Open Space Your Creative Flow

By Christine Carron

Unstoppable creative flow requires both structure and spaciousness. Most productivity approaches focus on the structure. They propose—and in some cases insist—that consistent forward momentum is only possible if you force yourself into repeating patterns that you must follow to the letter, day in and day out, no matter what. 

If for some reason you are having difficulty maintaining some very strict, very specific, "no variation allowed" regimen, then, guess what? You must buckle down even further. 

(Holy, wowza. I’m feeling waaaaay overbuckled.) 

The Consequences of Structure Overload

If we stay on this track, at a certain point we really do get so buckled down that flow is lost or, at the minimum, becomes secondary. Instead of focusing our energy on getting our creative work done, we drain our mental and emotional reserves struggling to maintain the over engineered process we’ve subjected ourselves to. Quite often our Inner Critics slide into the fray as well, adding disdain to the mix, because, Come on already, why can’t you get it together? Why can’t you follow this process? 

Unbalanced structure has one other massive negative consequence: it steamrolls the simple joy of being in connection to our creative work. That joy of connection sparks our commitment and motivation. Too much structure, especially structure harshly applied, can suffocate our forward momentum because it often suffocates our delight in the wild, untamed nature of our creative process.

Note: Effective productivity approaches work with that wildness. They don't cage it. 

The Art of Spaciousness

The counterbalance to structure is spaciousness. Your productivity process needs breathing room to be effective. So does your creativity. So do you. 

The Japanese have a concept called “ma” that is all about this idea of spaciousness. In her blog post When Less is More: Japanese Concept of "MA", Minimalism and Beyond, Yukiko Kisaki writes “ma” is the “essence of [the] Japanese aesthetic” and shares this old Japanese poem:

Thirty spokes meet in the hub,

though the space between them is the essence of the wheel.

Pots are formed from clay,

though the space inside them is the essence of the pot.

Walls with windows and doors form the house,

though the space within them is the essence of the house.

A question for reflection: What would the impact be on your forward momentum, if you were connected to the essence of your creative flow?

(Maybe pause on that question for a moment  before continuing. Really feel into what would change for you if you had a deep, confident connection to the essence, to the "ma," of your creative flow.)

While most easily seen in architecture or design, “ma” is a much deeper concept. Japan House in Los Angeles writes that: “. . .'ma' goes beyond the visual or spatial. It can be sonic, as in the silence between musical notes that shapes a composition. It can be social, whether conscious or subconscious, like the deliberate pause at the end of a bow before rising, or the instinctive silences in a conversation that allow each party to feel comfortable speaking. It can be temporal, the interval between events, like an intermission in a performance or a much-needed tea-break in the midst of a worker’s busy day.”

The Power of Spaciousness

All this talk of wheels and silence between notes and tea breaks might feel somewhat disconnected from the practical concern we all have about getting our creative work done. Rest assured, it is not. 

One of the creatives in Goodjelly’s Jam Straight recently shared that she’d enrolled in the program hoping for a few tips and tricks to help her get unblocked. “Instead,” she said, “it changed everything.”

That change, I offer to you, is because she has learned how to weave structure and spaciousness into the way she plans and manages her workload. The result is a productivity process that:

• meets her where she is week after week, 
• allows her to make consistent progress, and 
• has reconnected her to the joy—the delight—of being in confident connection to her creative work. 

Now, that’s some Goodjelly!

Let’s Play!

My invitation to you this week is to play with these concepts of structure and spaciousness. Take a tea break from your regular creative work, and identify places in your process where you’ve attempted to over-engineer forward momentum. Then invite your awesome brain to imagine different ways you could add a little spaciousness, a little “ma,” to the mix. When you do, you will be well on your way to finding the essence of your creative flow. And that will change everything.

Happy day, happy creating, happy jamming. You’ve got this!