Respecting the Retreat

Breathe in to breathe out.

4/4/20242 min read

I have noticed a pattern in the way that my creations tend to flow out into the world. Sometimes I go through a period of time when my creativity feels like a fountain, or a well, with my creations being pushed up by some strange, powerful force. The creations simply have to come out, and I need to let them do so.

These surges are often followed by a just as powerful need to retreat.

After the well of energy has released what it needed to get out for the moment, the waters calm down, into the shape of a lake, and I feel called to gently float on the surface.

In my rational mind’s view, which I notice is often functioning based on ideals of consistency, this rhythm is a cause for frustration. My mind seems to want to “keep the ball rolling” and holds a fear that if I don’t show up and share my creations very consistently (every day!) I will disappoint others, that I will somehow lose a connection to my creativity, or that the creative waters will dry up completely.

But the waters can not dry up. For now, it appears as a lake, but actually it is an infinite ocean. And even though the surface is still at this moment, the wind will pick up again when it is time.

Of course, there is a value in consistently connecting with your creative work, and for some of us (or maybe all of us, but in different forms), creating is synonymous with breathing.

But have you noticed how breathing is a natural process consisting not only of pushing out, but also taking in? There is a rhythm to the breathing, and if we would skip the step of breathing in, and only try to breathe out, and keep breathing out…we would run out of air in the end.

I want to argue that the same is true for creative processes. They work in cycles. Sometimes you feel compelled to breathe out, sharing your creations with the world. And sometimes you need to take a breath, or many breaths in, before you can breathe out and share again.

This is why creative work can take patience, and there is an element of needing to surrender to it. To be open to receive as well as create. At least, that has been my experience. And right now I feel myself being in a receiving mode. But I can sense my body gearing up, getting ready for that well to burst up again. All a part of the natural rhythm.

This piece of writing is mostly my attempt to convince myself of these things, and to reassure myself that it is alright to rest now, if that is my body’s wish.

Feel into whether this resonates with you or not. Maybe you’re in a different phase than I am.

Feel into your own body’s rhythm.

There is no hurry.

You can afford to retreat when you need to. To rest. To be.

Or, you can rush out, in an excited burst of energy.

Just feel those breaths,
united by their opposing movements.

In
and
Out.