I think about art. I think about it a lot. 

I make a lot of art. I work with people to help them make art. I read books on how to make art. I use the term ‘art’ to describe the larger realm of any act of creativity. Art includes painting, sculptures, starting a business, making a meal, and designing a new app.

I have a few clients who are ‘stuck’ or ‘burnt-out’. 

From my perspective, there is something off in the way these clients have understood and engaged with the concept of PROCESS. 

Yes, there are a thousand and one books, essays, and articles on creativity and process.  This is another one to add to the pile. 

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The many seasons of creativity

I felt a deep resonance when I learned about ‘seasons’. 

During my work with Integral MasterCoach Chela Davison, I understood the power and wisdom of looking at art, projects, and life through the lens of stages of seasons. Any act of creativity tends to move through stages of development. Through this lens: winter is a moment of rest, spring is a time of playful energy, summer is a time for hard work, and autumn for critical revaluation. Listen to this podcast for more on how Davison describes her understanding of projects, moments, and life through the lens of seasons. 

This is how I apply the seasons lens to art projects:

• During Creative Winter – there is little movement. It is a moment of rest, recuperation, and stillness. Maybe there are a few ideas are percolating under the surface; but there is little action. 

• An idea may begin to blossom during Creative Spring – This is a moment when you can test out many different ideas, iterations, possibilities with playfulness. The energy is light and joyful 

• Creative Summer requires focus, dedication, and consistency. In this part of the process, you commit to giving birth to an idea. To see it through, you move with a sense of courage, a singleness of vision, and no looking back. 

• Creative Autumn welcomes the critical and harvesting energy. This might mean editing your work, cutting things, or letting go of what no longer works in service to beauty. 

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What’s your creative proclivity?

As for me? Being in the right relationship with this natural cycle of creation – is something I have struggled with all my life. I’ve had the assumption that if I am a writer I must be in a perpetual state of summer. Writing, writing, writing. Never-ending writing and publishing. Every other aspect of the process of creation? I take it for granted. 

Each of us has our own way of being with the creative seasons. This might be a result of our education, childhood, culture, or professional experience. Understanding your personal proclivity is crucial to your process.

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Over-emphasizing creative summer?

When I work with clients who have years in the corporate world, I notice a tendency towards the creative summer energy. The client’s work suffers because they don’t give it the time to mature as an idea. They may:

• Berate themselves with how long it takes them. They bring ‘this should have been done years ago yesterday’ attitude. 
• Give themselves half or quarter the time it should take to fully produce a piece
• End up feeling burned out from the process of creation – instead of regenerated by the feeling of creation. 
• If you have this proclivity, reading books on optimization and productivity is a really bad idea.

I’ve been in this state and I know it isn’t some personal quirk. Capitalism, bro-marketing, work sprints, and hyper-productivity create toxic patterns of productivity trauma. It isn’t easy to leave our conditioning at the door when we sit down to create our works of art.

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Stuck in Eternal Winter or Spring?

On the other side of this equation, are clients who have more of a spiritual consciousness. I see them drifting in a state of eternal spring or winter. These clients may get the urge to complete or start a project – but they stop themselves. Why? Like a lot of artists, these clients may feel the discomfort of not being solidly sure of what they are doing. 

They say things like:

• I’m exploring, exploring, exploring. 
• I don’t want to rush the process. 
• Spirit will guide me. 

This is a beautiful attitude and one I believe in. AND – ‘going with the flow’ can be a form of spiritual bypassing. The time for creation, action, and summer has come but the person is unable to acknowledge it or move in its direction.

What may be holding a person back? Fear of failure, rejection, or perfectionism? It isn’t always divine spirit. Going slow is a powerful important skill – however, there is such a thing as going too slow…and it’s not good for you. In fact, lethargy is detrimental to your sense of self. Too much slow exploration can lead to years of self-doubt and lack of conviction. 

Realizing your ideas, taking daily tiny actions HELPS empower you.

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This is a metaphor. Creativity isn’t linear. 

This is the point of the article where I need to stress the holes in my own observation. Please don’t use the notion of creative seasons as the rule. Creativity is a dynamic process. Life intervenes in strange ways. Our bodies go through shifts and changes. Shit happens.

Seasons as a metaphor are a wonderful colorful way to understand conception, birth, harvest, and death. I like to use them accordingly. Understanding where I am in the creative process allows me to bring spaciousness or tightness to a project. 

Of course, not every part of the world experiences winter, spring, summer, or winter. I come from the desert; where we have different iterations of summer with very different implications for activity. In Asia, we have extended periods of the monsoon – which have vastly varied implications. Seasons mean different things for all of us. 

Take what you want out of this article and please leave the rest.

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Can you be honest with yourself?

Ultimately, what I’m advocating for is a deeper sense of awareness, honesty, and locating yourself within a larger process? 

How do you ask powerful questions around your process? 

How do you listen to your intuition to understand where you need to bring more or less energy? 

When you do locate yourself in a particular stage or season…how can you bring compassion and respect to your bearings? We’ve been programmed to have a lot of judgment of where we are and where we need to be.

If you are struggling to locate yourself, can you speak to someone who can help you get perspective on where you are? Can you find someone who will call you out? Who will lovingly say – ‘Erm, actually this smells a lot like spiritual bypassing? Get doing…”  OR – ‘you need chill”?

Having a deeper sense of awareness of the seasons your projects helps. 

Awareness can provide you with space, love, and understanding of the next steps you need to take (or not to take).

And, that makes all the difference.

Happy creating friends.