Living Creatively

avoiding routine in your
home-based art business

© by Carolina González; all rights reserved

Mother of Pearl Fang Ring by Carolina Gonzalez of NeoVamp

Though all my customers know I make many different crafts, what I am known for, and consequently what I sell, is jewelry.

In a week, jewelry making and selling takes 80% of my time.

If I'm not at the craft room, coiling wire, then I am at the computer, promoting or writing. In many weeks, that 80% of time becomes 100%.

There are two sides to home-based business: if your products sell, you can easily get trapped in the routine of making always the same things over and over; but if you offer too many different things, customers can feel confused about your work and you will sell less for sure.

To get a business started and going can take months of long hours a day; once your business is going, you work exactly the same hours, if not more. It is not easy to find time for “hobbies” when a profession gets in the way.

Detail from "Tribal Dancer I" downloadable poster
by Carolina Gonzalez

Routine is probably the most powerful enemy to your mind. Routine KILLS creativity and leaves you blocked and worn out.

Carolina Gonzalez using a 3-hair brush to paint her "Tribal Dancer I" poster

It is a fact that your neurons create connections by habit: that means that if you constantly repeat something (could be a statement like “I'm not the creative type” or any other process, mental or physical) you are fixing it in your brain until neurons make connections that ensure that you will always use that connection; that may be very useful for social habits, but not for creativity!

Once your neurons have made the connection, that becomes the “accepted” way of working, and usually when that happens we hardly ever question that procedure.

There is no such thing as an artistic/creative personality type, but there are certain artists who are never blocked and can produce art continuously, even in different forms. Their designs are constantly evolving and art skills improving and renovating. They seem to go ahead of the pack and are usually copied by followers.

Finished "Tribal Dancer I" downloadable poster by Carolina Gonzalez

What is the difference between those people and the rest of mortals?

That they have an improved ability to avoid routine: instead of producing, they are living creatively.

We were all 100% creative when we were about two years old; as we were discovering everything and looked at experiences with no prejudices, we had to create the ways to approach them. Our creativity was not bounded within what we call art; all things in life – relationships, conflicts, self-image – were approached creatively. We were living creatively.

Then, parents and school fixed the connections on your neurons about what you were, what you were able to do or not do, or how should you behave in life to gain success and self-satisfaction. I'm sorry to say this, but most of it was wrong. So, it doesn't matter if you're 20 or 60 – we all started acting like 70-year old brains when we were 5 or 6.

Thankfully, all these patterns can be changed; we may never reach the freshness of a 2 year old kid, but we don't need to! It's time to revise our attitude and see if we challenge ourselves enough from day to day.

Altered art jewelry jar by Carolina Gonzalez

A good way to understand how deeply we are into routines is to keep written track of our actions; for two weeks, make a brief resume of your day every night. After those two weeks, check your activities:

• How many times did you eat the same thing?


• How many times did you watch the same tv shows?


• In the last two weeks, did you do something that you had never done before?


• Did you learn anything new?


• Who did you talk with?


• Did you meet anyone?

The answers to these questions are more important than you may think: they are the diagnosis of your routine problem.

If there is one thing that is important to understand, is is that being creative is not a goal, is a method. As school and parents fixed that wrong ideas by repetition, we can alter any belief using the same method. Kids do not learn everything in one day, and nor will we.

The power of words and sentences is universally known; a mantra is a sacred sound that connects us with our divinities, but also with our Higher Self: the Creator. You can see this process through its spiritual side (this is, in many ways, a self-enchantment) or through its scientific side (you are teaching new connections to your neurons) – I prefer to see it through both as I don't see, really, any contradiction in this.

Our first mantra would be:

Of course, you can write your own mantras, as long as you use always assertive sentences (never use “don't”, “never”, “not”) and be as general as you can. You can print the mantras and hang them around your craft room, add them to your scrapbook, diary, book of projects or wherever you want to remember important things.

Other useful mantras for this topic could be:

Henna tattoo by Carolina Gonzalez

Every time you feel blocked and tired of what you're doing, remember these mantras.

They will help you fix the right stream of thought and, sooner than you think, you will have an instantly positive response – you have reached the habit.

This will not only enhance your art production, but your entire life.

Then your art production will only be one of the many fruits that you will draw from your new creative way to see your life and your world.

This theory is so simple that is hard to believe, I know, but if it worked for you when you were two, why wouldn't it work today?

You can have back what was taken from you – and I'm sure you will.

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