I’ve been thinking about the creative process, and one thing I’m realizing is the importance of completely letting go of what it is you expect to see.

In the beginning, it’s all about feeling the the drive to put something forth. You get in touch with what that energy, and you sit down and start.​

But you have to be ok with your efforts going whichever way they will. It won’t turn out like you thought. It will have an echo of your thoughts, and hopefully the mood and desire behind your efforts will come through. But what the thing actually looks like – if it’s going to be truly organic, truly created – is going to be beyond your thoughts entirely.​

You have to start seeing yourself not as the creator but as the channel. You have a certain influence over what you choose to express and which way the energy goes. You can set some good intentions. But once you’re engaged and willing to receive the creative flow, it’s really no longer up to you. ​

Your job during the actual work of creation is more like a gardener. Setting up the environment, moving things out of the way, ensuring adequate nurture – all of this to allow space for the thing that is not you, that comes from beyond you, to take shape and grow.*​

It’s like having children. They come from you and your partner, yes. They are a part of you. But in a significant way they are not like you at all. They are something entirely different. ​

When I was young, I used to wonder what my future children would look like. I used to think of names and try to imagine them. Well, now that they’re blessedly here, I can confirm that I didn’t envision even a shadow of who my children actually are. I gaze at their faces and see parts of me, parts of my husband. But I’m also seeing something completely different. I watch them grow into their own selves and think: Where did you come from?​!

Your creative efforts, your projects, your babies. They are yours and they are not yours. Be there for them, give them space to grow, and the hardest part – step out of the way when necessary. Let them come into their own.**​

Mama, you got this.​

* As part of my very own Equal Opportunities Policy, I believe that people should be able to use gardening analogies even if they themselves are not exactly great at gardening.

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**Case in point: I sat down today to write about a particular topic, and this came out instead!