“Once upon a time,
the darkness fell
and there
in the nothing
everything
was born.”
Claire Takahashi
——
Several years ago, in the midst of a deep depression and insomnia season, all I could do was paint.
The world felt very dark, a palpable midnight without sleep or dreams or stars – I did not have words to share, but the act of creation on a blank page gave my soul space to breathe.
Creativity has been a partner throughout my life, whether artistically or otherwise. Regardless of if you create as an “artist”, I find that everyone is creative. And one of the keys to our mental health is to pause and remember this.
In each moment – what am I creating? And even more important, what do I actually want to create?
Being creative is part of what makes us humxn creatures. Like the Earth, we are in a state of constant evolution. We create ourselves all over again each morning when we wake up. We wash, dress, eat, clean, build and work. We create what we want, but sometimes we also create what we don’t want.
We are creativity in motion as we swim through the air of every moment. But the lack of space for presence and busy go-go-go of this wild modern world distracts us and offers a multitude of ways in which we forget about the humxn superpower that is our creative imagination.
Somewhere along the way, particularly in modern, Western culture, we have forgotten that we learn and live better when we play, which allows our creative souls to thrive, instead of just survive – and gives us space to choose our creativity anew in each moment and season of life.
The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering. – Ben Okri
How are you creating today? And are you creating in play? Or are you creating in fear?
I suppose I write this to tell you that, in the end – you are a creative soul. And you are not alone in your struggle of messy, playful, forgetful humxnness.
When my mental health knocks on the door, I always have moments where my heart completely forgets to pause and explore what I am creating. But when I do remember, I breathe better, eat better, play better, and – even if my heart is still broken in that season – I take one tiny turtle step towards creatively living well.
May these words meet you when your midnight moments come. And may we all find new ways to choose our creativity with love and to play without fear.
xx, Claire
A few things for Creative Play:
Join Claire and Denise on April 20th to play, breathe and build
Listen to Claire on The Spiritual Artist Podcast
Read about Creativity as a medicine bag on Creativity Thesuarus, written by Rachel Connor on SubStack
Download creative coloring pages from Claire
About Claire
Claire Takahashi is a Creative Earth Coach, meditative guide and an artist of paint, petals and words. Certified as a Wayfinder Coach and a Morning Altar Teacher, through her 1:1 coaching, creative workshops and Earth art guidance, Claire helps other humxns to reconnect with the Earth in their bones, uncage their inner creatures, and live with more colorful and restorative creativity.
Claire is also the host of The Mindful Creature podcast, guided meditations for reconnecting with our creature cousins and calming our inner landscape.
Currently, besides her coaching and workshops, she is working on her first poetry collection and the second season of The Mindful Creature. Claire lives in the Pacific Northwest on Coast Salish lands and most days you can find her spattered with soil, paint, fur or all three!
You can find out more about Claire or join her monthly creative creature newsletter at www.clairetakahashi.com or find her on Instagram @claire.takahashi
