Sunday, January 25, 2009

Creative Playdate #1

Creativity Playdate: Vision 2009

My longtime wish to create a community of creative women has come true. On Saturday, I joined with six women to do visioning for 2009. As the facilitator of the session, and having my daughter and good friends as participants, I was nervous and anxious (the jitters one sometimes gets when embarking on a new creative project.) I fretted that my key wouldn’t work to get into the building. I fretted that it wouldn’t be fun. I fretted …

This anxiety was wasted energy. My key worked to get into the building. However, the classrooms were locked and I don’t have the security code to get into the section where the keys are stored. So we ended up doing our session in the break room! While I was annoyed about this, Jean pointed out that women gather in the kitchen … it’s a natural place for us to be.

So, what is the lesson? Why worry about a creative project? Things will turn out as they turn out. Be prepared. Let go. Allow the project to take its many mysterious twists n’ turns. We were obviously supposed to be in the kitchen, relaxed and comfy. The classroom could have set a more formal tone, and signified work rather than relaxed creativity.

Most of us expressed some anxiety over creativity. After allowing that inner critic a chance to speak, we told “him” to go outside (in the rain) and wait for us. He was no longer welcome in the room. It’s important for the critic to have a voice but be set aside while you engage in a creative project/expression.

It was a great time. We all expressed a desire to reconnect with our creativity and doing so in community seems to work well. The visioning exploration was fun and interesting. Talk about the element of magic! The vision boards were filled with magic, as was the room.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am rejoicing in your ideas and persistence to bring women together to support, create and challenge their creative juices. We all have skills and talents recognized by others, the difficulty lies in admitting it to ourself. I look forward to sharing the next playdate with all my new 'friends'. Something exciting and fun in 2009.

Jan's Art and Musings said...

Jean, thank you for being a part of this journey!

Judy Wise said...

This is what I love to see; friends gathering and making art together. We can all share the fun, the food and the community created. Brava!