7 Attitudes of Mindful Art Making
“The act of mindfulness has simply uncovered who I am. It had just been covered by dusty piles of self-imposed rules and rags of expectations.”
If you’re a student or practitioner of a mindfulness programme such as MBSR or Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI's) you will have learnt about the 7 attitudinal foundations of mindfulness.
As I've learnt more about these 7 attitudes, I've come to see them as a foundation of being in life. Not to mention being a brilliant foundation for mindful art-making and leading a creative life.
I have moved into new and unexpected territory, places I never imagined I would see. I always wanted to draw, use my imagination and keep a sketchbook. Still, my inner critic told me I couldn't draw very well without copying or tracing. Anyway, I was more of a designer than an artist.
Something rather miraculous has happened during my journey into the mountains of mindfulness meditation theory and practice. I started drawing again. This has become a deeply meditative practice that is frankly rather addictive in the joy it brings me. And as I work in my sketchbook every day, I see the 7 attitudes of mindfulness present themselves through the process of art-making.
In reality, there is no miracle here. I wanted to do this kind of creative work for years because it was always part of me. The act of mindfulness has simply uncovered who I am. It had just been covered by dusty piles of self-imposed rules and rags of expectations.
So today, I'm outlining the 7 attitudes of mindfulness and showing you how to apply them to your art-making and creativity too.
A Brief History of The 7 Attitudes of Mindfulness
When I embarked on mindfulness teacher training, the first book on the required reading list was Jon Kabat Zinn's 'Full Catastrophe Living: How to Cope with Stress, Pain and Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation. In this brilliant book, JKZ outlines the 7 attitudinal foundations of mindfulness, the central pillars of any secular mindfulness practice (there have subsequently been more added, but we'll be dealing with the original 7 here).
While Jon Kabat-Zinn was studying for his PhD in Molecular Biology at MIT, he was introduced to meditation by Philip Kapleau, a Zen missionary.
As a result, Kabat-Zinn became a student of Philip Kapleau and Zen Buddhist teachers Thich Nhat Hanh and Seung Sahn.
By adapting the Buddhist teachings he learned, he developed the stress reduction and relaxation program, now known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction or MBSR.
In 1979 Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, USA. By putting MBSR in a scientific context, he aimed to help people cope with stress, pain, and illness by using moment-to-moment awareness.
The 7 Attitudes of Mindful Art Making
It’s important to note that the 7 attitudinal foundations are not independent of each other. Each attitude relies on the influence of the other. The following explains how you can apply these attitudes to mindful art-making and the creative process:
1. Non-Judgement
This attitudinal foundation means paying close attention to your moment to moment experience while not getting caught up and other ideas, opinions, likes or dislikes.
When thinking about our art-making or creative pursuits, it's easy to get caught up on thoughts of "is this good or bad?" Labelling our creative output with automatic judgements or predicting the judgements of others. From our clients, teachers, peers or parents.
Instead, as you become aware of these labelling thoughts, bring your mind back to the process of making. The physical aspects. Pen on paper. Brush on canvas. Fingers on the keyboard. The physical act of making is your anchor into present moment awareness and away from automatic judgmental thoughts, negative self-talk, or even an over-inflated ego, perhaps!
2. Patience
As Jon Kabat Zinn very simply states, "Patience is a form of wisdom". It shows we understand that things must unfold in their own time. This particular attitude is constructive when feelings of frustration arise and result in a creative block.
Walk away from your art making or creative process for a while and understand that the 'answers' will present themselves when they are ready. This is both liberating and awe-inspiring when you come back and find the answers to the brief or dilemma you were looking for.
3: Beginners Mind
Quite simply seeing as if for the first time.
We have a tendency to think we 'know', which prevents us from seeing things as they really are. This is about having an open mind and allowing things to unfold in their own time.
When it comes to the art-making process, this could be as simple as trying new materials, writing in a different voice, playing a different style of music. Alternatively, look at familiar materials in a new way. Paint with coloured paper. Write with a brush. Sing in a different key. Or perhaps just simply allow the work to unfold at its own pace and to see what happens.
“Mistakes are opportunities to get to know yourself as the authority. ”
4: Trust
Learning to let your intuition guide you underpin life and art. Trusting your own authority rather than looking to elders, well-meaning friends, relatives or worse, Google, for the answers or validation, is creative suicide. You may make 'mistakes’ on the way, but you know how to fix them.
As in life, making mistakes in art-making and creativity is par for the course. It's how we learn and is integral to the process. A toddler learning to walk will fall many times. But gets back up and tries and tries until they master it so well, we’re soon chasing after them in a playground or a supermarket aisle! It is from those mistakes that learning and opportunity occur.
Mistakes are opportunities to get to know yourself as the authority.
I invite you to draw outside the lines and trust your intuition to tell you where to take that line. Move into the blank open spaces that you've never explored before.
It's this kind of trust in the process of art-making that great discoveries are made. Think like an inventor, or a scientist. Experiment and play!
5: Non-striving
Humans are wired for purpose. To do something and to go somewhere. However, in mindfulness and art-making, we have to work against this tendency.
OK, so you might have a deadline looming. But will thinking about the deadline help your creativity or hinder it? I guarantee that worrying or ruminating about a future scenario will only hinder your creativity, which requires openness and flow. At worst, you'll become blocked and no ideas will present themselves at all. It's a lose-lose situation.
Non-striving is paradoxical because it involves non-doing, a theme that is central to mindfulness. It requires you to get out of your own way and allow things to unfold moment to moment. This attitude is central to mindfulness and simply involves paying attention to whatever is happening, right now, at this moment.
If you sit down at your desk and say: "OK, now I'm going to be really creative and come up with the 10 ideas for my problem", you've already set yourself up with where you 'should’ be after your creative session.
Instead, if you simply get out your pen and paper and doodle and let your mind wander/wonder, you'll find your inspiration.
Forget results. This is where doodling, collage or cut-up poetry is great because there is no fixed outcome; it's merely about being in the moment, paying attention to what works and what doesn't.
“The best way to achieve your goals is to back off from striving for results and instead start focusing carefully on seeing and accepting things as they are, moment by moment. With patience and regular practice, the movement toward your goals will take place by itself. This movement becomes an unfolding that you are inviting to happen within you.”
6: Acceptance
See things as they actually are in the present and come to terms with how life is, how you are, how people are and accept it. Easier said than done, right?
In everyday life, we spend a lot of time 'wishing' things were better than they are. "If only..." "I wish..." "One day..." At its most ugly, this non-acceptance leads to jealousy.
We look at other people and want their looks/success/job/house/relationships etc. If you're overweight, you want to look like an underwear model. If you're an artist, you want to draw like Michelangelo.
However, by first accepting yourself as you are now, that you're packing a few extra pounds, or your best drawing right now is stick men, only then can you do something to address these things.
“This attitude helps sets the stage for acting appropriately in your life, no matter what is happening...you have a clear picture of what is actually happening versus when your vision is clouded by your mind’s self-serving judgments and desires or its fears and prejudices.”
Once you accept yourself as you are and show yourself some compassion, you will ironically start creating the perfect opportunity to focus on gaining the skills, losing the weight and connecting with people in meaningful ways. Beyond the superficiality of stuff and possessions.
NB: Acceptance is not about rolling over and feeling helpless. It's actually empowering. If you see things as they are, you can work out what to do about them.
7: Letting Go
When you practice mindful awareness, in any situation, you will start to notice patterns of thought that our minds automatically default to.
This could also present itself as resistance to break out of your comfort zone during the creative process. Perhaps you are expected to be a certain way, a specific artist, using a particular medium in one particular style. Instagram made me feel like this. I had to be consistent and show my audience what I perceived they expected, which I found creatively stifling.
Try to let go and observe your mind pushing, grasping, judging, expecting etc. Let go of your preconceived ideas of good or bad; let go of the messages you were told as a kid that creativity is an indulgence. Let them pass like floating clouds and make your work anyway. Live your life according to your tune, not someone else’s.
I want to remind you that by simple art-making, you are guiding yourself to be more resilient, to have an open mind and see the world in new and exciting ways. Thus allowing your inner voice to be heard, and taking the ultimate step in self-care.
Now go create!
Have an inspired day
Gx