Joyous Creativity | Pitaya Letter 6
Hello! I hope you are having a beautiful day and a wonderful end to August 2025.
My August intention was to stay Present and cool. I tried to appreciate what I have with gratitude, staying in the here and now; I set myself to have a good mind and body rest, enjoying all the gifts God has given us, without guilt.
The reality was that I couldn't do that all the time. These moments of coolness were mixed with lots of moments of my mind spiraling down in despair and endless worries, to the point of even feeling pain in my heart. Don't worry. It was time for harvesting pitayas, so my heart had some warmth.
I guess it's all part of the human experience.
In the Creativity department, I reflected a lot and did a couple of non-scientific experiments. The most notable was about Joy.
Experiment: Creating only when feeling Joy.
The hypothesis
At the beginning of the month, I reflected on the mental health of full-time artists (an article on that is coming soon) and the fact that, oftentimes, we use artistic expression as a way to cope with the difficulties of the world. I've done this a lot: Channeling sadness, anger, anxiety, and other negative feelings through art.
However, I've been wondering whether doing this could be activated the other way around, negatively speaking. What if the mind associates those negative feelings with that precise artistic expression that, whatever time we do it, triggers those same emotions? It's a theory.
I think it's an important question to be able to answer, since many people attempt to transform their hobbies into full-time jobs.
What if, since the mind is so used to equating the artistic activity with cathartic energy, it ends up concluding that a certain amount of negative emotions is needed to be able to create???
In case this were true, it would be a terrible idea to turn that hobby into a full-time job. Assuming that it's true that we create our reality with our thoughts, the mind would endlessly create life scenarios that best lead to negative emotions and therefore... the creations that would pay the bills. It would be the perfect recipe for a very dramatic life.
Since I had no excitement this month to do what I call "reading research", I mean, reading serious research publications on that matter, I decided to experiment on myself. I would only create when feeling joyous.
Hands-on: nature sketching
During my first perceived moments of joy, I felt a willingness to draw plants using real ones as reference. I sketched nature, paying attention to details, and enjoying the process, which I found really good for my tired eyes.
However, I wanted to go further in creativity. What could come to my artistic imagination when feeling moments of joy, and without any references?
Doodling would work great for this experiment, since it's an artistic activity I've done mostly to relax when feeling not ok. It's a good activity for this experiment too, since I've mostly done it freely, creating original work, without reproducing others' art. I know my style when in cathartic mode: it usually includes wavy lines, colours, circles, and all sorts of mandala-like forms.
Here is an example of what I used to doodle to cope with stress and life in general, before the experiment:
On the contrary, my style when feeling happy was a mystery. Maybe I'd done it, but I couldn't tell if there was a difference.
What would be the result, creating only when feeling Joy? What would my "happy me" create?
So, to answer this question, this month, although not perfectly, I did my best to create moments of Joy in the first place. Eating healthy food, doing exercise, staying close to nature, spending time with people I love, and even trying new practices to calm my mind.
When feeling happy, I put myself to doodling. The rules: original work, joy, self-love.
