Mindfulness in Art by Ellen J. Langer

Refrain from judging and just do it!

 

 







Getting More Life From Mindful Creating

By Douglas Eby



Ellen Langer, a Harvard Professor of Psychology, relates the story of being on vacation and making a spur of the moment declaration to a friend that she was “thinking of taking up painting.”

She added, “I have no idea why I said that. I don’t think I’d had more than a fleeting thought or two about painting in my entire life up to that point.”

Her friend is an artist and gave Langer several small canvases to start her out, and advised her: “Your first painting shouldn’t be too precious,” a perspective shared by another artist friend who said, “Don’t evaluate your work. Just do it.”

Langer continues in her book “On Becoming an Artist” that “A week or so later, I did my first painting on a small wooden shingle I had found. The painting was of a girl on a horse, racing through the woods. I was surprised at how much I liked it.”

One thing I like about this story is her casual pursuit of an impulse to paint: she did not assemble a lot of tools, prepare a studio space, or even take an art class; she simply found a throw-away “canvas” for her first project and went ahead.


Langer writes of that experience, “I was fully present when I painted the girl on horseback, did not evaluate it while I painted it, didn’t mindlessly follow any rules—I couldn’t because I didn’t know any.”

Part of her research and other books emphasize the value of living mindfully.

She explains, “When we live our lives mindlessly, we don’t see, hear, taste, or experience much of what might turn lives verging on boredom into lives that are rich and exciting. We are essentially ‘not there’ to notice much of the world around us.”

“Beginning an artistic activity is one way to help us move from excessive mindlessness to a more mindful life. If we fully engage this new activity, we will come to see how enlivening mindfulness is.”

One of the quotes she includes in her book is this one by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), creator of the painting above (“The Letter,” c1906):

“What attracted me was less art itself than the artist’s life and all that it meant for me: the idea of creativity and freedom of expression and action. I had been attracted to painting and drawing for a long time, but it was not an irresistible passion; what I wanted, at all costs, was to escape the monotony of life.”

While I like his reference to “freedom of expression and action,” using our creativity can be much more valuable than just an escape from boredom.

And even mundane tasks – like writing a letter – can be an occasion to be creative.
Langer writes that we may too often regard creative projects as “leisure” activities, and “that word suggests they are rather unimportant. They may well, however, hold the key to the problem of finding meaning and fulfillment in the rest of our lives.”

She notes some of what holds people back is fear: “As much as we’d love to play the recorder or write poetry, it’s easier and safer to put it off because we are afraid of making fools of ourselves. Of course, we know we shouldn’t worry about what other people think, but we do.

“Or when we actually give writing or drawing a try, the trying turns out to be more terrifying still, and we too quickly put our creative activity aside. Something interferes with just enjoying painting or playing an instrument for the pleasure it brings us.”

So just start with something easy. If you’d like to make a sculpture, or paint or compose, there are many supplies you can use, even ones for children. Writing takes even less material.

Even if you’re a creative professional, taking on a new form of creative expression can be expansive and fuel creative thinking even more.


Book: On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity, by Ellen J. Langer, PhD.

 Article Link: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/creative-mind/2012/09/getting-more-life-from-mindful-creating/

Earlier book: The Power of Mindful Learning.

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2007

“All it takes to become an artist is to start doing art.”
–from On Becoming an Artist

On Becoming an Artist is loaded with good news.

Backed by her landmark scientific work on mindfulness and artistic nature, bestselling author and Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer shows us that creativity is not a rare gift that only some special few are born with, but rather an integral part of everyone’s makeup.

All of us can express our creative impulses– authentically and uniquely–and, in the process, enrich our lives.

Why then do so many of us merely dream of someday painting, someday writing, someday making music? Why do we think the same old thoughts, harbor the same old prejudices, stay stuck in the same old mud? Who taught us to think “inside the box”?

No one is more qualified to answer these questions than Dr. Langer, who has explored their every facet for years. She describes dozens of fascinating experiments–her own and those of her colleagues–that are designed to study mindfulness and its relation to human creativity, and she shares the profound implications of the results–for our well-being, health, and happiness.

Langer reveals myriad insights, among them: 

1.We think we should already know what only firsthand experience can teach us. . . . 

2. In learning the ways that all roses are alike, we risk becoming blind to their differences. . . . 

3. If we are mindfully creative, the circumstances of the moment will tell us what to do. . . . 

4. Those of us who are less evaluatively inclined experience less guilt, less regret, less blame, and tend to like ourselves more. . . .

5. Uncertainty gives us the freedom to discover meaning. . . . 

6. Finally, what we think we’re sure of may not even exist.

With the skill of a gifted logician, Langer demonstrates exactly how we undervalue ourselves and undermine our creativity.

By example, she persuades us to have faith in our creative works, not because someone else approves of them but because they’re a true expression of ourselves.

Her high-spirited, challenging book sparkles with wit and intelligence and inspires in us an infectious enthusiasm for our creations, our world, and ourselves. It can be of lifelong value to everyone who reads it.

The main points of this book are:

1. Pay attention to what you are doing when you are doing it.

2. Don't evaluate your work or let the evaluations of others interfere.

3. Welcome mistakes as learning opportunities.

4. Become comfortable with uncertainty.



Have you found that doing something creative adds to your enjoyment in life?




Getting More Life From Mindful Creating | The Creative Mind


Another good book on this topic  is:

The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp, a well-known choreographer who provides anecdotes from her career, ideas about the creative life, and practical exercises in an entertaining and attractive format.