White Space

I am a busy person and although that is not a bad thing, it is something I continue to struggle with as I have a tendency to get myself too busy. And this does not bode well for my creative juices. Do you ever feel the same way?

Being busy all of the time keeps our minds working. This sounds good but actually think about it; our minds are constantly working. So our brains never have the freedom to roam which is vital for creativity.

Inspired by Marie Kenny, a minimalist blogger who has started the challenge on Instagram for people to schedule some white space into their day through her hashtag challenge #ABreathOfWhiteSpace I have been using a breath of white space to boost my creativity.

In her blog Kenny explains the science of creativity and the brain. It’s very interesting and gives context to the concept of white space and is well worth a read. Her blog also includes ’10 practical ways to include white space in your day’.

Although day to day rehearsals are going well, I’ve been finding my writing ideas and inspirations to be lacking recently and as I’m aware of the benefits of rest to our emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing I decided to give it a try.
 
What I Did
 
For Day 1 I lied down for a while and relaxed my body. Then I sat on my cool, hipster stool staring out of my massive bedroom window overlooking Brussels and spaced out for quite a while. Not a bad spot to get the creativity juices flowing to begin with. And you know I can’t even remember what I saw, if I saw anything in particular. But I remember the time, the peace.

For Day 2 I chose ENGAGE – doing a repetitive, mindless activity and letting your mind wander as you do so. I drew lines on a piece of lined paper with a simple biro.
 
What I Discovered
 
I thought about many things. Some thoughts were barely wisps. Still I was able to think more in depth about my characters for the two plays I am currently in, explore some ideas for them and do a lot of day dreaming (always a good idea for creativity).

A song came to mind that I had been trying to grasp at in the afternoon when I was doing my characterisation work. The lyrics played over and over in my head whilst I drew. And then eventually I realised what it was.

This may have taken time, but not nearly as much time as I had spent that afternoon doing the same work. And if I had been doing something else I would have gotten frustrated with my memory or just googled it without even using the brain power. I wouldn’t be thinking. Just doing. And White Space is about coming to a point where you are able to think clearly and solve problems as a result.

I found my white space and because of that, I was ready to take on the evening’s ukulele rehearsal which previously, I wasn’t feeling too ready for after a day of rehearsals as well.

Thanks to that breath of white space in my day, I was better mentally equipped to pour out a song that I’d been struggling to write because of how emotional it’s been making me. Yet I needed to get it out in order to focus on other things. It was a task I had been wanting to do for a while and I was more focused on it.
 
Get Those Juices Mixing
 
White space gives me space to think about things I normally don’t allow myself to think about because the processing can’t be done when I’m in the middle of a different task. But a repetitive task doesn’t need much of my focus and so my focus can be elsewhere.

Breaks from busyness are a vital part of being human and of human flourishment (a topic for another blog title!) If you are an artist or a creative person, you NEED to quieten the noise of busyness every now and again for the sake of your art.

We could all do with a bit more White Space in our busy schedules, to replenish our creativity by allowing the brain to enter its creative mode in order for it to flourish.
I hope you find some white space in your day!

---