On Creativity

Searching for your part
a center for your heart,
when you got here
you made it clear:
I don’t know where to start.

Searching for your part
a center to your arc,
in truth you feared
you interfered
every time you made your mark.

Searching for your part
a center in the dark,
the light appears
then disappears
until you make it spark.

Searching for your part
a center for your art,
you showed up here
your first premier
and don’t recall the start.

Searching for your part
a center where you can park,
year after year
and new frontiers
you’re making life a work of art.

Poem written by this week’s guest, the artist formally known as Aers Astra

3 ideas + 3 questions on making your life a work of art, from me.

You don’t need to be Picasso to make great art. You don’t even need to be a great artist. You are alive. Being alive makes you a creator. A creator is an artist. You are an artist. Your life is a work of art. Artist metaphors aside, your life is the greatest work of art you will ever have the opportunity to create. Unlike many great works of art, affixed on museum walls depicting fixed moments in time, your life is art in motion. It may take you an entire lifetime to make your greatest work of art — your life. Don’t wait a lifetime to imagine it. Don’t wait a lifetime to bring what you imagine into your life. Get inspired to dream it. Get inspired to create it. Get to work on painting it. Make your life into the greatest work of art you imagine it can be, today. And don’t stop creating until you get there, to the end of your life.

This week’s ideas — three free writing prompts —take you into your inner world, where the creative, spontaneous and prolific great creator you already are lives. In this inner space, you will tap into your imagination and envision your life as your greatest work of art.

Your instructions: Pick One Prompt. Book 30 minutes in your calendar. Start by getting into your body (e.g. do 50 jumping jacks or 100 burpees). Open your journal. Flip to a fresh page. Start a timer. Write continuously. Focus on flow before form. Creativity before structure. Do not stop writing until the timer goes off. Write beyond the timer if you are inspired to do so.

1. Prompt 1. Briefly envision your life as a whole from today until the end of your life. Free write on the following prompt: my ultimate vision for making my life my greatest work of art.

2. Prompt 2. Consider the most important areas of your life (e.g. mind, spirit, body, relationships, environment, work and finances). Pick one important area. Briefly envision it as a whole, from today until the end of your life. Free write on the following prompt: my ultimate vision for making my [insert important life area of focus here] my greatest work of art.

3. Prompt 3. Briefly imagine you are at the end of your life, looking back on a life well-lived. You have made your life your greatest work of art. You feel ecstatic. Free write on the following prompt: how I made my life into my greatest work of art.

In reflecting on your writing, contemplate these three questions:

1. What did you discover about how you are and are not making your life into the great work of art you imagine it to be?

2. What important areas of your life are you most terrified of making into a really great life and what are you going to do about it?

3. What is the cost continuing to choose not to make your life into your greatest work of art?

3 insights on making great art, from others.

2024-3F3-S01E117_MP1Q2