dear kening, how do you stay motivated?
dear kening, how do you stay motivated?
dear kening,
how do you stay motivated? how do you keep creating? how do you stay grounded and open and give out so much love through your art when the world moves on around you?
Nanya
dear nanya,
thank you for this beautiful question, and for your words.
if we think of motivation as fuel, powering the engine of the self to get us from point A to point B, then this means you have to constantly go to a gas station to refuel your motivation for a particular goal. this gas station might be: a particular environment, doses of inspiration, teachers, or a community, or validation, or a clear vision that excites you for the future, or, varieties of fear of not being enough.
but I want to argue that making art – the act of creation – is not an engine that needs motivation-fuel. creation is an act that fuels itself. it’s an end in itself. it’s like a solar powered, wind-powered, hydro-powered engine, drawing energy from life; from the universe, from the elements, from your life.
this my way of saying: if you focus solely on the end result, or “the goal,” getting from point A to point B, then you won’t be able to keep creating without needing more fuel. if you focus on the very process of creation – absorb the process, internalize the process, live the process – until it feels like a form of psychic breathing, until you get to a point where you can’t NOT create (because it feels bad, like not sleeping enough), then you won’t need motivation-fuel. you will keep creating, no matter what happens in the world outside you.
creation is like breathing, because the raw material is in life, itself – I inhale my life, I hold it in my psychic body, and I exhale it – in the form of words, images, sounds, expressions. how I feel about it, who sees it, what happens to it – none of that really matters. breathing is what matters.
and to do this, you’ll need to be grounded, and open. you’ll need to take diligent care of your body, mind, and spirit, because YOU will be the vessel through which that energy will move through. the world will move on around you, and you will move with it, like a dance.
but how? I’ll share some practical suggestions:
first, commit to it. journal about it. why is creation important to you? why does it matter? commitment doesn’t happen just once. you commit again and again. so, start an ongoing conversation with yourself about your commitment. be true and gentle.
second, take care of your body. ground and nourish yourself, so that you have the internal energy to create. get enough sleep. do a movement practice. eat well. make space in your life.
third, nurture a daily practice around creation. start small, without too much pressure or expectations around output. do it until you can feel the clear difference on the days in when you don’t. tune into that feeling. celebrate what you make, even if it’s not perfect, because it won’t be. allow it to grow slowly, like planting a seed. trust in time.
and in my experience, the process of creation is both the act of paying exquisite attention to the world outside of you, and that internal process of tending to your inner world, planting beautiful things, one seed at a time – until one day, you’ll look inside youself and see that you’ve created your own kingdom, your own refuge, your infinite pool of strength – such that no matter where you are, no matter what happens in the world outside of you, your relationship to your creative instinct – and all that you create from it – will be the one thing that will always hold you, and make this one life feel more meaningful, more beautiful, and more worth living.
yours truly,
kening