether you have children or not, a Star Gazing Hot Cocoa Party can transform a quiet night at home, into something special.  A moment.  

Tea parties are my favorite. I love tea parties.  George and Maya are quite the little conversationalists and provide endless topics to discuss, and abstract things to ponder.  A tea party with them usually means costumes and assuming entirely different identities.  Sometimes we pretend to be The Incredibles at tea parties and I get to be Elastagirl.  Me, Elastagirl.  That is how cool their tea parties are.  Maya and George know how to have a good time. 

Maya is 5. George is 4. They cultivate their inner creativity on a moment to moment basis.  The result? They learn. I am not even talking about learning to be creative.   Being creative gives them an outlet, a resource, a place to exist in and make sense of the world that whizzes by at warp speed.  

By simply cultivating their inner creativity, they find ways to process life, make sense of new subjects, and apply new skills.  I would argue that conscious creativity can have the same transformative power as mindfully examining our dreams. 

George tapping into his inner Mark Spitz, wearing an assortment of my finishers medals.

Something simple. A cup of tea, can be tansformed into a memorable experience. A moment. Where you sit. And think. Or don’t.  Or write whatever comes to mind.  Or pretend to be Elastagirl.

Disney Pixar - The Incredibles 

How is it we forget to live life, inspired?  Yet, many of us live a goal-oriented, focused life.  What would happen if we were all a little more creative? What if we tried to cultivate creativity in the mundane, the boring, the essential tasks - things that must get done.  

A dish washing dance party.  

A watercolor painting session, instead of Sponge Bob Square Pants, or worse - watching the depressing news ticker, rehashing the tragedies of today.  

Simply getting dressed, what you wear - can be an exercise in creative cultivation.  It doesn’t have to be outlandish or obscene, just something that makes you smile or captures your heart.  A piece of special jewelry. Handmade felted mittens. A wild hat.  

A few random photos captured with your iPhone, something that draws in your attention, something you would normally dismiss.  

A portion of your grocery list, written in haiku.  

Bananas, eggs, bread 

Milk, cheese, butter, jam and tea 

Kale, chocolate, and wine 

Simple activities can be used to inspire your creative soul and process the noise and perpetual motion our busy lives have become. 

A recent Gallup Poll noted that 34% of Americans say math is the most important subject; while 21% say it is english; and 12% say it is the sciences. Only 2% of Americans say the most important subjects are music and art.  I am not arguing that art and music should be the most important subjects, but I am arguing that continually shoving to them to the back burner, defunding school art and music programs, and devaluing an important aspect of our culture, comes at a cost we all incur.  An un-payable debt to our creative consciousness. We lose something important when we stop creating. 

A trip to the playground, in costume, resulted in photographic magic.  I was really thankful I didn't fight it when he 

insisted on wearing his beloved bumble bee costume to the playground.  Sometimes you just have to go with it. Magic might be right around the corner.

This week I would like to challenge you to cultivate your inner creativity.  To do something every day that transforms a typical experience into something memorable, by tapping into your inner creativity. 

Last week I took a moment to sip my coffee on the futon in my office nook.  I'm getting into the habit of keeping my camera on hand at all times, so when I looked in the closet and saw the sun streaming in on my latest knitting project (felted mittens), I was able to enjoy the moment and capture it. 

Life life-- inspired. Cultivate creativity and reconnect with yourself.  Make the world a better place, and don’t forget to breathe. 

9/27/13: Bus Stop Walk: Weeds, by the roadside.  Nothing special, rare or unique.  Frost transformed, sunlight enhanced - weeds.

How are you going to cultivate creativity this week? How will you transform the mundane into something magical?  Share it with us on Facebook:  Honey Mama Runs Wild