Take a mini artist’s date

In her iconic book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron encourages creatives to make a weekly Artist’s Date. The object is to take your inner child out to play and give them some attention. This could be a visit to a museum, a walk at the beach, going to see a movie. The essential element is that it’s time spent alone.

I’ll admit that this is the part of the Artist’s Way program where I always fall. I already spend so much time in the solitary pursuit of writing that I never quite seem to get (or make) the time to take myself out to refill my creative well every week. Cameron tells us that these weekly Artist’s Date can be threatening—and essential to our creative productivity. And yet, still I resist.

So, like starting a new exercise routine, the trick I’ve learned is to start small. Instead of a weekly artist date, I try to get a daily (or almost daily) mini artist date of maybe ten or twenty minutes. I take a self-guided tour of my own garden or a short walk around the neighborhood paying attention to the paint colors of people houses or the plants in their gardens. While running errands, I stop at new-to-me music or clothing store just to browse. Or I spend time perusing the paint colors at the hardware store or feeling the texture of upholstery fabrics at the furniture store.

Even ten minutes spent alone engaging one or more of the five senses can add a few drops back into the creative well.

Think about your day ahead. How can you step away from you screen and your obligations and be alone with your thoughts and your senses for just ten minutes?