Time to Create

A couple of months ago, I was tired of working ten hour days. One sunny fall Wednesday, I decided I wanted to do some photography for my Miksang photography group assignment. I left work after eight hours and photographed. Then, I had dinner at a new local café, and went to a coffee shop to write.

When I told a friend about my day, she said it was a dream day. It was. This was an experience I really wanted to have again, so I now have my Dream Creative Day every Wednesday.

Of course, at first I didn’t think I had time for a creative day every week. But I realized that when I have a regular class or meeting, I put it on my calendar as a repeated activity and just go. So on Wednesdays, my calendar has Dream Creative day from 2:30-7:00. My creative activity varies from week to week, but I haven’t missed a Wednesday.

The third action you need to build your creative practice is to find something you love doing. Only recently have I realized the importance of loving your work, at least most of the time The excitement you feel will drive you to make time in your busy schedule If not, you will soon lose the drive to make time.

You can’t plan what you love doing, or how long it will take to find. Stick with your daily schedule, be open to new ideas, and you will fall in love with a creative activity.

Soon after I began my morning writing, I had trouble coming up with ideas. I started writing haiku – short three line poems. I could come up with something in my allotted twenty minutes.

Not surprising, writing at 4:30, most of my early haiku were about my love for coffee, actually my addiction. While I now write haiku on a wide variety of subjects, the excitement I felt writing coffee haiku firmly established my morning writing period.

Now its time for you to act and find time to create. Try ten minutes a day. If you can’t find the time, unplug your TV. I haven’t had one for four years, and I have found a way to live without it.

If you can’t find a time to create at the same time every day, put a note on your bathroom mirror which says “When will I do my ten minutes of creating today?” Yea, I’ve done that.

Find time to create. I assure you the results will be amazing.

Here is an early morning haiku I wrote about this post: