A journalist once wrote about his experience at a procrastination workshop: most who signed up either never showed up or straggled in late.

What is it about procrastination that makes it so tenacious? I posed this question to two painter friends recently and they both had not only answers, but solutions, too.

One painter, through her therapist, learned to see her art as the portal through which she goes deep,deep into exploration, deep into knowing herself, deep into being. The interior place where creation starts is ‘one’s room of one’s own’. Going there can be the biggest gift one can give to oneself.

The other painter said she often works without lifting a brush by gently thinking, meditating and musing until ideas percolate and inspire her to render the colorful results. Her other trick is to literally write a painting appointment with herself in her date book. Even if she breaks it, she will move it forward and there it is in black and white, a constant reminder until she honors it-and herself.

One can reframe the question,’ why am I procrastinating’ to ‘why am I not gifting myself right now with my creativity?’ It works for my painter friends. Maybe it can work for us writers.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 14th, 2012 at 9:45 am and is filed under Creative Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.