The following is what resonates with me and I hope it encourages people to dive into the text or the audiobook and find what resonates with them.
Chapter 10 – Clear Water: Nourishing the Creative Life
Creation is For Everyone
Everyone is creative. Everyone is creative. Creativity is inherent to human beings. We are pieces of the Creator, creating is natural to us. Women Who Run With the Wolves focuses on women and our power but know that creativity is for everyone. Also, creativity does not belong exclusively to fine art. I am an artist, I write, I dance, I paint on occasion, fine art is my thing. That is not the only legitimate, creative expression.
I have heard too many people claim they are not creative, and it makes me want to scream. Finding a new way to accomplish a task is creative, rearranging items in a more logical order is creative, the scientific method is creative! To think, to attempt, to apply, to try again, to find one or multiple possibilities or solutions is creative. Embrace and own that you are a naturally creative being across every expression of humanity.
Creativity is love and adoration for anything so strong that you must create (p. 322). You must talk about it, you must share, you must get the ideas bursting in your mind outside of you lest you implode. Make a place for creativity and it will come to you (p. 323). Creativity is not solitary, we’re inspired by one another. Outfits at Beyoncé concerts, all the artwork and edits based on Sinners. Fanfiction and adaptations are all inspired by the source material. Nothing is new under the sun because we share creative energy, the newness is the perspective.
Back to women, femmes, those of the female/feminine persuasion, this is about us. Our creativity feeds us, sustains us figuratively and materially. Nothing can stop it; we create and love returns to us. We are most alive at work creating, spinning experiences and inspiration into gold (p.323). Creativity holds the power of the ocean. Crashing, receding, crashing again. It is only avoided through barriers or poison like mimicry. Ms. Me Too, biting off another’s plate while ignoring the banquet arranged to your exacting taste. Developing our gifts is a long path. It is always worth the time to find your light and way to your gifts over deep waters and through dark nights (p.324).
Polluting the River
Lack of creative flow is a crisis. When creativity stagnates, we must clear the river. Get in there and clean it up (p. 325). We must recognize our gifts and learn to care for the life they create (p. 328). Cultivation protects us from the surrounding culture belittling our ideas, creating for ego’s short-term satisfaction, or ego raining toxicity on our newly sprouted concepts (p. 329). We must defend against lethargy. Fight becoming slow, claiming to lack new ideas, distraction by love affairs, overworking, debauchery, or fear of failure (p. 330).
We can misuse extroversion and introversion, making a few moves or wishful thinking will not fulfill us. Our inner saboteur and/or harpy are in cahoots to criticize and annihilate every step we take. Nothing is every good enough, they fill our river with garbage (p. 331). We may claim we don’t have the right tools (p 332). Start with what is on hand. Every well-known content creator will say one day they got over themselves and went for it. A friend of mine made magic in her apartment with a white backdrop and her impeccable sense of style.
We face a constant onslaught. Negativity questions everything about you, picking you apart. Telling us to prioritize earning a living by exhausting ourselves. Sneering that our work only matters if it is acclaimed or claims our attempts are not “logical”. The beginning of creating is not meant to be logical. Logic is not the answer to living a full life. The best, truest, natural, and human experiences are not logical. Intellectualizing everything is numbing. This comes from a person who thinks about EVERYTHING. Don’t allow respectability or responsibility to steal your energy. Go make something (p. 332-333).
The Creator and The Protector
In a woman’s psyche there is the creative force and its counterpart, animus. Animus is a skilled helper, acting on the creative’s ideas to bring them to life. Taking fully formed ideas out into the world and bringing back information to create anew. Healthy animus enforces boundaries and works for the good of the creative (p. 336-339).
Culture and thought patterns injure animus as they injure us. Negative animus attacks and leaves projects incomplete. Injured animus questions our legitimacy in claiming our creative selves and titles. The wider culture asks questions that distract animus with negative thought patterns, crushing esteem and output (p. 340-341).
To build new animus and clear the river we must (p.342-345):
Receive nurturance: accept compliments, do not deflect. You and your work are worthy.
Respond: observe the myriad possibilities around us and form a unique, truthful response.
Be wild: let the ideas come, do not censor them. Try them all out.
Begin: fail and start over, rip the sticky fear bandage off, yes you may lose a few hairs. Face failures, toss them and move on. They are not the end or a moral judgement.
Protect your time: set firm, unbendable boundaries. You are working and nothing is welcome to disrupt you.
Stay with it: use animus’ action, do the difficult tasks that lead to mastery. We’re our souls only protector, tend the garden daily. Discipline is essential.
Protect your creative life: practice every day, identify blockages and unclog them.
Craft your real work: balance regular life and personal inspiration. Demand time for quality creation.
Lay out nourishment for creative life: time, belonging, passion, and sovereignty are essential to keep the river clear, reflective, and sparkling in the sunlight.
Water with a natural, clean flow nourishes us.
A Creative’s Haven
Women glow when we create, it’s passionate and the ultimate pleasure. We are fulfilled in our creative space, excited by ideas and possibilities. We are full of forward motion (p. 329). We must surround ourselves with people who praise our creative lives. Drop anyone who doesn’t support your life, art, or ideas (p. 348). Creative focus requires nurturing and we must move around to find it. Friends who warm and feed your spirit are the best (p. 349-350).
It’s part of the natural cycle to lose focus, a loss of energy. This is when we listen for our soul’s voice and follow its directions (p.354-355). We do not create from a bottomless well. Rest is not a luxury; everyone needs rest to function. We must be restored to handle fresh endeavors (p. 359). It’s why actors go on vacation after a project, restoration is necessary. Prune our animus like a flower, cut off the dead bit to keep the rest of the idea alive and thriving. Restore focus for the sake of creation and claiming ourselves (p. 360-361).
- Week 1 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: Meeting Wild Woman
- Week 2 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: Connecting with Intuition
- Week 3 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: Love in the Spirit
- Week 4 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: Find Your Place
- Week 5 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: Body Talk
- Week 6 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: Avoid Traps, Save Yourself
- Week 7 – Women Who Run With the Wolves: I Found My Way Home
