for when your creativity wanes

Written by Sandra Heska King

PRAY EDITOR "Once a nurse, always a nurse," they say. But now I spend my days with laptop and camera in tow as I look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. I'm a Michigan gal, mom to two, grandmom to two, and wife to one. My husband and I live on 50 acres in the same 150-plus-year-old farmhouse he grew up in. I love this quote by Mary Oliver, "Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." That's how I want to live. And I'm still learning how to be. Still.

October 2, 2012

He tells us beside the Frio‘s flow, in his talk on The Care and Feeding of Creativity.

That when work stalls and words stop, move.

Because it’s in the moving that we breathe.

It’s in the breathing that we keep breathing.

Breath in. Breath out.

Breath in. Work out.

Because the brain needs oxygen.

And oxygen lights the coals of creativity.

While the sedentary smothers it.

Brain rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.

He tells us we need thirty minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week to keep our brains sharp, to keep our creative flow, to extend our lives.

And when you’re stuck, he says, go for a run. Or walk too fast to sing.

The creative sweet spot is right after exercise.

Before. A. Shower.

So today when words tumble and jam and time is short, I push my chair back and go for a walk.

I sling my camera over my shoulder, and go in chase of a creative spark.

I go on the hunt for beauty.

I look for slivers of wonder in everyday-take-for-granted sights up and down our road.

I try to see them in a new light, from a new perspective.

My heart speeds up even in the stop-and-go of it.

I walk a mile and and a half and take a hundred pictures.

When I come back, I place fingers on keys.

And watch words flow.

 

 

 

 

11 Comments

  1. Nancy Franson

    Wow! That guy must have been a brain scientist or something 🙂

    I went for my walk yesterday, then had to go pick up my son. I guess it’s all in the sequencing. Looks like your walk was much more productive. And lovely.

    (And, completely off topic: Go Tigers!)

    Reply
    • Sandra Heska King

      So I’m thinking going for the walk first might have been a good thing. 🙂

      And yay Tigers!

      Reply
  2. Diane Bailey

    And who doesn’t need more help in the brain department? Thank you for the encouragement!

    Sandy, You are a brainy-Bible Dudette!

    Reply
    • Sandra Heska King

      That department here is often unmanned. 😉

      Thanks, Diane!

      Reply
  3. Marilyn Yocum

    Thank you, friend, for helping me process some of the richness by recalling together. Your photos here are marvelous. No waning going on in you.

    Reply
    • Sandra Heska King

      What a wonderful weekend. You’re an inspiration, my friend.

      Reply
  4. soulstops

    great advice, Sandra…I have also seen the difference a walk makes in my attitude…blessings 🙂

    Reply
  5. lauralynnbrown

    Beautiful. Oh, pokeweed! And those things that look like gray tufted Reese’s cups!

    Reply
  6. pastordt

    Oh yes, they did flow. Gorgeous pictures and words, Sandy. Thank you.

    Reply

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for when your creativity wanes

by Sandra Heska King time to read: 1 min
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