I find that the busier I am, the more creative I become. In the past few years, with the distraction and tiredness that comes of having children, this hasn't seemed as true as it once was, but I do believe it may become true again. There is a busyness that leads to a sense of true accomplishment and expands your mind and then there is the busyness of checking off the daily to do list: cleaning the house, laundry, dishes, groceries, dinners. Although these are indeed accomplishments, they don't feel like achievements because the next week, day or hour, one must perform these tasks again. And with little children about, it doesn't take long for the work of cleaning to be undone.
The latter busyness therefore is not intellectually stimulating, but the former can be. The act of writing, in and of itself, stimulates the mind and brings back my latent vocabulary and thought processes. Ideas that have long lain dormant, begin to stir, like nature awakens in the spring. Even the simple act of cleaning up a garden bed and planting annuals - although it will have to be done again next year and maintained throughout the summer - produces a result that I can enjoy and look at and say "I did this and it is done".
A mind full of ideas and inspiration could be considered cluttered by some I suppose, however I consider clutter to be stuff that takes up space without contributing to the atmosphere. I don't like clutter. Clutter is piles of paperwork waiting to be sorted, mail that needs to be opened and dealt with, useless knick knacks that add nothing to the decor. It is countertops strewn with the detritus of daily life.
A cluttered mind likewise is filled with to do lists, things to remember, trivia and anxieties all detracting from any real progress. It can be difficult to clear away such clutter and achieve any true progress towards creativity especially when out of practice. But it is important to try to maintain some discipline toward this end.
I am hoping that this blog will be one such tool for freeing my thoughts of clutter. I plan to cast off the fetters of busyness awaken my thoughts once more.
