Patience Might be the Missing Skill Within Your Creative Practice
Because good things take time and rushing them only keep you stuck.
Welcome to The Creative Edit, a weekly(ish) newsletter by Chalice Nelson, licensed professional counselor and expressive arts therapist. This email is written in between sessions, administrative tasks, and tending to my own creativity. Expect typos, errors and a whole lotta love. 🩵
Happy Sunday!
Many of you are new here so before you delete, Heyyy! You recently signed up for and/or joined me for Feelin’ in Color: A Meditative Coloring Experience. Being here keeps you up to date on upcoming events I host, along with creative mental wellness practices you can do on your own. Stay for awhile. I promise not to blow your inbox (no more than 2/week) because I too don’t like getting spammed… Deal?
Let’s take a moment to take in the magic that has been Feelin’ in Color! What if I told you that this was an idea I came up with 4 years ago and it’s just now getting it’s time to shine? As I’m sure many of you do,I keep an idea notebook and one day wrote down that I wanted to create a mindfulness coloring book. To launch it, I said that I would gather a few of my close friends to try it out and let me know what they thought about it. That never happened. Instead:
I kept thinking about it.
I went back to school for my expressive arts certification.
I came back to the idea looking for illustrators.
I made a list of potential locations I could partner with.
I got close to securing a location and then they decided to close their brick and mortar location.
I had other pressing concepts and ideas that felt important to prioritize.
And then it all worked out exactly when it was supposed to. Between the opportunity to host this during Black Coffee Fest, the training I received on the psychology of color and the meaning of shapes and symbols, learning more the science behind sound and mood, the opportunity to host it as a live event where people could be in community, yet still go at their own pace. It became what it was meant to be.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone who expressed their interest, showed up, and shared what Feelin’ in Color offered them. Had I rushed the process, it wouldn’t have become what it is and I wouldn’t have been able to connect with you all. More coming soon! May this be a reminder to you all as you pursue your creative dreams to let things unfold and blossom according to their timeline, not the one you feel compelled to follow.
What I’m Reading
A random scroll through my audiobook options landed me on I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. Without giving too much about the plot, it was certainly a story about patience, creativity in the midst of the unknown, and curiosity. I was captivated by the shared vision, collaboration, and persistence of the main and supporting characters in this book. Would I be an expressive arts therapist if I read it and didn’t think about how it could be used as wellness tool? Here are three questions that I came up with:
1. What stories do you hold about welcoming in opportunities to co-create/collaborate within your creative projects?
How does patience and freedom connect to one another in your life?
What permission to you give yourself to give up or try an alternative method?
Your Creative Guidance This Week
Your rush to get to the destination is actually pushing you further away from living out your dreams. Getting to the finish line means nothing if it’s not the correct race. Be attentive to your surroundings, the patterns showing up and the way experiences make you feel as you sprint along the track. You always have permission to pause, try a different route or change the destination. What can help you create a stronger sense of connection to your intuition so that you are reaching your desired destination, not just any destination?
Inspired by Ariel J. with Open the Blinds. Download the full Create Patience Playlist.