Creativity as Meditation
Prayer doesn’t always look like words. Meditation doesn’t always look like soaking in something made by another person. Sometimes, the act of prayer is the spiritual practice of creating without judgment purely to express wonder and devotion. I had the good fortune to enjoy an incredible continuing education session this past week with Liza Hyatt, an art therapist and spiritual director. She reminded us of the power of arts and creativity to unlock our capacity to heal and to grow.
That session was very much in my mind when I gathered up the supplies for making a little portable Stations of the Cross, a devotional practice begun by Franciscans after they became the custodians of the Christian pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land. These artistic renderings of the Passion were meant to be an imaginative journey through Jerusalem during Jesus’ final hours. We were hosting my niece and it was time for some family art making, and I specifically chose to open myself to this particular project.
The fact that many Christians are observing Lent, that I just had a wonderful class on trauma healing through art, and that we were collectively taking time to create, are all kind of incidental to the project I chose.
I say this to offer encouragement, sometimes our creativity needs to be free play, with no objective in mind. Other times, it helps to have an end in mind to help spur our acts of creative mindful presence and contemplative awareness.
I have had the pens for at least a year. The colored pencils have been in my study for even longer. The artist cards are at least five years old. I bought the tins online almost three years ago. Inspiration doesn’t always lead directly into action, or even proper contemplation. Don’t despair of the prayer tools you have thoughtfully assembled and yet haven’t touched.
It’s true that they may need to be given away as a part of the spiritual housekeeping during this season. It’s also possible that they are ready to be transformed now, and therefore you’re being invited to pick them up and play. Discipline should bring peace and anchored energy, not be another source of dysregulating stress.
So it was that I began my journey along the little pocket pilgrimage. Many years after I imagined it. A few years after I gathered the supplies. At a time when it was the moment to be fully present to the beautiful dance that is making, even when the corners are wonky. or the tins need fussing to balance, or it seems that the work needs one more stroke, and then one more.
I’ve been so encouraged by this practice, that I look forward to slowly working my way through the set throughout this season. I can feel myself longing for the focus and the gentleness I experience while working on each piece.
I hope that you find ways to incorporate creativity and expression into your practice. Not as a commodity, or a product, but as the work of your body that brings more joy into the world, whether that comes through making or through some sort of embodied performance.
Practice
Take a moment to find something you have made (or a photograph/recording if it no longer exists).
Sit quietly and savor the goodness of bringing something into the world, whether witnessed by many, or only by you and the Divine.
Try to remember the sensations, emotions, thoughts that accompanied that moment of creation.
Savor those as well, and sit with them for as long as they last.
Offer a prayer of gratitude for your creativity before you leave this space.
Breathe deep, and be mindful of opportunities for creativity that come to you in the week ahead.
Be gentle with yourself, you are worth it.
Peace and Everything Good,
The Rev. JM Longworth, OEF
Spiritual Direction and Trauma Care
https://www.sdicompanions.org/sdi-profile/GreenMtFriarOEF/
To book an appointment:
https://calendly.com/greenmtfriaroef