The Power of Routine

Mary Magdalene and the Little Dove

I love talking to a friend while drawing. I feel that by paying attention to the person on the phone, I can disconnect enough for the drawing to flow without effort from my hands. It helps me remember with just physical memory what I have done in the past and sometimes discover new things. In this case, I remembered the clouds, to hold the little dove, representative of the Holy Spirit. The hair it similar to some paintings I have done, and a way to create a more iconic image.

Today I drew while talking to my friend Corazón Tierra, my creative partner for the Mary Magdalene Celebration and other dance projects. Corazón has been a part of the Celebration since the second year we presented it at St. Mark’s in the Bowery in 2013.

Corazón and I spoke a lot about our creative practices. She mentioned she is prioritizing spending 35 minutes daily dedicated to creative activity. She might do some dance, choreography or painting, but the idea is to dedicate a certain amount of daily time to developing creativity and creative work.

I love her idea. By setting an amount of time that is attainable, she is committing to her creative practice in a realistic and achievable way. Setting a specific time of the day, or an amount of time and/or a certain place when and where we will create, helps in bypassing the self-sabotage we often go through before starting a creative activity. This might include devotional activity, meditation or other spiritual practices.

I identify creativity with spirituality as they both occur in the realm of imagination, and they are both ethereal activities that require faith in order to continue pursuing them. For me, they are the same, but of course, that’s not the case for everyone.

Just like prayer, art creation is often a spontaneous activity at times of great need. But it doesn’t have to be just need. When we intentionally create time and space for creativity, and/or spirituality, these actions help prevent times of great need as they help us organize our minds, rest, and fracture the sphere of obsessive thinking in order to create windows of hopeful expectation.

It usually takes me two hours to create a drawing and write and edit a post to publish here. I did not expect this amount of time when I committed to drawing and posting every day, but in my case, it’s a good thing and if I’m too tired, I keep it shorter. Two hours are probably too much for most people who are just starting to break the barriers of the mind in order to cultivate a creative or devotional practice. Or for most people who work and have other important daily commitments. It is important to remember that just as it takes as little as 3 minutes to create heart-brain coherence, a creative practice can be short and powerful at the same time.

The main challenge is taking that first step. Each day.

Why each day? We need to learn to use routine in our favor. Routine is not just a gift of life for our jobs, families, children and pets. Routine is a human tool we can claim for the pursuit of art, creativity and devotion.

When we train our mind and body to perform an action by repeating it each day, it becomes effortless. With repetition, we also learn. We discover details, techniques, shortcuts, and other ways to concentrate power into a gesture, a line, a verse, a prayer, or an action of any kind.

My conversation with Corazón reminded me of the power of routine. I have been harnessing that power to keep my commitment to draw and write every day. By now, my body and mind are trained to wake me up from my regular evening stasis after work, and get me to my work table.

It’s almost time to go on to the next stage. The to do list is long, but by approaching one item at a time, I will conquer each part.