Of biscuits, books, babies and other creative endeavors
"When I cannot write a poem, I bake biscuits and feel just as pleased." -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Why the biscuit reference in the title of my blog? I think that quote sums it up.
I've always enjoyed that quote, because it sums up how I feel about creativity. There are as many different ways to be creative as there are humans. Some dance, some paint, some sculpt, some sing. Some write. Some cook. These are the obvious ones. I cannot dance, paint, sculpt or sing. Writing and cooking are my two main outlets today. But they weren't always.
I am a mother: To me, raising children is the supreme act of creativity. I made my babies from scratch, out of nothing more than love and the very essences of my body and that of their father. I took care what I took into my body and what experiences I had, for I wanted my babies to reach their full potential, unaffected by tobacco, alcohol -- even aspirin -- or paint thinners, cleaning solvents, or other forms of avoidable pollution. I hoped to give birth naturally, with no drugs lingering in their tiny bodies. Alas, that isn't always possible, but it was important to me to know I had done the best I could.
And then there was breastfeeding. I breastfed my babies according to the ancient ways of mothering. A mother from a thousand years ago would have questioned many of the things I did, but she wouldn't have questioned how I nursed. Hear a peep? Offer the breast. Baby moving fist to mouth? Offer the breast. Baby having trouble going to sleep? Offer the breast. The nursing went on for more than three years each; indeed, for some months the toddler and the newborn nursed together, often holding hands. My babies were happy and content with this lack of scheduling. This not the modern American norm -- I don't care. The modern American baby care norm is not based on child psychology, wellness, medical research or anything other than our own culture, which is quite adulterated by the profit needs of the formula companies and the whole pediatric system. I preferred to base my decisions more on my own mothering instincts and on the advice and example of the real experts -- other mothers whose parenting I admired. With my children now grown, I can't say I would have changed much. Watching my daughter mother her own baby, now 19 months and still nursing away just as her mother did at this age, I'm happy to see my daughter gets it -- she is feeling the same joy in mothering I did. Not every mother does, sadly.
We don't usually think of mothering as a creative art, but why not? Isn't helping to create and shape and nurture AN ACTUAL LIVING, BREATHING HUMAN BEING about as creative as it's possible to be on this Earth? But we don't think of it as a creative act. We instead have laid down rules of how to raise children that often go against a mother's own instincts: Hold back the breast, keep the baby on a schedule. Let him cry it out if he doesn't like it. Put her in a crib in her own room. Feed them questionable commercial infant foods from a young age. Stop nursing that baby, you're spoiling him. Shouldn't he be on formula by now? A little smack on the bottom is what that child needs. You're making her far too dependent on you, you know. Well-meaning mothers whose hearts tell them to nurture are sometimes made to feel they are doing something wrong. They are told they need to have the guts to let the baby cry. This is so, so wrong.
Creativity is being systematically stripped from so many human endeavors. The individual talents of the worker matter much less than the method the corporate drones have determined is how things should be done. A renowned chef working at McDonald's who kept coming up with ways to make a better burger would soon lose his job to a 16-year-old kid who had never made so much as a ham sandwich but was willing to make Big Macs by the book. You see the same creativity- and individuality-strangling going on in all kinds of jobs. Journalism. Teaching. Manufacturing. There are fewer and fewer jobs at which who YOU are and what YOUR talents are even matters. What is your ability to complete these specific tasks exactly as told? That is what matters. I don't see this changing. I don't know how to fight against this inhuman trend. Increasingly, it's machines doing our jobs, or human beings who are treated as machines.
Except ... when your time is your own, choose to be creative in all that you do. Express your individuality. You don't have to write a poem. Bake some biscuits to start.
Why the biscuit reference in the title of my blog? I think that quote sums it up.
I've always enjoyed that quote, because it sums up how I feel about creativity. There are as many different ways to be creative as there are humans. Some dance, some paint, some sculpt, some sing. Some write. Some cook. These are the obvious ones. I cannot dance, paint, sculpt or sing. Writing and cooking are my two main outlets today. But they weren't always.
I am a mother: To me, raising children is the supreme act of creativity. I made my babies from scratch, out of nothing more than love and the very essences of my body and that of their father. I took care what I took into my body and what experiences I had, for I wanted my babies to reach their full potential, unaffected by tobacco, alcohol -- even aspirin -- or paint thinners, cleaning solvents, or other forms of avoidable pollution. I hoped to give birth naturally, with no drugs lingering in their tiny bodies. Alas, that isn't always possible, but it was important to me to know I had done the best I could.
And then there was breastfeeding. I breastfed my babies according to the ancient ways of mothering. A mother from a thousand years ago would have questioned many of the things I did, but she wouldn't have questioned how I nursed. Hear a peep? Offer the breast. Baby moving fist to mouth? Offer the breast. Baby having trouble going to sleep? Offer the breast. The nursing went on for more than three years each; indeed, for some months the toddler and the newborn nursed together, often holding hands. My babies were happy and content with this lack of scheduling. This not the modern American norm -- I don't care. The modern American baby care norm is not based on child psychology, wellness, medical research or anything other than our own culture, which is quite adulterated by the profit needs of the formula companies and the whole pediatric system. I preferred to base my decisions more on my own mothering instincts and on the advice and example of the real experts -- other mothers whose parenting I admired. With my children now grown, I can't say I would have changed much. Watching my daughter mother her own baby, now 19 months and still nursing away just as her mother did at this age, I'm happy to see my daughter gets it -- she is feeling the same joy in mothering I did. Not every mother does, sadly.
We don't usually think of mothering as a creative art, but why not? Isn't helping to create and shape and nurture AN ACTUAL LIVING, BREATHING HUMAN BEING about as creative as it's possible to be on this Earth? But we don't think of it as a creative act. We instead have laid down rules of how to raise children that often go against a mother's own instincts: Hold back the breast, keep the baby on a schedule. Let him cry it out if he doesn't like it. Put her in a crib in her own room. Feed them questionable commercial infant foods from a young age. Stop nursing that baby, you're spoiling him. Shouldn't he be on formula by now? A little smack on the bottom is what that child needs. You're making her far too dependent on you, you know. Well-meaning mothers whose hearts tell them to nurture are sometimes made to feel they are doing something wrong. They are told they need to have the guts to let the baby cry. This is so, so wrong.
Creativity is being systematically stripped from so many human endeavors. The individual talents of the worker matter much less than the method the corporate drones have determined is how things should be done. A renowned chef working at McDonald's who kept coming up with ways to make a better burger would soon lose his job to a 16-year-old kid who had never made so much as a ham sandwich but was willing to make Big Macs by the book. You see the same creativity- and individuality-strangling going on in all kinds of jobs. Journalism. Teaching. Manufacturing. There are fewer and fewer jobs at which who YOU are and what YOUR talents are even matters. What is your ability to complete these specific tasks exactly as told? That is what matters. I don't see this changing. I don't know how to fight against this inhuman trend. Increasingly, it's machines doing our jobs, or human beings who are treated as machines.
Except ... when your time is your own, choose to be creative in all that you do. Express your individuality. You don't have to write a poem. Bake some biscuits to start.
I think this is true of a lot of professions, but not so much in counseling. Thank goodness. A major message my classmates and I have been taught is that a counselor's most important, effective tool is themselves.
ReplyDeleteMaybe other professions need to be creative about how they're creative? It's sad to see the human element beaten out of so many fields and people. Hopefully we'll see the error of our ways soon. Creativity is important to the health of a soul.
I agree mothering is the ultimate creative act. Who knew I would learn to make up songs as a way to soothe, distract or comfort my daughters. I also am trying to intentionally help them express their creativity by providing access to art supplies as well as asking questions and teaching creative problem solving. I think part of creativity in business is being able to look at things a new way instead of the standard operating practice.
ReplyDelete