“Every now and then, step away and take a moment to relax. When you return to your work, your judgment will be sharper. Move some distance away because then the work seems smaller, allowing you to take in more of it at once, and any lack of harmony and proportion is more readily easier to be seen.”
– Leonardi Divinci on Creative Exhaustion.
I am a victim of Creative Exhaustion.
I drive myself relentlessly from one exhaustion to another, working until I wear down my spirit, body, and mind. Today, I decided to try something new with my flowers. I rested and meditated for several hours, and then I listened to music.
I poured back through my archives and picked flowers I rejected, considered incomplete, or did not rouse my emotions.
They did look different as I reworked a few, and I was sorry I rejected them. I apologized. My spiritual life is helping me learn how to step back and relax. And also to be wrong. I learned a lot going back to those photos. My idea of creativity changes every single day.
“The grind is destructive of both the person and the work. Unless the soul can be refreshed enough to think, create, and recoup its energy and interest in the work at hand, there is no hope for either recall or creativity.” — Joan Chittister.
“It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.” – Thomas Aquinas.
