Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
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    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
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  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Walk the Ancient Paths: Pilgrimage
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
    • Live Programs and Spiritual Retreats
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color
      • The Way of the Hermit:
        A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times
        with Kayleen Asbo, PhD
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
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Art and Spirituality

Creating Space

There is no getting around it. Creativity requires spaciousness. In a culture that demands we hurry up and do, produce, move faster and higher up the ladder, become breathless, worship speed and efficiency, finding space can be a real challenge. And yet, for me, here is where the spiritual life and the creative life converge—in the profound need and longing to make space to listen to the divine presence who, as the mystics tell us, dwells within us. Space to notice the stirrings of our souls, and to honor the newness budding there. In fact, we don’t just “find space,” instead we have to be intentional about creating the space in our lives.

I am convinced that as a culture we have become paralyzed by our own busyness. We live in a time that is desperately hungry for new ideas and visions, new possibilities in a world gone awry with war and ecological destruction. Yet, everything about our culture encourages us to keep busy, to not slow down enough to really contemplate these things and listen to the ways we are being called to live in response. The news gives us 30-second sound bytes that render us feeling helpless rather than helping to empower us to action.

Recently I have made two commitments that opened up more creative space in my life. First was a re-thinking of the physical space I live in. My husband and I live in a condo in Capitol Hill (Seattle). We love where we live—walking distance from my husband’s job, the video store that welcomes our dog Duke with biscuits (in fact, we call it the “cookie store”), little restaurants. We even have a second bedroom that serves well as an office and spiritual direction space. The first commitment involved re-thinking our home. We replaced our carpets with laminate flooring, especially welcome since we own a dog in Seattle. In the process of moving our stuff to accomplish this, we were intentional about asking how each item makes space for nurturing regular creative expression in our lives. I sold our big TV cabinet and replaced it with a lovely dresser I had in storage with many drawers to hold art supplies, especially the mosaic tiles I used to love to play with and now have easy access to again. We sold and gave away several other things that didn’t serve us anymore.

The other commitment has been to carve out time for creative retreat. In January, I rented a house on Salt Spring Island in the Southern Gulf Islands (off the coast of Vancouver and Victoria). I brought my dog and for a week I simply followed my own process and intuition. I wrote when I wanted to, made collages when the impulse led me, went on hikes when I needed to, took naps when the desire struck. It was simply amazing to spend a whole week living solely by my own creative rhythms and practicing the discipline of listening carefully to what was emerging within me next and then honoring that desire. Tomorrow I leave again for another few days of retreat, because I find retreating to solitude and silence helps slow my soul down when I return, and I come home renewed and inspired. I have already blocked off time in my calendar for the upcoming year for more retreat time.

So this week, I invite you to consider how you might make just a little more space in your life. Perhaps it will be trying a new recipe, or playing with paint, or giving away three things that drain your energy or clutter your space, or just saying “no” to one more commitment and using that time to just be and breathe. Or maybe you can take it just a little further and schedule a day or weekend away at a retreat center. Or maybe you cancel meetings for a day, turn off the phone and computer (what my friend Maria calls “going dark”), stay at home and allow yourself to listen to what your soul is craving.

Do it to nurture your own creativity. But also do it because we so deeply need people in the world who are intentional about making space for their creativity. People who are willing to listen to the Holy One who speaks deep within us, right at this very moment, and always invites us to something new.

What new things might God be doing within you right now? How will you create space to listen?

~Christine Valters Paintner

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2 Comments May 17, 2006

Upcoming Programs

The Way of the Hermit:
A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times

January 22-24, 2021
with Kayleen Asbo, PhD

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Recent Reflections

  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales One: Dia dhuit, is mise Hildy! by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior
  • Celebrate the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle podcast with us!

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