Honeycomb Club #6: Three Things I Know to Be True About Creativity
On the roles of curiosity, care, and balance in our creative endeavors.
Hi there friend,
This week finds me in a state of transition, moving all my possessions into storage and driving halfway across the US. By the end of the month, I’ll be on my way to Central America for the summer.
Amidst this whirlwind of movement and change, I find myself lacking the bandwidth to write a full essay. Instead, I’d like to share with you three things I’ve learned to be true about creativity.
I first wrote them down for myself a few months ago, as a sort of guiding document outlining my beliefs about creative practice. Since then, I’ve returned to them often, using them as a touchstone amidst all the clamor out there.
As I wrote last week, the truth is often a slippery thing that we must constantly reorient ourselves to. That’s why I believe life is less about staying perfectly on course and more about the act of repeatedly correcting our path.
Did you know that airplanes are off course at least 90% of the time? It’s only because the pilots make course corrections, over and over again, that we get to where we’re trying to go. And I believe the same principle applies to our lives and our creative endeavors.
So without further ado…
1. Your curiosity is your greatest guide
All too often, we walk the same well-worn grooves of our interests. It makes sense: we know what we like, so we indulge what we like. And that can be nice! After a long day, I know exactly the kind of TV I want to watch, or the meal I want to make, or the podcast I want to listen to.
And yet I’ve learned that if I want to stoke the embers of my creative fire, I have to leap off the path and into the woods.
The cure for stagnation isn’t eating the same lunch every day or rewatching your favorite sitcom. It often sits in the quiet discomfort of reading your first sci-fi book, trying to write poetry for the first time, or signing up for a pottery class before even knowing what a pinch pot is.
I make no promise that you’ll love everything you try.
The point isn’t to constantly take on new hobbies and interests. It’s to stretch your understanding of who you are and who you can be.
Every time I try a new creative medium or walk a new path home from errands, I can feel myself cracking open a little wider to the world that’s around me.
It’s as if I can feel the freshly formed neural pathways blooming to life in my brain. My synapses crackle and pop, forming new connections, seeing patterns I’ve never noticed before.
And that’s the crux of it: the pursuits my curiosity leads me to wind up bleeding into my established practices. The noir film I watch informs my writing practice, the used cookbook I find inspires me to make a meal I never would have dreamed up on my own.
This is how we create a rich and nuanced life. Some scientists believe one reason our lives feel like they speed up as we get older is that so much of our lives fall into routine. We work the same job, run the same errands, and somehow life streaks by us through all the monotony.
Bringing a sense of curiosity to your life isn’t just fun—it creates novelty and nuance that makes it easier to feel more present in your day to day. It literally slows your life down, making it feel more expansive, deep, delicious, and slow.
2. You are what you eat
Just as the food we eat becomes the fuel that creates new cells and literally becomes our physical body, the stimuli we absorb becomes the fodder for our dreams, our perspective, our lens through which we see the world.
I am deeply invested in what my eyeballs and ears are eating. What do I watch? What do I listen to? And how does it all impact the way I see myself, others, and the world?
A caveat: I am in no way saying we shouldn’t bear witness to war, genocide, climate change—any and all of the earthly atrocities that need our attention. We are not on this planet to bury our heads in the sand, to pursue pleasure at all cost and claim ignorance of the world’s devastation.
And yet: there is something to be said for protecting yourself from needless harm, drain, and despair.
I am working to lead with curiosity—to put myself at the growth edges of what I know and what I like—while also taking good care to take good care.
For example: I’m staying informed and bearing witness to the atrocities in Gaza, Sudan, the Congo. But I’m not watching Baby Reindeer, or listening to My Favorite Murder (I say this with no judgment for what you consume—these just aren’t right for me, and I know and try to honor that).
So jump in with an open heart and mind—then chase it with a sturdy sense of self protection and care.
3. True balance requires an ebb and flow.
I’ve learned that true balance isn’t about perfect equanimity at all times. It’s about letting the scale wobble from one side to the other, and trusting that the balance will shift as it needs to over time. This is one of my greatest beliefs about life, and it also applies to my creative practice.
Some days (weeks, months, years) it pays to surrender. To receive, to notice, to observe, to eat up. To read books, listen to podcasts, watch movies, stare out windows, listen to music, eat a hot meal cooked by someone you love.
Other days (weeks, months, years), we are called to generate. To create, to dream, to take action, to put ourselves out into the world, to experiment, to bring ideas to life. To write a book, make a podcast, film a video, choreograph a dance, cook a hot meal for our loved ones.
Both are vital ingredients to a creative life worth living. The best balance isn’t about being perfect everyday.
I urge you to pay attention to the cycles your body, brain, and spirit naturally move through, and to honor them as best you can.
And in keeping with that, I encourage you to consider the Input and Output prompts below carefully. What days of the week or month are you more inclined to consume, and at which times are you itching to create? How can you harness your natural cycles and move through them with a greater sense of ease and trust?
***The following are three pieces of creative input. Consider them inspiration to refill your creative cup. I encourage you to give your inner artist a sweet treat this week—even when you don’t think you deserve it, even when you’re hesitant to call yourself a creative person.
1. Eastern philosophy says there is no “self.” Science agrees.
A (somehow very digestible) article on the differences between Eastern and Western philosophies, and how modern neuroscience provides evidence backing the former’s lack of ego and selfhood.
Why should you care? We all face mental pain, misery, and frustration throughout our lives. Often, this suffering stems from a fundamental error: mistaking the voice in our head for a tangible entity and labeling it “me.” This illusory sense of self is at odds with neuropsychological evidence, which shows that there is no fixed, stable self. This illusion is the primary cause of our mental suffering. But what if we could remove the “self” from these problems? How would your life—and your creative practice—change?
A teeny tiny taste to entice you: “Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn’t one.”
***
2. Remember when you wanted what you currently have?
A delightful newsletter from one of my favorites,
, meditating on our oh-so-human tendency to seek more and more and more, bypassing satisfaction with what we currently have (and how more likely than not, there was a point in the past where we desperately wanted the present we’re currently taking for granted).Why should you care? Nic has this way of needling into the very core of the truth of something, and this newsletter is no different. May it be balm to your soul as it was to mine, and a reminder that where you are now is just as sacred a place as where you hope to one day be.
A teeny tiny taste to entice you: “Not because desire and longing (for new things, different things, better things) is inherently bad, but because it is all too easy for me to keep my gaze and attention focused on what’s next, what’s missing, what I want — entirely bypassing the fact that so much of what I have right now used to exist only in my sweetest and most wishful fantasies.”
Read it here, and subscribe to
, too!»***
3. Healing Deep Sleep Hypnosis
A truly magical sleep hypnosis recording available on Spotify.
Why should you care? Sleep can be hard!! I’m an anxious sleeper, often taking ages to chill the f out and finally fall asleep. This podcast has become a go-to when I’m tossing and turning. I’ve never made it through the whole audio, in fact, which isn’t the case with most sleep meditations. If you struggle to fall asleep, I recommend you give this a try.
A teeny tiny taste to entice you: listen to the first few minutes, if you’d like.
***
***The following are two ideas for creative output. Consider them as prompts for creative living in action. Because you have every right to get out there, practice your craft, engage your innate human creativity, and have a good time doin’ it.
1. Make a date with your feelings
An empowering method for facing our sadness, fear, anxiety, grief, anger, and confusion.
Toxic positivity mandates that we have to force feed ourselves positive thoughts and feelings even when we feel like shit. If you’ve been here for a bit, you know I’m a fan of the podcast Near Death, which deep dives into hospital chaplain Peggy's 20-year career spiritually supporting the sick and dying.
In episode one of the podcast, Peggy asks a vital question that flies in the face of this modern way of thinking: “how do you have self compassion if you can’t even acknowledge that there’s something to have compassion for?”
Why? Peggy explains, “If you don’t give [your difficult emotions] that time and attention, it’s like a little kid. A two year old, they’re gonna poke at you. It’s like the three am wake up, it’s all the things that poke at us, we have to give it attention for a while or it’s just going to get bigger. So let yourself just freak the hell out for a while. It’s okay. You don’t have to keep it all together.”
How? “Make a date with it. Make a date with the fear… Take your iPhone, and say from 2 to 2:10 pm, I’m going to make a date with the hard stuff. And I’m going to think about it: “What if…?,” “What does that mean…?” And then you say, okay I can come out now and get back into the moment.”
***
2. Find and eat a local edible plant
Spring has sprung, little caterpillar, making it a wonderful time to delight in the edible plants growing right outside your door!
Why? Listen, if I have to tell you why sipping on fresh honeysuckle in your backyard or adding chives from the hiking trail to your salad is such a delight, this Output suggestion is probably not for you. Taking “eating local” to a whole new level is simply fun and satisfying for those of us who tried to eat every plant, nut, and seed as a kid!
How? This is a great guide to learn more about foraging for edible plants. I recommend starting with easily identifiable plants that have no poisonous lookalikes to stay safe. Honeysuckle, dandelion, chives, chickweed, and violets are all a great place to start.
***
That’s all for now. Talk soon!
Katie