Survival for Creatives ... How to Carve Out Quiet in a (really) Loud World

I have a weekly ritual that brings me so much peace it makes me downright giddy. 
Quiet Time. Reflection. Inner Awareness.  Raise your hand if you DON'T want more of these things in your life. No one? Hmmmm ... 

What makes all of these things possible are two tiny things: 
TimeIntention
Now, when someone says, "I don't have enough time to do "X" (say, write your first novel or spend time reading one of your favorite author's new works), I roll my eyes inwardly. Because you know what? We all have time--24 hours, seven days a week = 168 hours a week to be exact. Granted there are all those necessary but pesky things that eat up big chunks of time like sleeping, eating, working, etc. And I'm certainly not speaking here to the single mother who is raising a few kids on her own and working three jobs to keep it all together. 

I'm talking to the rest of us (yes, me too). Those who say we don't have enough time to write/read/craft/exercise/whatever, but then spend hours on Facebook or Twitter, fall into Instagram or watch just one TV show ... only to emerge bleary-eyed hours later from our technology (escape?) of choice. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The truth is that we don't have enough time if we first don't find that second word, intention. 

Someone once told me that you make the time for what's important to you. When this bit of wisdom was shared I did my own bit of eye-rolling. I was working full-time and going to college part-time and felt that I had zero left in my tank for "priorities" like taking care of myself.  But what does any of this have to do with creatives?  Creatives, maybe more than any other group of people, are more prone to distraction. We see bright, shiny objects and run in that direction. We're also notorious for becoming overwhelmed. Many creatives--though not all--are introverts. We suck in information, feasting like a mosquito at a nude beach, until we are so full we
are completely overloaded.  Creative = Distracted My point is this: if we set the intention to take a step back for thinking, dreaming, planning, being introspective and reflective, amazing things can happen. 

About six months ago I started holding a Weekly Meeting for my business. Now it is one of the rituals I look forward to every week. This is my time for planning, reflecting on what's going right with my efforts and what needs to be tweaked. It's time for me to celebrate my successes and also look at my not-so-successful experiments (i.e. failures) and determine what I'm going to do differently next time. 

So every week you'll find me at the kitchen table: something good on the radio, something hot to drink, my notepad and pen before me, ready to be quiet and find out what's really going on. Ready to map out my next 168 hours and get re-excited about the awesome journey of having my own business and the incredible gift of creativity. 

Give it a try! It doesn't have to be hours long ... start with just 30 minutes and see what happens. Make it a practice and see if your creativity doesn't flourish when you shut out all the outside noise and go within. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this via Facebook or Twitter (just not during my Weekly Meeting time).    

Be well, 

-J.P.