April: Cultivating Creativity

“And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant 

Lady spring is here, bringing fresh ideas and budding beauty. April is the perfect time to reconnect with your creativity and devote time to the things that feed your soul. Creativity serves our parenting, it renews our energy, it invites us to see beauty and to move from our head space into our heart space.

How can you create time and space to feel creative, inspired and artistic? Ask yourself if you are living out of habit more than inspiration. Can you shift from habitual living into artistic living? The question of HOW is at the root of this pondering; how am I moving through every day life? As an artist or as a hamster in a wheel? Now before your inner critic speaks up, take a breath and know that we can hold both the spontaneity and the monotony.

It’s HOW we feel about about what we are doing that impacts us differently.

Personally, I need both the monotony of my morning routine. It is rhythmic and guides me until I feel totally awake. Then I shift into a more enlivened rhythm, greeting the children and enjoying my morning coffee or tea with 100% presence and thoughtfulness in my actions. I connect with creativity by how I lay out my son’s clothes in funny ways each morning, or what I can make for breakfast.

What part of your day can you make time to spend time doing something creative that is just for you? I’ve discovered that I love flower arranging and it is something easy I can do each day. In the morning I pop outside and choose a handful of colorful plants, then put those beauties throughout the house.  My husband likes to spend an hour of strumming the guitar when the house is quiet at night. Dust off the paintbrushes and keep an art station nearby and easily accessible for in the moment inspiration. Stash a notepad and pencil in your purse and try ten minutes of creative writing next time you are sitting under a tree watching your child swing or slide at the playground. My friend Jessica Latham has inspired a love for haiku which I strive to weave into my day as much as possible. Make it easy.

If you need more support cultivating your art of mothering, join our online community in our Mothering Arts Collective. Join anytime and connect with the rhythm of the year through writing, crafts, songs, games, recipes, parenting support from a collective of experts as well as a thriving online community of mothers just like you. Click here to learn more and sign up for only $30 a month. 

“I love the planners on the course. I’ve never found anything that works before (and I’ve tried quite a few!). These are brilliant, and the artwork is beautiful too ❤ ~Marie K

How do you cultivate creativity? Comment below with some of your ideas.

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*Freebie Alert*

Download and print our free monthly calendar for April. It has a place to capture special dates, home-care and meal planning. Click here to get your free calendar.