Fostering a Creative Celebrant Environment
© Veronika Sophia Robinson
Not every celebrant has a ‘room of one’s own’, and the reality is that their working space might be on the sofa or kitchen table after the family has been fed. We all have to work with what’s available to us and yet even if that means shared spaces, there are still ways to ‘make it your own’.
Negotiate Time Share
Assuming you don’t have a room where you can protect your working space, negotiate with your co-dwellers about when you’ll be working at the kitchen table, family desk, etc. Come to an agreement about what your needs are. As celebrants, we have to dance between boundaries and compromise all the time so there’s no reason you can’t come up with a good solution about your work space. Be clear about tidiness, noise and lighting. Manage everyone’s expectations. When you honour and respect your creativity needs and working hours, you’re half way there to your family (flatmates) also being respectful.
The Working Day
Some celebrants work full-time and others part-time so will have different needs about working hours and space suitability. You may be a celebrant who burns the candle at both ends to meet your work commitments in a timely manner or you may be juggling a six-month old baby, toddler and spouse (the latter may not be on your hip, but they may not be keen on your working hours!). You might be a celebrant who can only write ceremonies in school hours or once the children are in bed at night. Not all celebrants have the relative luxury of being either child free or having finished raising children.
Creative Journal
This can be an invaluable tool and resource on your creative journey as a reminder of what sparks your curiosity and brings creative nourishment. You might be a celebrant who enjoys mind mapping or collaging or scrapbooking as a way to open the creative channels.
Calm
While ‘calm’ might seem like an extrovert’s idea of hell, it is worth considering that whatever energetic environment we’re in when we create will directly feed into our creative work. Being interrupted every twenty seconds by a message on your wrist phone or family member or Facebook Messenger has a knock-on effect which brings frenetic energy that leaves a scattered residue in our energy field. Think about what you can do to bring calm to your creative environment, even if you can only manage it in 20-minute bursts. Maybe you engage in a deep breathing practice or meditation or walk in Nature to induce a sense of calm before you start work?
Hydration
Our brain (and the rest of us, of course) does so much better when we’re abundantly hydrated. Keep a jug of water on your writing desk, as well as any hot drinks you might enjoy. The bonus of drinking plenty is that you’ll need to visit the loo more often and this means your body gets some necessary movement and a break from the screen.
Natural Light
We don’t all have the benefit of homes filled with ample natural light. If you live in England, you may, like me, live in a cottage that’s hundreds of years old and built at a time when windows were deliberately kept small. I am grateful that my writing room was converted from a barn about thirty years ago, so has sky lights and a large window. Once Spring has arrived, however, I spend a lot of time outside writing on the porch so I’m bathed in natural light. Not only does natural light help our eyes, it enhances our mood and energy levels too.
Beauty
Letting your eyes rest upon beauty will naturally lead you to creativity. How can you do this? Artwork? Flowers? Potted plants? Pretty pottery? Maybe even looking inside your creativity journal? A view out the window? The garden? When I work on the porch, I love to watch the flowers in nearby pots or birds in the three bird baths or at the feeder.
Staring at a grey blank wall won’t feed your soul in the same way as, say, looking at a bunch of daffodils or a row of your favourite books or a collection of crystals. Nourish yourself, and by default you’ll nourish your clients.
However you fashion and foster your creative environment, do so consciously so it will support you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. There are countless benefits to being self-employed and being a business owner. Why not use this to your advantage and create a wonderful environment in which to work?
