Inspiration vs. Focus

The bulk of this article, clearly, is something I wrote some time ago – as in before the start of the pandemic (reference to “my time at home” being limited.) I've added to it as I've edited it – though I've tried to keep most of the additions after the end of the initial written block (which I've italicized to mark previous vs. new.)

At the forge.  Photo by Travis Sweet.

In typing the words, it occurs to me that the first question that comes to mind is – why is it adversarial? Why can't it be inspiration and focus? Well, sometimes it can. The difficulty comes when it is one pitted against the other – which is so often part of the creative process. You need to have one or the other – usually flip-flopping between the two for some random period of time before they can get together and work in harmony and create that perfect state of creativity and productivity that we all look for.

This just happens to be where I am just now. I have ideas flooding in, and I'm pretty sure they are mostly good ideas – not just for things I want to make, but for shaping my business and my approach to my business as I try to make this a working vehicle. When I woke up this morning I was very excited about many of the aspects of what I am undertaking. I was all fired up. But I was also stiff, and tired and in reality I knew that this one day is the day I have off just now. So I ought to take care of myself, and do some stretching to keep me moving, I ought not try to tackle 25 things but pick one and focus on it as I only had one day available to me here at home, just at the moment.

By the time I had gotten my focus onto the fact that I needed to eat, and then fulfilled that need...all hope was lost. The ability to prioritize the list of things I wanted to tackle had changed to a great need to rest, and to play – there is lots of inspiration but very little focus. So I am letting my mind wander down that track, down the aisle where I understand the need for play in continuing creativity, and this blog entry is my compromise.

Sometimes it is portrayed in film and television, that need for play. You see the office with a bunch of writers or other “idea people” and they look like they are just throwing a ball back and forth while they talk, or some similar such activity. I've seen it working in offices of creatives, sometimes. What looks to outsiders like the staff is being paid to play a game or some other curious activity that makes you wonder what the world is coming to.

Truly, creativity is a bizarre thing. Sometimes it comes from nothingness. From silence and blankness, and appears like the first star of the night sky. Other times it will not come unless you are in the middle of a game of some sort. Sometimes it comes when you are in the midst of a serious scientific or political discussion. It is unpredictable. But when it flees you will try everything to court it, to bring it back.

Perhaps the wisest course is to build in all possible scenarios so that it has every possible opportunity to arrive whenever it desires. Certainly I have found that a mind at play, and a mind allowed rest give that mind the room and the breathing space that creativity finds most inviting. And indulging in such things as play and rest allow room for focus as well, so that we can bring those things into harmony and have them work together, making that glorious moment of being in the zone, being creative and productive and everything flowing smooth and sweet.

Photo by D. Markewitz

Yes, I do think that creativity is something of a living entity, with whims and desires of its own. I choose to anthropomorphize it the same way I do with nature and animals. It is a way to relate to it, to commune with it. Focus is something that is also a living thing, but more sneaky. It doesn't always land where I want it to, but it is something that absorbs me utterly when it truly kicks in. Whether I'm searching out twitchgrass roots in soil or watching metal move beneath my hammer or tying teensy knots into pieces of hair I get utterly lost in what I am involved in, when everything is just right.

In spite of the changed circumstances of the time, and the glorious ability I have to be home quite literally all the time now, this whole topic is no less relevant. There is still very often a lack of communion between creativity and focus – on some levels at least. There are certainly no less demands on my time, though all of them originate here at home, and all of them have a sense of urgency – of time being limited, however much of it there seems to be. My focus often feels like it is split, fractured really, into dozens of pieces, all pulling in different directions. When it gets particularly bad I tend to throw myself into something that will put it into gear (during this part of the year that is often digging and prepping for planting in the yard.) This is both good and bad. Once my focus is engaged in an activity, tearing myself away to try to do anything else can be difficult. I often find myself immersed in thoughts of roots and soil (for example), so much so that I dream of it and wake with the list of the next set of tasks neatly fitting itself together in my head. That can be great, unless you also have other high priority things on the agenda (like say, the components for a sculpture to build, or a proposal to submit, or a website to update or a blog post to write....)

A raised bed surrounded by twitchgrass.  Photo by KPS.

This is all part of the dance of everyday life. I am very aware that is something that we all face in our own circumstances and our own environments. As frustrating as it can all get, it is also what sustains me, what inspires me, what keeps me engaged and involved and in love with my life.