There are times when it seems that I can sit down and write something easily, the words take on a life of their own, simply flowing onto the screen.
There are times when each word is typed without knowing what will come next, the germination like a slow seed, that somehow grows into a blog post.
Then there are the times when it seems nothing creative will sprout, grow, change.
Coming forward to present it’s self without some sort of encouragement.
When things are rough, creativity seems to be the first thing lost.
It’s the last to be fed at the table, the first to be thrown over when there is no time, no energy, and no thoughts.
That’s a real shame isn’t it?
Creativity needs to be nurtured, lived, thought about, expressed, dreamed of, loved, and admired.
It’s so very important to thrive, be happy, and to be creative.
Much of my creativity is expressed through the images that I take with my camera. It’s dwelling in the photos, not mindlessly, but with intention and purpose.
For myself, there’s a Zen moment when the shutter clicks, when I capture as closely as possible what I’m seeing in real life, and record it on the camera card.
There can be surprises, images that look different on the computer screen then they did in real life, and I always consider those to be life lessons in themselves.
It’s as if the camera is teaching me to look beyond what I think I see, showing instead backgrounds, shadows, light lingering on leaves, shimmers where I thought there were none.
To look harder, think deeper, to learn not to mentally delete what is there, but to acknowledge it.
And to live my life that way also.
Sometimes just as picking up the camera is important, so is living in the moment.
Living life bare, open, experiencing hurt, joy, pain, love, full on.
Letting life make the memories, not the camera.
The trick is knowing when to let life do it for you, and when to pick up the camera. muddybootdreams [at] gmail.com