Creativity & Temperance
Aristotle described temperance as "a means between extremes of response to pleasure". Temperance is the process of change or alchemy.
The transition from one thing to another.
The gap between where you are and where you want to be.
The space between longing and desires and actually seeing them materialize like a sketch to a finished painting.
I, myself, have experienced the frustration and impatience in the "phase" of transition. Often times, learning lessons the hard way by not embracing the molds of resistance that life has fluidly provided, like the current that rides the edge of a river bend and flows around it gracefully.
Often when creating, we can become married to the idea of how we want things to come out. The looming focus can become all about the finished product. However, in the journey of working through it, what comes out on the canvas may be entirely different to what you imagined.
Sometimes we may not like what shows up while working through the creative process. We can come to quickly judge a mid-drawing as imperfect or ugly because, well... it is just not how you envisioned it. (Que the stomping child with a tantrum and bursting tears in his eyes- LOL). Ultimately, what is materializing does not align with your vision.
However, the transition between one thing to the other takes time to unravel in the bigger picture. It is not always instant, and what we think we want the image to look like is not always what we need it to look like.
In the words of Bob Ross, sometimes there are "happy mistakes" that come about that create the distinguishable, unique, imperfections that develop the “ultimate” final outcome. This can be applied in any way creatively, from the techniques you use to paint or draw, to the decisions you make in life when having an intended goal in mind.
Sometimes temperance is bypassing the instant gratification and reveling in the details. Getting lost in the dots and lines. Enjoy what you are creating - finding the joy while you are creating. Creating the time to look and feel at what needs fixing and adjusting. That's right - I said feel - feel it out! Observe, release judgment, comparison, and tweak here and there. Soften and refine where the lines need to be shaded and grayed so the light can highlight and polish to create shape.
Although results are not always immediate, what you act on daily now has effects in the future.
Think about whether you are enjoying what you are creating and forget the desire. At times, keeping the desire at the forefront of your mind causes more suffering, comparison, stress, and impatience throughout the creative process rather than allowing the space in-between to be the journey that walks you to your hearts desire and vision.
Maybe the drawing today didn't come out as you planned but working on the skill can get you to where you want to be a year from now. For example, I have been doing yoga for 4 years. When I started I could not do certain moves and movements, much less sustain them for long periods of time. But practicing everyday created the space in my body to access and twist into positions I did not think were possible. There was a lesson created on my mat every single day waiting for me that helped me inch forward a little more, just as the small accumulated brush strokes of paint can slowly create the depth in an eye over time.
The creative process is about "trusting the process". Trusting that the finished product will come at the end of the yellow brick road in a way you didn't even imagine was possible. Even Dorthy found a Scarecrow who wanted a brain, a TinMan who wanted a heart, and Lion who desperately needed courage on the way home.
"Any practice done consistently over a long period of time with love in your heart produces results" - Sage Pantanjali