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Do you believe your creative juices have dried
up because you’re older, or do you believe
you never had any juice to begin with ---- do you
think it’s too late to begin? I’m mindful
of what a negative impact that kind of thinking
can have on our lives---body, mind and spirit. We
get so caught up in doing life right, in doing life
so the public will approve, in creating something
so they will buy it, or try it, or wear it, or hang
it on the wall. I say we take our maturing selves
to a museum once in a while. Do you know what’s
hanging in there? The museum is filled with stuff
people created and had the nerve to display! People
living artfully who had the guts to not back down
when someone said, “What the heck is that”
or “What does that mean?”
How many times have you said to yourself, “I
wish I had....” or “I wish I could...”.
Is it really too late? If blind painters can paint,
the hearing impaired can write and perform music,
if the crippled can choreograph a dance, what’s
to keep you from being creative? Your age? Stop
complaining and start creating! At the age of 104,
retired teacher, Sarah Delany, collaborated with
her sister Dr. Bessie Delany (then 102!) to write
the New York Times best-seller, Having Our Say:
The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. Their
book became a Broadway hit and at 105 and 103 years
of age---they published a sequel!
Here are some other women artists to inspire you:
• Grandma Moses was still busy painting at
100.
• Jessica Tandy won an Oscar at age 81.
• Imogen Cunningham, an accomplished American
photographer, was still teaching at the Art Institute
of San Francisco in her nineties. • Hilda
Doolittle, poet and writer, wrote Helen in Egypt,
considered one of her strongest works, at the age
of seventy-five.
You think YOU’RE too old? Pooh.
These women didn’t allow themselves to fold
up, sit in a chair and wait for Meals on Wheels.
Even if you’re waiting for your meal to arrive,
you can still create while you wait. Rebecca Latimer
said in You’re Not Old Until You’re
Ninety ( Blue Dolphin Publishing (c) 1997) “As
for expecting to live forever, I don’t, and
the way it takes me is to make me feel in a hurry
to get done all I want to do while I’m still
here.”
An article appeared in the Arts section of the
NY Times a while ago about Joni Mitchell, singer/songwriter
and artist (she’s in her 60’s now).
“In a report card note the sixth grade teacher
wrote: Joan should pay attention to other subjects
than art. Half a century later, Joni Mitchell went
back to her hometown and brought 500 of her paintings,
drawings and photographs with her. Eighty-seven
pieces were chosen for a show in the public gallery
there!
Is it too late in the second half of your life
to began reclaiming the artist within you? Think
back to what was said to you at an earlier age.
Maybe you heard words like, “trees aren’t
purple, use the green crayon” or “why
are you bothering with all that writing, don’t
you know it will never amount to anything?”.
Or how about “what’s with trying to
get a job as a dancer, don’t you know you’ll
never be able to make a living at it?” Rail
against the negative dictates, become militant against
the internal voices. Get angry and paint. Paint
anger. Paint the face of the person who told you
you couldn’t paint, then go sell the portrait
in your hometown gallery!
In Melody Beattie’s book, Journey to the
Heart (page 98, HarperCollins, 1996) she writes,
“Who told you you weren’t creative?
Stand tall, speak up, and tell them they’re
wrong. Own your creative powers. Allow your creativity
to heal and flourish.” I say, go to the kareoke
bar and sing! Dance, like Isadora Duncan in your
bare feet, draw purple trees, color outside the
lines and break the rules.
During the second half of life, women who devoted
their lives to their families, and some who worked
outside the home, have an opportunity to revisit
long-postponed interests---to reinvest in their
dreams. Only in their later years do most women
gain the self-confidence to explore their own creativity.
Let’s face it, creativity requires an acceptance
of your uniqueness and of being imperfect. With
the wisdom that comes with maturity we know ourselves
better and we learn that making a mistake won’t
destroy our self-image or the opinions others have
of us. And we’ve seen so much more of the
world at our age that we bring even more juice,
wisdom and fire to whatever it is we create at this
time in our lives.
Perhaps life is too busy for you to slow down enough
to find your creative spirit. Susan K. Perry, Ph.D.
(author of Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity,
F&W Publications, 2001) talks about a 71 year
old woman who “knew she’d write her
life story someday. But her real life kept getting
in the way. She sold real estate and bred show horses,
married four times and raised three daughters.”
Now that the children are grown and she’s
retired from real estate, she started writing short
stories and a memoir, found she has a natural flair
for clear writing and she’s having a blast!
The simple dictionary definition of creativity
is to bring into existence something new and valued,
but don’t get caught up in believing that
what you create must be marketable in order to make
it valuable. What you bring into existence can also
be a recipe, a well-planned vegetable garden, or
a time-saving new route to a friend’s house.
If you are stuck thinking being creative has to
do only with smearing paint on canvas, writing a
novel or chipping a sculpture out of marble than
your creative spark might end up stuck forever.
Isn’t setting the table with a pretty pattern
or bright colors an act of creativity every bit
as remarkable as oil paint on canvas? Isn’t
a beautifully made bed, an artfully arranged bookshelf,
or a collection of candle holders artwork?
If physical pain is plaguing you, keep in mind that
artists of all kinds report that when they are in
the flow of creativity, their pain becomes much
less. In a recent interview, Ann Rabson, 56, member
of the musical trio, Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women,
said: “I live to play music...I don’t
care if my knee is hurting, my back is hurting.
Even psychic pain---I don’t feel it when I’ve
got my hands on the piano keys.”
Suppose you’ve always dreamed about writing
a book. Don’t think you’ve got the time?
Author and screenwriter Julia Cameron advises, “If
you are interested in writing a book, write for
a few minutes every day. Set aside a small amount
of time and don’t allow yourself to be distracted.
Think you’ve got nothing relevant to say at
your age? Think you’re too old to write well?
You’re wrong. Eda Le Shan, author of It’s
Better to be Over the Hill than Under It (1990,
Newmarket Press, NY) felt she did her best writing
in her mid to late sixties. Don’t think you
can get published? Then self-publish.
Don’t scare yourself into thinking if you
write it, you’ve got to publish it. Write
whatever you write for yourself. Write for no particular
reason or for a way to explore your feelings. If
you want to write a poem, write a poem. Write a
journal, write an epic or a screen play. An older
woman I know writes poetry, prints out copies on
her computer, staples them together and gives them
as gifts!
Expressing the natural, vibrant force that is our
creativity can definitely improve our health, both
physically and mentally. Creativity boosts our mood
and increases our morale. It has a way of challenging
the brain that can relieve mood and sleep disorders.
Creativity strengthens the connections between brain
cells and assists our memory. It offers a fresh
way to respond to problems and may allow us to transcend
them. Having a creative life can make it easier
to face adversity--such as the loss of a spouse
and/or serious illness. With a fresh perspective
being creative offers, our emotions become more
resilient. Capitalizing on creativity promotes a
positive sense of well-being that experts say can
boost the immune system helping us to fight disease.
Stuck energy equals poor health, especially stuck
creative energy. A colleague of mine, a singer in
her 20’s, kept putting off her desire to sing
and developed one health issue after another that
showed up around the throat area. A client told
me of her desire to create her own line of jewelry
and when she did, her cancer went into remission.
I suffered with headaches for years before I realized
that the stuck energy in my head had to become a
book! Blood pumps when we do something creative.
Vessels open in the brain, circulation renews the
spirit.
We live longer, happier lives if we take the time
to be creative. We manifest health if we are willing
to see the way we live as a creative expression.
Look around you. Everywhere your eyes land you can
find a palette of color, a myriad of texture. I
say, even if you view your world through a different
lens everyday, even if you see only the rainbows
in the soap bubbles as you wash the frying pan---you
are living a creative life---a life worth living
for a long time.
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