247 - Building a Creative Life

Do you have a creative life? Are you a creative person? I encourage you to ask yourself these questions because I believe that creativity can be found in everyday activities and interactions--in conversations, problem-solving, and personal expression.

Today we explore the relationship between creativity and the practice of paying attention and share some ways I incorporate creativity into my own life.

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The music for this episode is Threads by The Light Meeting.
Produced by: Grey Tanner

Transcript

Bonnie (00:01.592)
Hello, love. Welcome back to the podcast. It's a delight to be here with you and to talk about the practice of paying attention like we do here. And I'm really just gonna start right with that and say that today I wanna talk about how creativity comes in the pursuit of paying attention. And I want you to ask yourself,

Do I have a creative life and am I a creative person?

Bonnie (00:40.972)
And then I want you to ask yourself, in what ways am I creative? And in what way have I been creative today?

Bonnie (00:54.636)
And the beauty of these questions is that there are so many ways to answer them. I had a conversation, well actually I've had so many conversations recently about creativity and people's belief about their creativity or what counts as creativity? What counts to be a creative? If I'm a creative in the world,

What does that mean? And how do I know if I am one and how do I get to put that check mark and be like, yes, check, I'm a creative. In the same way that I think about when I started calling myself a runner, I don't call myself a runner anymore because I don't run, but there's nobody out there telling you when you can call yourself a runner. You just get to claim it. So I just want this to be a conversation about creativity.

And if you are claiming it, are you claiming that you were a creative? Because my guess, my guess is that if you are here listening to this podcast and showing up with me, that you are building a creative life and that there is creativity woven into your days and you might not be paying attention enough to see it, but that in the pursuit of paying attention, because

A pursuit doesn't mean we necessarily are gonna arrive somewhere. This is the journey of the thing, right? This is the process, the process of paying attention, the pursuit of paying attention. I think those words can be synonymous. The pursuit of paying attention in those moments, in that time, in that sort of intentionality, we will find creativity. I think there's an interesting relationship between creativity and beauty as well.

because nature and if we go to the natural world, nature is, Mama Earth has been real good at demonstrating ways to be creative. Like have you seen how many trees there are that exist? Have you seen flowers that look like they have mini flowers inside a big flower? Like have you seen rocks? Like how are they all so different? Have you seen fossils? I freaking love fossils. If you have a fossil and you're like,

Bonnie (03:16.874)
I just have this giant ass fossil and I wanna send it to Bonnie. Like you just let me know. Now truly though, I love fossils. I'm kind of a nerd about that. So tag me on Instagram if you're like, here is a fossil. I'm thinking about Bonnie, I would appreciate it. Like truly that's a little bit nerdy, but that's true. But that's what I'm talking about.

I don't even have words. There's so much beauty in the world. And in that, I see creativity to see the way that something is shaped and then how we come into the picture as beings with brains and we see a rock, right? And I can say, here is a rock and

there's an exercise that Mary Oliver leads and talks about in her book, A Handbook to Poetry, where she talks about writing poetry. And she has two books about writing poetry. And they didn't know that for a long time. So she has a whole bunch of poetry books, but she has books about how to write poetry. And she uses a rock as an example, because you could call it a rock or you could call it a stone. Rock, stone. Rock, stone.

the sound of those words are different. So then we bring a certain creativity to the moment and it could be the exact same thing in front of us. So then the way that I name something that's in front of me is also creative on top of the thing being creative itself. And none of it would happen unless I was paying attention to even see that rock or stone in the first place.

So let's talk more about creativity because I am very confident to say that you are creative because I'm pretty sure you have conversations with people and even if they are small children, there is a creativity in the way that you approach that. And if you have small children and you're trying to sell them on eating their dinner, you might be doing that in a creative way. And perhaps you work with people.

Bonnie (05:41.322)
and you have to approach a problem in a creative way. Perhaps you have a lover and you are creative in the way that you are asking them to touch you and lick you in a certain sort of way. And perhaps the touching and the licking is creative in and of itself. Perhaps the way you get dressed in the morning has a flair of creativity to it. Do you dress like everybody else? Do you dress in a way that feels like you? How about the meals that you make? How about the route that you drive?

How about the order in which you get ready and why do you do it? I think the way that we greet strangers in the grocery store and in the way we might answer the phone, if you answer the phone.

Bonnie (06:28.306)
the way that we might say hello to someone, the way we look somebody in the eyes and there's somebody that I follow on the gram, homes for peonies I believe is her handle, her Instagram name and she had this little Q &A and somebody said, it just seems like you have so many loves or lovers or just people and how do you have so many people in your life that are so wonderful?

And her response was, I look at people and without saying anything.

With my eyes, I tell them, I love you. I love you. And to walk in the world with that sort of eye contact, to look at somebody, to look in their eyes and say, I love you. And to be vulnerable enough to be seen, for your eyes to be seen by somebody else, to have a softness about you and openness. And that is not without a lot of willingness.

who lean into yourself, right? And this pursuit of paying attention has many layers and many layers of personal history and experience and fear and wanting to belong and being afraid to be the weird one or the most awkward in the room. And I think that's also part of creativity. So I have three children and they are all very different from each other. And each of them are creative in different ways and some overlapping ways and

I love the ways that they are creative. Some of them have a very visual creativity that they offer and other ones it's less visual. It does not make one better than the other though. I think as a yoga teacher, the way that I might show up in the room and own myself is a part of creativity. The way I introduce a class is creative. The way that I sequence the class is creative. Then the way that I deliver the class is creative. The way that I approach

Bonnie (08:38.176)
is creative, the music that I choose is creative. Y 'alls, you are living a creative life. You are building a creative life. And I think this topic of how to build a creative life can go much deeper. We can talk quite a bit more nuanced, but in the single activities, actually, there's a lot of creativity that's actually included already. And we might not see

because we might not be paying attention.

So I wanna zoom back to a story that I am sure that I shared here. It would have been a couple of years ago. I mean, this podcast is almost five years old, y 'all. So we're gonna do something. Five years is coming up. But a couple of years ago, I signed up to direct traffic at a cross country meet for one of my kiddos that was running cross country. And it was a large meet, like so many people were coming. I'm sorry.

said, yes, I will direct traffic and I put on the orange vest and I was out in a field and I had the best time. I missed the race. I missed watching my kid because I was directing traffic the whole time. I was bummed about that, but also it was okay. was like a funny, it was a funny moment, but I was so into this directing traffic, which can feel.

or sound kind of like a mundane sort of experience. But I decided that if I was gonna be the first interaction that people had coming to this, that if it was with me, they were not going to regret it. And that the moment that was in front of me would be left better because of me. And that is a line from one of Sarah Blondin's meditations. And I so hold that closely in my heart and

Bonnie (10:38.37)
in my being and the way that I show up in the world. And so I have to be paying attention enough to the current moment to be able to do that though. So in this pursuit of paying attention, I showed up in that field. I was directing traffic, like guiding people where to park. And I was weird. I was like talking to him. was like, you

Kind of directing with my hands like come on bring it closer. yeah, just a little bit more Just a little bit more tap it tap it tap it right I am I Want a little bit more I was totally going sexual innuendo with it a little bit where I was like playing into a space where directing traffic is zero sexy and Doesn't and sounds kind of mundane, but I was like, you know what? It doesn't have to

And I brought a creativity that filled that did not exist before enough so that the older dude that was, you know, helping organize things felt confused. I feel like, I feel like it was a success because he was confused. He was like, what, you know, like why I can't remember what he said, something about what I was bringing the energy I was bringing. He was like, wow, you know, but I'm 40. Like why not? We're here.

Let's do the things. If we're not leaving people better in the moment than they're passing by, like what am I doing? And I think that's a piece of creativity. And of course, creativity is also in the way that we hold ourselves in moments that are not so joyful. In the moments where we have to do deep soul searching to say, who am I? What do I want? How do I believe in like the current moment of situation and how do I navigate it? And all of those things, which I have.

I definitely have my fair share of as well. And my approach to that and my approach to myself and the softness, which really is, could be seen as a creative approach to saying, okay, how can I understand myself here? How can I give myself grace? How can I laugh at myself a little bit? How can I let myself cry? Like the creative process of just

Bonnie (12:53.058)
being alive, right? I think we're talking about being human.

And so today, this is, I want to give you another example about creativity because I think that my hope in listening to this podcast today, that you will be lit up to watch for ways in your life that you're like, right there, I'm creative. right there, I'm an artist. And I do consider myself an artist.

and it's not something that I've been able to say for a long

But I do.

And I think I'm an artist with words and I'm an artist with images, with video, with photography, with words that are written and also in words that are more performance like this, that is spoken word, more talk style and more, I want to say teaching, but lectures is not always necessarily a thing, but to give a talk.

Bonnie (14:02.046)
or to be a teacher, like there's an artistry to that, to showing up. And it is not to be discounted because it is not a fine art. It is not a pen to paper sort of art. And I'm okay with that. And I still get to be this type of creative. And the way that I show up in my day to day outside

the creation of specific items. I mean, yeah, I do paint circles. So you have something where I have a paintbrush in my hand and the things that we think of art is like you're drawing something, you're literally putting something on paper. is sculpture. is building things like, but architecture is art, right? And that's very different than painting a nude body.

And artistry and creativity looks like so many different things. And I want to tell you that I was just working out in my underwear. Isn't that what you expected me to say just then? I was just working on my underwear. I was so sweaty, but you know what I love? I love wearing my matching Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein, please sponsor this podcast. I'll wear my matching Calvin Klein, very simple, basic.

song and like sports bra underwear. It makes me feel cool. It's I've never had it before in my life. And I saw somebody wearing, was like, I think I want that. And then I bought some underwear to match. And I think it's the fact that it's a matching set and it's like just a basic cotton. And I think my ass looks good in it. So it's great because it's a thong and there's my cheeks and I'm going to work out and there's some mirrors and I'm like, cool. So

So I'm working out in my underwear. So what the hell does this have to do with creativity? It has to do with creativity because I am giving myself permission to be the weird one and to say, what do I want? And what does play look like today? Because I think creativity requires us to ask that question. And for me today, play looked like working out in my underwear and getting super sweaty.

Bonnie (16:23.489)
And it's my matching underwear set.

Bonnie (16:27.89)
And allowing play to be part of my experience is part of what fuels me to do the work side of things because the creative part of me is filled up. And when we're depleted in that creative bucket, in the play bucket, in the bucket that's like, what's beautiful and what's fun.

It gets really heavy and it's hard to keep going. And there's some points in life that just are a heavy moment. And there's some moments that are like, wow, real lot of play, right?

But in my pursuit of building a creative life, I would like to hold both of those and say, I will work today. I will do the things where I lean in and maybe, maybe it's not everything that I even want to do today, but I know that it's going to help me move forward. And there's bigger goals that helps me move into that. I get to do this and I'm choosing this life. And the way that I'm to play today is I'm going to lift in my underwear. I'm going to shake my ass to some dancing music.

in the middle of my grunting of like lifting heavy shit. And that's going to be creative for me today. And I am excited about it. And perhaps that is the creativity of the moment and the way that that fills me up because it's play. Because it brings a different texture to my experience and my life. And all of a sudden I feel lit up because it taps down inside my body. It's coming from my inside out where I'm like, Ooh, I can feel all this. This feels joyful.

and joy coming from the inside because I'm paying attention. And it's a practice, right? It's a practice. It's not something that looks the same for me in every moment. And it's not something that I can find in every moment. And me sharing this is as much a message for me as it is for you that this is my desire. And I have moments where it is this and I have moments that are not this.

Bonnie (18:35.318)
And even in this sharing, and the voice that I have to share it with you and the creativity to deliver this and this platform to share it with, this is not how I've always been. And my ability to show up here in an artist sort of way and creatively deliver this is not where I have always been and I could not have delivered this like I am right now five years ago.

when the podcast did not exist, when I have not had the experience of the past five years, which have been rather transformational.

And that will be a later topic in October when we come up to five years. But I hope you give yourself grace wherever you are in your journey. There is no rush to build the life that you're proud of because you can be proud of your life right now as it is. It's already creative. You're already creative. Maybe.

You just have to slow down and pursue a little bit of paying attention and you'll see it. you'll see it. You will see it. And when you see it, then everything changes. And when you allow it, when you say what feels like play and you go to that place and you let yourself be the weird one or the awkward one or the one who's like doing weird dance moves while you're directing traffic to park,

Then it shifts. Then it shifts. And that's excellent.

Bonnie (20:25.67)
Because you get to write this story and you get to rewrite it from something else that maybe has held you smaller. You get to give yourself permission to get bigger. And this is the way you can do it because you are a creative and it is my delight to meet you here and to revel in each other's creativity. So again, what have you done today that has felt creative?

And can you expand the definition of creativity to include more than maybe what your first thought of what being creative means? And as a final invitation, if this has lit you up in any way and you feel like you want to share about your creativity and the ways that you've been creative today, share it on social media, share it on Instagram, tag me at carrot underscore bowl underscore Bonnie, tag me, share it with

I can share it with other people. Well, let's create a community of like where we're like celebrating each other's creativity, whatever the hell that looks like, right? Or send me an email. Hello at bonnieweeks .com. I would love to hear from you. Tell me about your creative life. And one last thing. If this podcast in general, Yoga Strong, or this episode has lit you up, write a review for this podcast. Give it some star ratings.

so that other people can find it. It means a lot to

Bonnie (21:58.48)
Okay loves, go live your creative life. Go do it because of the practice of paying attention.