Reflective Questions - January 2024
This month’s reflective questions ask you to pull the curtain back on last year and take stock. Grab a journal, light a candle, pour a cup of tea, and take a moment to explore in pursuit of a creative process that works with you––not against the grain of your life.
By Betsy Podsiadlo | 1/15/24
PHOTO: Bich Tran via Pexels
What is a reflective practice?
The process of reflecting can take many forms. Reflection can occur through meditation, journaling, talking things through with a trusted person––anything that allows you to spend some time exploring yourself and the world around you through a lens of curiosity.
Taking time to ease your self-judgment and explore parts of you and the human experience can offer a deeper understanding of what it is that you’re hoping to do as an artist, in your career, and in your life as a whole.
Here at Art Grove, our goal is to give you the resources you need to explore and engage with your full self. We believe that through reflection you can access a greater understanding of how your artistic practice fits into your life and make decisions to support that.
To that end, let’s begin 2024 with some reflections focusing on creating an artistic practice (and life around it) that serves you best. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help get you going:
#1 - What felt heavy within my artistic practice in 2023? How can I shed some light on those areas in 2023?
In an age of external hyper-awareness, take a moment to identify some instances of difficulty and devastation within your artistic practice and your life from this past year. Allow yourself to grieve them. Your feelings matter and they carry a great deal of weight in your creative process. Allowing time to process the heaviness you experienced throughout the year and acknowledging how it affected your artistic process allows you to understand how your life seeps into your art. How does your artistic practice feel when you are experiencing more stress than usual in your life? How can you protect your time to make art when this happens? Does it make more sense for you to allow for a break in your practice to protect your peace?
#2 - In what ways can I balance being gentle with myself and maintaining motivation?
The classic image of the “tortured artist” is one I think we’d all like to avoid. So often, we are our own harshest critics. We prematurely disqualify ourselves from opportunities and block ourselves from taking chances in our creative practices and careers because we’ve decided we aren’t good enough. Take this question as an opportunity to soothe your inner critic, exploring ways to embrace rest as a vital part of your artistic practice while still maintaining a workflow that feels manageable, effective and kind.
#3 - What inspired me in 2023? (Move from general to as specific as you can possibly be) How can I find more of that in 2024?
I keep a mood board playlist and document in Notion of songs, videos, photos, articles, links to productions, and quotes that inspire various parts of my creative work. When I hit a wall, I revisit those things. Take a look back at 2023 and identify moments where you felt particularly inspired. Let’s dissect those moments. Can you be specific? Now that you’ve created a list of adjectives/verbs that describe these moments, take a moment to meditate on this list. This can give you clues about your own aesthetic as an artist and also provide some guidance about where to find further inspiration in 2024.
#4 - Under what conditions do I feel my best work is done? How can I create those conditions on a regular basis?
This is a practical reflective question. Think back to a time when you felt like your work was in a flow state. Where were you? What could you hear? What materials did you have? Did you have a drink or snack? Was anyone around you? How was your body situated? What were you wearing? What kind of light did you have? These practical questions can provide you with a “tech rider” for your own creative practices. Creating a list of relatively easily achieved requirements for your workspace allows you the opportunity to set yourself up for creative success. If you’re not sure what makes the best conditions for you to create in, keep this question in your pocket take notice of what works and what doesn’t work as you continue your projects this month.
#5 - Thinking about the year in terms of quarters, what reasonable goal do I have for the first 3 months of this year? What steps can I take now to ensure I reach that goal? What support do I need in order to reach that goal?
In this instance, setting a goal that is fully in the realm of your control provides you the opportunity to take direct action in achieving what you set out to. Choosing a goal that requires you to be selected, whether it be to win a competition or receive a job offer, creates conditions in which you have far less direct connection to ensure your own success. This also can allow for an increase in anxiety and less overall satisfaction. While identifying opportunities to be recognized for your work through competitions, promotions, and auditions is a significant part of career planning, prioritizing goals that are fueled by direct action keeps your artistry in your hands.
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Reflection can be sustaining. It takes time, and it may continue past the boundaries of your journal pages. I believe a reflective practice is most effective when it is allowed to spill into every corner of your life. Exploration is the work of an artist, do not forget to let yourself be included in that exploration.