On travel + jet lag + cracking your creative process wide open

A few days ago, I returned from Spain. 

Art Nurture's first Andalusian Adventure was more beautiful than I could have ever conceived. The women whom I had the privilege of traveling with were exceptional. 

In the past few days since my return, I have been dealing with the typical jet lag that occurs when you throw your body into a new time zone and routine outside of your norm. The jet lag has been a kind of strange gift, leaving me in this slower moving dream like state in which to process my adventures and re-enter life back home. 

Truthfully, I'm not very different on the outside, maybe a bit more tan & a few extra pounds from the delicious bread, but mostly I am still Court. 

The beautiful thing though, about stepping away, is noticing the small ways things shift, change, crack open, reveal, fade away, grow anew. 

Truth is, they were happening all along, just too slowly to realize. But stepping away, opening your eyes, experiencing anew...all of that breaks you open to the new changes occurring. Slowly, organically, with intention. 

Those things were in motion all along. Most changes don't happen over night. Most changes are not big & dramatic. Most changes are more about deliberate microscopic movements. 

Experiences, both new & familiar, integrate and become a part of the person perceiving and processing them. Then we make choices. Then we make choices again...each day. 

Then the culmination of that cumulative effort becomes our life and becomes where we are at in the present moment. That is also how art is made. Process. Process. Process. 

Be gentle with yourself. Be kind. You are human. Perfection is an illusion. Movement and change are real and natural. They are slow, they are deliberate. The cracking open wide of the creative process can happen if you allow it. Don't let it scare you too much, it doesn't happen all at once. It really shouldn't. For it to stick and be a real change, let it unfold. Allow it to reveal mysteries. Don't choke it, don't control it. Be present in the beauty of each moment. Each imperfect, perfectly beautiful moment. 

That's what I like about painting. That's what I like about horse whispering. That's what I enjoy most about working with children and art. That's what I love about travel. There's just no where else to be than in that sloppy, delicious, perfectly unpredictable moment. It's just gorgeous there. 

Thanks for hanging with me on my dream like, jet lag, pondering meanderings here on Art Nurture. 

When have you noticed the cracking open of your creative process; in life, in art, in anything? Please share below, I'd really love to hear from you. This is a conversation, by the way, and you are a part of it!

Wanna know what's happening this month for Art Nurture?

Tonight: Monday August 11th 6:30-8:00pm I will be speaking at Malaprops book store in Downtown Asheville, NC as a part of the Small Press & Self-Published Authors evening. Come on down and say 'hello' and get a signed copy of Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating Your Creativity

August 21st-August 24th The Underground Art Initiative LIVE in Madison, WI. Only 3 spaces remain to attend this amazing retreat for creative professionals! I will be speaking and attending and I cannot wait to connect with each person there! If you want one of the remaining spots, contact Shana LaFore, Founder of the Underground Art Intiative via her site and let her know I sent ya! 

September 2nd-December 10th: Art Nurture's Cultivators Community BETA 

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Art Nurture is about being fully alive and living life with the soul of an artist. A life filled with passion, intention, and purpose. Thanks so much for your time and your presence.
 
Cultivate & Nurture, 
Court McCracken

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