Cultivating a Mantra & Ministry in Your Creative Life

When people describe the “whys” of their creative life, I tend to hear “E” words.

“I need to express myself.”

“I like to teach (i.e. educate) people.”

“I want to entertain people.”

“I hope to enlighten others.”

“I enjoy writing/painting/performing/etc.”

I’ve come to believe that these are not the root reason we write, paint, sing, strum, drum, photograph, design, sculpt, cook or do anything “creative”.

Sure, we enjoy the process and product of our chosen art.  But I don’t think that’s why we really do creative work.

I believe at the root of our creative impulse is a need to connect.  With ourselves.  With others.  With God.  With our world.  And with a host of other things.

This seemingly inherent need to connect manifests itself in our desire to express, entertain, educate, enlighten, etc.

Which means our creative life is relational at its root.

And if connection is at the root of why we create, then it seems the highest calling of a creative life is to tend to the needs of ourselves and others.

The creative life deepens and cleanses our everyday life.

It’s cathartic.

However, without a root, without an anchor, without a focus, our ability to tend to each other’s needs can be scattered and shallow.

A mantra can focus your creative efforts.

And a ministry can fuel them.

A mantra is a frequently repeated word or phrase that helps you focus.

A ministry is a specific way you tend to the needs of another living being.

I know I’ve taken some liberties with these definitions, but this is what each means at its core.

Do you have a mantra?  A focusing agent for your creative work?

And have you ever thought of your creative life as a ministry?

My mantra is to, “See the familiar in unfamiliar ways.”

I got lucky and discovered this as a Literature major in college.  But it’s taken me nearly two decades to figure out how to apply it.

As I write poetry, essays or even blog posts, I am constantly repeating this mantra in my head.  As I find myself writing things that are obvious, predictable or have been said before, I delete them and begin again.

As I’ve cultivated the ability to see the familiar in unfamiliar ways, I have developed a unique ability to help creative people overcome block, burnout and loneliness.  It's my ministry.

I want my writing to be a sanctuary for you.  A place of respite.  And a space of reawakening.

Consider finding a mantra that focuses your creative work.

And consider offering your creative work as a ministry to others.

You can tend to their physical needs.  Emotional needs.  Intellectual needs.  Spiritual needs.  Relationship needs.  Financial needs.  Environmental needs.  Or spatial needs.

And your work can be educational, entertaining, enlightening, expressive or all these mixed together.

Whatever you do, keep connecting.

I know it can be lonely, thankless and frustrating.

And I know it can feel as if you are floating aimlessly at times.

But it’s called the creative life, because it requires you to create it as you go.

And, as with all creative endeavors, it takes a few drafts before you get it right.

Keitharsis focuses on creativity, roots and the portfolio life.  It is written for writers, artists and other creatives.  New essays are published each Tuesday & Thursday.  A creative exercise is published each Wednesday.  Click here to receive all new posts via email.

Comments

[LarryTheDeuce]

Great challenge. This can't just be about us, or it just becomes an exercise in shallow existence

[Eileen]

Great thoughts, Keith. When I started writing again the one thing that drove the decision was a strong desire to inspire/encourage others. Hey, there's an E word! I think if I had to sum up my mantra in a sentence it would be. "No one is beyond hope."

[Kim]

I do think that there is something about a desire to connect - with others, with myself, with God - when I write. I love that you wrote that. It helps me understand something I've been wondering about ("why am I doing this again?")

The mantra that popped into my head was "Find the Grace".

[Kim]

I do think that there is something about a desire to connect - with others, with myself, with God - when I write. I love that you wrote that. It helps me understand something I've been wondering about ("why am I doing this again?")

The mantra that popped into my head was "Find the Grace".

[Joe Bunting]

You certainly have succeeded in making me look at familiar things from a new perspective, Keith. I think I've been drumming at this relational model of creativity for a few years without being able to put it so succinctly. My mantra, which I haven't used to it's fullest potential, has been, "Make pretty things for people." But that's not good enough. I need to soul search on this one.

[Karen]

Keith... "create as you go" .. that is the quote I picked up from this writing today.. alot of times I try and filter my writing, I am always thinking about how it may sound from someone else reading it, instead of it coming from MY HEART. This past 2 weeks, I have stopped filtering, stop protecting others and their beliefs, and I have gone FULL force into the full truth of my heart. Create as you go, I think creating from what is really in your heart of what you want to say.. that is my Mantra.. no more filtering.. I was told this past week "write what it is you truly believe, it's the other people who are reading it that have to hold how THEY perceive it" .. speaking from the heart with no filtering has become my way of "create as you go" and my new mantra.

thank you for another great write and the inspiration to think and be a better writer.

Karen

[georgia]

this is so so so so good!

there are many times that i come close to giving up on my photography or photography blog, because i think, "why bother? what is the point?..." {among so many other thoughts that damper my will or drive to pursue that creative outlet}. and i know for a fact that what keeps me coming back is the aspect of how it helps/lets me relate... to myself, to others, to God, to my environment.

have you read the book "the tipping point"? i have not read it, but a close friend of mine did, and shortly after we became friends, she told me that i am a connector... one of the three main types of people that are described in the book. i had not heard the term, so she explained, and having heard her explanation, i thought, "wow! i really am, aren't i?". then i realized that it was largely why i started blogging {i had other blogs i was active on at the time... ones where i liked to write about and feature other artists}. anyway, that is why i find it interesting that you used the word connect. i know you meant it in terms of the artist/creative connecting with others or things outside themselves. but i think that many creative people could also be put in the "connector" category... connecting {or strongly desiring to connect} others to each other or "bringing the world together"... and in doing so, feeling a sense of connection themselves. {i know i do!}

that said, i love your advice about honing in on a mantra and deciphering what your ministry is. these are two things i will definitely be pondering in the days ahead. sage advice! i have often prayed that God would use my talents {where ever they fall on the spectrum of "green-to-seasoned"}, and that through my blog/photography, he would use me to reach others in some sort of ministering way. but i also get away from that thinking, so it's nice to be reminded... and to apply it to all other creative areas of my life.

[Stephen Haggerty]

Love your thoughts on the need to connect and cultivate community. Great stuff!

[Keith Jennings]

Larry: Exactly! Well said (as always).

[Keith Jennings]

Eileen,

Always love hearing from you! Very powerful mantra! That's a keeper right there.

[Keith Jennings]

Kim,

The "Why am I doing this?" question will never really go away. So think of yourself as an electrical cord that channels creative electricity from a power source to others.

If either end of you is unplugged, it takes something away from others (whether or not you are aware of it). And even if only six people are fans of you and your work, I believe they're worth your effort. Don't you?

Stay after it!

[Keith Jennings]

Joe,

Thank you for your comment! That's what I hope to do!

How about "Bring the beauty"? Or "Channel beauty"? Or "Give beauty"?

I love the idea in your mantra! I am working on an essay about finding beauty in unlikely things/ways. So stay tuned!

[Keith Jennings]

Karen,

I am so so glad you are finding renewal in and through your creative work! That's what it's all about!

[Keith Jennings]

Georgia,

Yes, I've read nearly all of Gladwell's work. He's a great writer and thinker.

You may find the book "Please Understand Me" by David Keirsey a very interesting reference book. It's scary at how specific it describes each of us. Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Please-Understand-Temperament-Character-Intelligence/dp/1885705026/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328808315&sr=1-2

Also, take a look at my comment to Kim above. I address the "Why do this?" question we all face.

[Keith Jennings]

Stephen,

Thank you for your comment! Great to hear from you!

[Tony J. Alicea]

There is so much I can soak up in this essay. I love that you say our creative life is relational at its root. That's exactly what I want my creativity to facilitate.

I would say that my mantra is "Discovering identity and unlocking destiny." I consider it my life message. I'm not the only one talking about this so I continually need to rethink and reimagine ways to express, educate, entertain, enlighten and even enjoy the message.

[Keith Jennings]

Thank you, Tony! I love your mantra!

[Suzie Gallagher]

My mantra: "gentle challenging nourishment". A lot of my work recently has been non-fiction about my journey into the personal jubilee I live now, it is biblical or scripture based and is questioning of other people and of myself. It would be so easy to sit in this new creation, smugly smiling, saying "I totally get this" it is much more challenging to seek out the areas in my own life that need work on, to smooth the rough edges.
I have been rocked by how vehement people can be when you are not a perfectly cylindrical piece that can be tapped into a hole. I challenge people but in a grace full and gentle way, offering the nourishment of a fresh outlook on scripture whilst challenging the stagnant.
Creatively in poetry, fiction and visually I look for the ordinary and skew it, or I look at the outrageous and skew it to normal. When I feel it is mundane or rehashed I press the delete button. Two weeks ago I deleted 2000 words because it was beginning to smell of rehash.
I just have to write, if I am blocked fictionally, as I am now, I write poetry and review other people's work, I wait patiently for the fiction valve to be turned on again, I am avoiding a piece of work that needs rework, a sermon to be delivered Sunday week, I am embracing the avoidance and waiting for the moment when that can be addressed.

Great post Keith, mantras keep the focus, keep the rationale to the surface, help with the flow and caress the ebb.
If I write too long in your comments, just nudge me!

[Keith Jennings]

Suzie,

A comment is a comment, right? It needs however many words it needs!

I, too, am not timid with the delete button. Would you believe that this post was the result of the fifth complete re-write? Each time a wrote a post, I just couldn't stand it. So I started over.

Very unique mantra! Thanks for sharing.

[Jason vana]

I never really considered it a mantra before, but I guess my focus in my creative work is a single word: Deeper.

I want my creative work, whether it's writing or developing resources or doing graphic design, to take people deeper: deeper in God, deeper in relationship, deeper in commitment and perseverance. And my ministry would be to equip them to do so.

I love that you made the distinction that creative work is about connection. So true!

[Lizzie]

I've never thought about creating a mantra or ministry, but I love the idea. When I write, I like to look at familiar things with different perspectives, see the extraordinary in the ordinary. The most interesting things to me are often "normal" people and "normal" events. Good thing for us creatives that there's no such thing as normal. I need to think over this a little more.

[Keith Jennings]

Jason,

Great mantra! Technically a single word like "deeper" is more like a mantra than my phrase. A mantra is meditative.

I really look forward to your comments, Jason. You're always insightful!

[Keith Jennings]

Hi Lizzie!

I'm with you. My creative writing is almost exclusively focused on peaking under the skirt of "normal".

Let me know where you land with this. I'm very interested!