What I Learned From Mindfulness in Art
illustration by Greg Chinn for Outer Voice
“Mindfulness” has become a hot-button word over the past two decades, inspiring a range of reactions from enthusiasm to eye rolls. Wrung dry by the self-help industry, management fads and podcasts galore, the word has ceased to carry much weight with many.
And yet.
Mindfulness is valuable and, I would argue, vital. It improves happiness, reduces anxiety and adds richness to the enjoyment of life’s moments large and small.
The seemingly simple act of training your thoughts on what you are doing in the present moment — be that washing the dishes, sitting in a meeting or playing the guitar — increases your enjoyment of that moment. It sharpens the experience and you enjoy it more, learn more from it, and don’t feel the need to worry about the next moment.
For creators, mindfulness offers a host of benefits, not least of which being that it makes it easier to achieve that sought-after sweet spot (flow, fugue, zone, whatever you like to call it) where you and your work seem to be fused. The work is an extension of you, you are an extension of the work, and you’re accomplishing something you weren’t even aware you could do.
There are nearly as many approaches to mindfulness as there are podcasts about it. Thich Nhat Hanh is perhaps the most widely known exponent of mindfulness, and his approach is mine. You don’t have to be a Buddhist or any kind of spiritual person to practice it. He defines it as “being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life.”
How has mindfulness helped me as an artist?
It Takes Me Out of Default Mode
And I mean this quite literally. Neurologists believe that when our minds aren’t specifically focused, when they’re wandering, our brains engage a Default Mode Network. This is a network of regions in your brain that become active when you’re not keeping your brain busy with something else. Neurologists have already begun to draw connections between the Default Mode Network and unhappiness. This is what your brain does when your mind wanders.
Mindfulness and meditation have been shown repeatedly to reduce the activity of this network, to create new neural pathways and to contribute to a “non-judgmental and non-reactive attitude."
It Brings Me Back to the Present
Our other article this week, The Only Moment, talks about the importance of this. By being attentive to the present moment, I enjoy each moment more. The moments seem to last longer, and I feel less of a need to hold on to them and keep them from changing. Instead I can let each flow to the next.
This not only substantially increases my enjoyment of this moment, it also increases the quality of what I’m doing in that moment.
It Reconnects My Mind and Body
It doesn’t matter what kind of art you make, or how you are abled — you have a body and that body in some way connects to your work.
It’s easy for me as a writer to forget my body and the importance it has in my work. Not only do I need to keep it healthy to continue working (and living), I also need to keep it engaged. I recently sat in on one Mindful Art class offered by the Mangalam Center in Berkeley. The teacher, Ignacio Ercole, spent as much time on physical warmup as with mindful sitting and creation.
The act of moving through any physical warmup — yoga, tai chi, qigong — renews your mind’s connection to your body. I found myself more conscious of the connection between my mind, hand and pencil.
The connection was more fluid and beautifully at rest.
This is a connection I’ve felt when playing guitar, when my hands just know where to go next and the vibrations of the instrument travel through my stomach and throughout my body.
I’ve felt it as an actor on stage, when the simultaneous awareness of the audience in the room, the other actors, the next line and the world of the character all align and lock into place. It becomes a seamless, cohesive whole.
It Transforms My Mistakes into Invitations
As I’ve grown older, I worry less about being wrong. Mainly because I understand that I’m wrong more often than I’m right. What’s more important than being wrong is how you handle being wrong.
Mindfulness enhances this for me. In everyday life, it makes me more conscious of how I say things, what assumptions I make from a place of privilege, how I can be wrong better.
In art, mindfulness helps me see mistakes as invitations to better understand and enjoy what I’m doing. They’re speed bumps. They’re commas. They give pause.
As Samuel Beckett said,“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Or, as the great philosopher of happy little trees, Bob Ross said, “We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
It Improves the Experience of Making Art
Most of us aren’t in a position to dive into deep creative work whenever we feel like it. We have jobs, families, obligations. We have limited time, space and materials.
As such, it seems to me we need to enjoy every creative moment to the fullest. This is what mindfulness brings me — a sharp awareness of each moment.
When our minds and bodies work in concert and are fully devoted to the task of creation, every moment is fulfilling. Breakthroughs and setbacks are approached equally. Every moment is valuable.
Need help defining your voice or reaching your audience? Give me a shout. I offer consulting and services for all kinds of individual artists and arts organizations.
