I've been reading and working with a great book, The Artist's Rule by Christine Valters Paintner. It is filled with wisdom she has gathered from others as well as her own practice. This bit from Linda Leonard seemed good to share:" A major obstacle to creativity is wanting to be in the peak season of growth and generation at all times...but if we see the soul's journey as cyclical, like the seasons... then we can accept the reality that periods of despair or fallowness are like winter - a resting time that offers us a period of creative hibernation, purification, and regeneration that prepares us for the births of spring."
After times of exciting productivity I can recall days, sometimes weeks when I felt like I'd lost it. I could go through the motions and paint, but the deeper connection was lost. There was a bit of panic and some depression. And then somehow I'd get stirred up again, and I'd love being in my studio. Winter after the holidays, is actually a great time for me. Summer may be when I experience less juice - there's just too much going on in the rest of my life, the heat is discouraging by mid afternoon.
How about you? Do you wait these times out, or keep pushing through? Do you accept the rest?
