Five Ways to Live a More Creative Life (Without “Making Art”)

  1. Go on a walk in your neighborhood and collect the wildflowers and plants growing around you. Notice all of the beauty in what you had previously seen as weeds, and make an arrangement of them at home to display for yourself.

  2. Practice the lost art of loitering. When you have in-between time (between appointments, work meetings, dinner with a friend) resist the urge to fill the space with a phone call or an errand or an accomplishment. Let yourself loiter, sitting outside on a park bench and watching people walk by. Wander into a gift shop down the street, stroll through the neighborhood and look at the houses, and embrace the in-between as the space from which all good ideas grow.

  3. As best you can, find ways to add more walking into your life. Is work nearby? Get up a little earlier and walk there. Errand to run down the street? Walk! Use this time to mull over any creative impulses coming to you and be inspired by the world around you.

  4. Work with what you have. Rather than trying to create something grand, use the resources you have in your home and look at them them in a new way. Painting but no paint? Mix old spices with water and glue. Redecorating on a tight budget? Move the furniture you have into new spots around your house and start to see things in a new light.

  5. Use your clothing to channel the energy you want to feel each day. Play around with different characters and archetypes - sassy art teacher, ballet instructor, boss babe, wild herbalist - and remember that you are the creator of your own reality.

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The Beauty of Buying Handmade