Permission to Pause: Find your creative rhythm, curiosity and voice
We explore curiosity and creativity in the form of words. Read on to learn about how to befriend your inner critic, explore curiosity and journal without self-judgment.
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Find your Rhythm: Lessons from Migrating Birds
🧭The Southern bird migration is underway in the Northern hemisphere. Most birds 25 to 150 miles per day to reach their Southern roost. The goal: to find a more plentiful food supply.
We can learn a lot about regenerative rest from the bird migration. Contrary to common belief, migratory birds travel the farthest at night. They are likely to stop to rest in the early morning hours.
The bird migration behavior contrasts sharply with a humans' nonstop productivity and hustle. We're doubling down on our work activities. We tell ourselves that we will slow down when we reach our next holiday.
Left: Image of evening bird migration (higher bird traffic); Right: Morning bird migration (lower bird traffic) Source: https://birdcast.info/, Live bird migration maps
We say, “I will take a rest after _____,”(fill in the blank here). After dishes, a client meeting, helping a child with homework, finishing a project. What if we made time today to serve our creative selves? What if we need just enough time to rest and regenerate?
Which of these inner critic moments sound the most familiar?
- Later will be a better, more perfect time
- Going outdoors is too far / too hot / etc
- Someone else has already thought of making this
- Something else? (I'd love to hear from you!)
Say it with me:
I deserve this rest. I deserve this moment to play. My perspective is unique. My time to create is now.
Your inner critic will try to protect you from risk. This is okay. But what if a practice of creativity is low stakes, and you have more to gain from trying?
What is your current creative challenge?
- The inner critic
- Generating ideas
- Choosing what to make
- Sitting down to create
- Making time for daily or weekly reflection
This is your encouragement this month.
📣At the start of a recent workshop, I invited participants to choose a spirit animal. One participant doodled a polar bear as her inner cheerleader. She chose to befriend her inner critic. This is a beautiful gesture of self-care.
We can learn a lot from the Southern bird migration. In a 24-hour span, migration maps show that birds don't fly nonstop. (Although an arctic tern travels the farthest, and is known to travel a total of 44,000 miles per year or roughly 120 miles per day!) Birds couldn't survive predators if they pushed themselves too hard. Likewise, humans need to find nature's rhythms too. We are nature.
By noticing the specific season we are in, we could find a natural rhythm of rest, creation and reflection.
🐦 Next time you see a bird in your neighborhood, put away your phone. Notice the song or watch how it collects food.
If you want to learn more about how to lower the stakes for your creativity, keep reading!
Here are some more ways to stay creative this month
- If you created something because of this newsletter, email me or tag me on instagram @clarakoala.sketcher
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