Walking towards the Pine Tree: The Art of Creative Achievement
Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. ~ Rumi
For me, 2010 was a year of learning about how to achieve my creative dreams. What I’ve discovered is that popular ways of developing and achieving creative goals don’t work for me.
At the beginning of the year, I truly believed that developing SMART goals (i.e specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely), setting deadlines, and outlining action plans were effective ways to achieve my creative goals. In fact, I wrote a blog article about these methods.
However, while these popular and well-known ways of setting and working towards creative goals have their function and also work for some people, I’ve discovered that they only serve to frustrate me and stress me out.
The Trouble with Creative Goal-Setting
You can do what’s reasonable or you can decide what’s possible. ~ Unknown
One reason I once believed in these methods is because I have, indeed, met many of my creative and professional goals by employing them. Yet, my experience this year has shown me their limitations.
Making resolutions at the beginning of a new year is a popular tradition. But few people are able to actualize their best intentions.
Two possible reasons for this common failure may be the limitations inherent to setting goals that rely primarily on drastic changes to one’s life and on projections into the future.
This type of goal-setting is driven by what seems “reasonable” and “logical,” rather than by authentic experience and one’s unique creative process.
Often our creative goals and resolutions comprise what we feel we “should” do in order to achieve our artistic dreams, rather than what we are passionately drawn to or what makes us happy. We focus on future achievements, rather than on what we’re accomplishing in the present moment. Thus, we fail to emphasize and seek out what we truly love, and we may, in fact, be hindering our ability to discover greater creative possibilities.
A Different Way
I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thây) suggests:
While standing in one place look off a little ways and choose something—say, a pine tree. Make up your mind that while walking to the pine tree you will enjoy every step, that every step will provide you with the kind of peace and happiness that nourishes, heals, and satisfies. (from The Art of Power)
While Nhat Hanh is discussing the practice of walking meditation, this view provides a powerful metaphor for creative achievement.
This metaphor of “walking towards the pine tree” teaches us to set a creative intention. One of my creative intentions is to complete another chapbook of my poetry.
What’s your creative intention for this year?
Also, this metaphor teaches us to focus on enjoying each step we take while moving in the direction of that intention.
Completing a chapbook simply requires that during this year, I write several poems. Each poem can be seen as a single step that can give me pleasure, happiness, and satisfaction.
What steps can you take that will make you happy and satisfied creatively?
The Art of Going
If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. ~Proverb
Nhat Hanh’s pine tree is more a guide than a destination, suggesting that while our intentions are important, they are not necessarily goals but rather guides for what we want to achieve.
He writes:
Going is important, not arriving…Each step is life; each step is peace and joy. That is why we don’t have to hurry. That is why we slow down. We seem to move forward, but we don’t go anywhere; we are not drawn by a goal. (from A Guide to Walking Meditation)
Not moving directly towards a creative goal, or destination and instead, focusing on simply taking one small, mindful step at a time may seem somewhat contradictory to achieving creatively.
However, consider for a moment how ancient sailors sailed across the vast oceans. While they looked to the North Star to guide them, their destination wasn’t the sky. Still, they sailed in the direction of the North Star, focused on the journey, and eventually got where they wanted to go.
If you’re focused on the daily journey of your own unique creative process and on your creative passion, and if you let those things guide you, then you will inevitably find yourself achieving creatively.
You may just find that you not only achieve your creative intentions but that you truly enjoy and find pleasure, happiness, and well-being in your creativity.
And you may even be utterly surprised by what you can do creatively, if you focus, not on creative goals, but on your creative process and passion.
Finding Faith in Creative Being
If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Ultimately, letting go of popular methods of goal-setting, notions of discipline, deadlines, and action plans requires faith—faith in yourself, in your art, in your creative process, and in your creative passions.
For most of us, this is not an easy leap. You may be asking yourself, “How will I ever get anything done?”
However, for me, the primary question is: How can I be happy and fulfilled in my creativity this year?
Rather than focusing on achieving creative goals through regimented strategies, I’m more concerned about fully being my creative self in any given moment, as I believe that is precisely how we empower ourselves to achieve creatively.
By taking small, mindful steps that give me creative pleasure, by focusing on the daily journey of my creative process, by stretching fully into my creative self, and by staying in each creative moment, I truly believe I will achieve more this year than last year.
As Buddha said, “He is able who thinks he is able.”
I have faith in my creative process, I have faith in myself and in my creativity, and I have faith that my creative dreams will become a reality this year.
How do you achieve creatively?
If you’ve enjoyed this article, feel free to share it.
Flickr photo courtesy of Mara ~earth light~
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[...] Ami Mattison explores alternatives to creative goal-setting, enjoying the art of going along, and having faith in creative being: the art of creative achievement [...]
‘Make up your mind that … you will enjoy every step’ – I never thought of doing that with writing, though I often choose whether to like other things (certain situations that can’t be changed). I was proud of moving into ‘ought’, out of ‘feel like’! Thank you for providing the alternative as well as dismissing the accepted view.
mmSeason´s last [type] ..So I’m not the only one into semi-colons
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 5th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for your comment, mmSeason! It’s amazing to me what happens when I focus on simply enjoying my writing. Each line and then each stanza and then finally each poem becomes a small, mindful step towards both pleasure and creative achievement.
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Dang, but I love this blog.
You’ve given me insight into why I cannot seem to get to bed and get the sleep I need. Night is most often when I’m trying to squeeze in what I love. Need to find ways to infuse that throughout my day. Much food for thought here. Thank you, as always.
Rita´s last [type] ..Just do it- Gratitude 1411
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Thanks, Rita! I think infusing creativity throughout one’s day is a great way to think about how to manage creative time. I definitely empathize. Teaching requires so much energy that I’m squeezing-in my creative work late at night and early morning. But I know that there are other times that I could write, and I’m not utilizing that time.
The Thoreau quote might be particularly apropos here. Indeed, we can’t make our days longer; so doing what we love throughout our days might just make us happier!
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I’m a writer, not a plumber. A plumber can tell you how long it will take to swap over a set of taps, when he can fit you in and how much to be expect to be charged for his services. And some writers can work like that but they’re usually technical writers. I could tell you how long it would take me to read a book and review it, no problem. But a novel is not a set of taps. When I start a novel I fully accept that it will take on a life of its own and take as long as it needs to take and may end up being nothing like the book I first conceived. Case in point: the book I am just about finished writing just now which began life as a meditation on loss and somehow turned itself into a mystery novel a thing I would never have considered attempting to write from scratch. This is my fifth novel. They have all been different. I’ve reached a point in writing each of them when I was convinced I’d never finish them but I have. And I expect my sixth will follow a similar pattern: “He is able who’s done it before.”
Jim Murdoch´s last [type] ..Hash
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I like your plumber metaphor, Jim. It’s so true that as artists we must be willing to go where our creative process and projects take us. I can’t tell you how long a poem will take or even how many drafts it will require. Nor can I fully know how the poem will end. So, there’s something to be said about being able to accept how ultimately our work takes whatever time and energy it takes. Thanks for your comment and your insight, and I’m continuing to wish you good luck on that fifth novel!
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woman, get out of my head – LOL! I have been toying with the idea of writing a post about why I’m wary of setting writing goals, now I won’t even bother b/c no way could I be this articulate, instead I’m linking to this post on my blog & send my readers to you. you ROCK Ami!
sMichelle´s last [type] ..beautiful shit
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Ha, sMichelle! You didn’t know that I have a Vulcan mind-meld going on with you.
Thanks, as always, for your support, and you totally rock too!
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Happy New Year, Ami. I’ve missed your posts.
I wish you much joyful creating this year. You have tremendous talent. Do what you love in the way you love doing it.
Maureen´s last [type] ..Ben Thomas and Leo Bridles Train of Thought
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Thank you so much, Maureen, for your kind and supportive words! I am, indeed, flattered, especially coming from someone with awesome talent too! This year, I will definitely do what I love doing the most. I wish for you the same. Happy New Year!
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Ami, We must be on the same wavelength this week, as I also posted an article on goal setting. I don’t like the term resolutions, because it implies we will reach/resolve something. Instead, I like to think of goals as stepping stones to learning and growing. The learning is in progress, so what do we want to learn or grow next?
I naturally set mini self-improvement goals, yet this year one of my goals is: to write and see where it takes me. While I can make this specific and measurable, the real let go for me is to see where it takes me. To not have a set outcome, to enjoy the journey, and to see what evolves.
BTW, I love the photos you used and the meditation books sounds interesting too. Happy New Year!
Marci´s last [type] ..7 Guilt-free Ways to Create Energizing Goals
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Marci, I read your excellent article and indeed we seem to be on the same wave-length. I find it interesting that we approached a similar re-defining of “goals” but in different ways. Nice!
I know what you mean about having to “let go” of making some goals specific and measurable. I have a similar creative intention to see where my writing takes me this year, and in many respects that was my goal last year as well. The difference is that this year, I’m not trying to stuff those goals into regimented strategies; rather, I’m trying,like you, to enjoy the journey and truly see what evolves from it.
Thanks for your experience and your insight! I appreciate your support!
PS–If you haven’t already, definitely take a look at the work by Mara ~earth light~ on Flickr. Amazing stuff!
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Marci Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I did check out Mara’s photostream. Beautiful work and so inviting. Looks like they could be hung on my walls
I couldn’t figure out if they were creative commons or not?
So, is your poetry available to purchase, read, view? You mentioned another chapter book, as if you already have one….
Marci´s last [type] ..7 Guilt-free Ways to Create Energizing Goals
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Thanks for asking about my chapbook, Marci! It’s a self-published collection of love poems and stories, and each one is hand-bound with a hand-printed cover. So, making it available via the internet has its challenges. I’ve been thinking of selling them through Etsy since they’re hand-made. I’ll eventually figure it all out and make my merchandise (the book and the CD) available online. I’ll let my mailing list know when they’re available, and also, eventually, that info will be on the blog home page. Thanks again for asking because it’s a reminder to get going on that project!
PS–I don’t know about Mara’s entire collection, but the ones I use have a creative commons license. You’ll see this info if you download one of her images.
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Marci Reply:
January 10th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Hand-printed sounds beautiful – a labor of love
Marci´s last [type] ..7 Guilt-free Ways to Create Energizing Goals
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Hi…just wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts via this excellent blog. I’ve been working on a book for a year and a half now and have lately been crushed by a post-New Year funk. Stumbled across your site this afternoon and a few posts really hit home and sparked off a few ways to move past the hump. Again, thank you…
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Ami Mattison Reply:
January 10th, 2011 at 6:12 am
Thank you, Matt! It makes me happy that the blog has been useful to you in some way. I know how difficult it can be to be stalled in one’s writing. But a book is such an enormous undertaking; so, kudos to you for taking up that challenge! I’m hoping that you do indeed move past the hump and find that your writing and creativity will not fail you. Good luck with your book!
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