Creative practice for us all

 The benefits of time spent in totally free creative activity (with no product nor audience in mind) are huge, and the practice is addictive.    It's much like play,  also critical to a life well lived, whatever  is going on in one's life or the world, and perhaps especially when life is stressful and uncertain.  

Unplanned expressive activity with no particular endpoint in mind - through writing faster than you can think,   singing or dancing or flailing or drawing or throwing paint on paper or....  changes the way we relate to the present moment - even just for  ten minutes.   Improvement in mood and overall health  generally follow, bit by bit.

  When we allow what arises to express itself in a spontaneous gesture, we are being most like ourselves, at this point in time, as there are no constraints from the views (usually unasked for and/or below conscious awareness) of anyone else.   It's a life-changer, and opens the door to unexpected treasures within.      Whatever we do after this feels  easier and more authentic, no matter what. 

So I urge everyone to experiment with any and all art forms you can think of without  delay and without forethought - to uncover things you just like the process of doing or creating for the sake of it, without being weighed down by handed down restrictive thoughts of  whether or not you're going to be "good at it" or "how to do it right" - or an end product in mind.  Just start by doing it - bring it into your daily life for yourself alone.  Even for 10 - 15".   

As novelist Kurt Vonnegut says  in his letter to a group of high school students below:

 " Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or how badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously!  I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives.. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her.  Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on.  Make a face in your mashed potatoes.  Pretend you're Count Dracula. 

Here's an assignment for tonight, ...Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed.  No fair tennis without a net.  Make it as good as you possible can.  But don't tell anybody what you're doing.  Don't show it or recite it to anybody...  You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. "

"You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow."

This is a worthwhile adventure.