This weekend, my husband and I spent two hours each day cleaning the attic above our garage. The project felt overwhelming, but with two people working diligently, we made great progress in the big clean.

I unearthed many abandoned projects: a sketchbook with four or five pages of my art, the rest blank; a notebook with lines of my terrible cursive writing; another outline; a list of ideas for novels and short stories; a clear plastic bag filled with balls and skeins of yarn. Please understand—I don’t knit or crochet.

We opened up cardboard boxes packed with newspapers from March 1994, those crumpled papers protecting glassware, china dishes, pieces of pottery.

The Emotional Whisper of Memory

I experienced a wide range of emotions—sadness, remembering family who has passed on and whose photographs smiled at me as if they were patiently sitting in the next room; guilt, thinking of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars spent on skiing supplies, computer components, and yes—yards and yards of fabric.

And also great happiness at discovering and celebrating the fact that a project left half-finished still existed. One clear plastic Ziploc bag in particular filled me with joy when I saw a reversible quilted jacket I had made—or started—in 2013, the year I began my doctoral studies. I made this jacket for a weekend trip to visit my daughter in San Francisco, but I realized the jacket was way too big. Secreted away in this plastic bag were all of the pieces that I had already disassembled.

The Whisper Resurfaces

Do you know how many times I have thought about that project?

And then I put the bag inside another bag. Next, I temporarily lost that project—but thankfully, two days later, it resurfaced.

When we create, we often experience interruptions. These moments can occur at any point during the creative process—from ideation, to buying and assembling the resources, to the early phases of creation, through edits and revisions, until finally we have a finished project.

Listening Through Creative Pauses

At any point along the continuum of making or art-making, we face two choices—well, maybe three.

Occasionally, we know our project is faulty, and we can confidently say no. We abandon the idea, even though sometimes we have already invested in the making. But an efficient step can be simply to stop.

We may also pause the product for the process. Our life gets too busy. The holidays might be approaching. A move or a change of scenery causes us to put the idea into a limbo state—whether virtually or factually, figuratively or literally.

The third option—and for some of us, a frequent result—is we finish the project. We know that it is done. We put it up for sale. We submit it to an editor. We gift it to a friend.

We have said yes.

When the Whisper Has No Words

The interesting thing—when we encounter an idea or a concept, it may call us in a language we don’t understand. The kernel of an idea that has no size or shape or color—it’s an essence. That kernel speaks to us nonverbally.

You, my fellow artists/makers/creatives, must learn to hear and interpret that call. Be open to the essence. Prepare for the planting of that seed. Be ready to nurture it and cultivate it.

Practicing the Whispered ‘Yes’

I believe that this gardening process of sowing, cultivating, and weeding that essence can be learned and practiced. It will yield a great harvest.

Try this: begin by adopting an acceptance ritual.

Say: Yes to the whisper.
Say: Yes, I am ready.
Say: Yes, I hear you.
Say: I understand you.
Say: I am prepared to give you life.
Say: Yes.
Say: Yes to the essence of the idea and proceed.

The soul nudge

You can engage the whisper and be ready to hear it—even if it’s the quietest sound in a noisy space—and remember that the noise can be inside your own head.

Place your two hands flat on a desk or table. Palms down. Then, relax the hands and allow the fingers to bend slightly.

Notice any tension in the hands, the wrists, the forearms, the elbows, up into the shoulders.

Close your eyes and try to relax.

Now, let your fingers dance!

First, raise and lower the pinky on the left hand. A quick up and down with a gentle tap on the desk.
Then the ring finger, middle, pointer, and thumb.
Continue with the other hand, starting with the thumb, pointer, middle, ring, and pinky.
Now, reverse the order.
Finally, in unison, raise and tap both pinkies, ring fingers, middle fingers, pointers, and thumbs.
Again, reverse the order.
Remember to slowly breathe in and out during the exercise.

Closing for Fancy Finger Dancing:

Turn your hands, palms up, toward you.
Place your right hand over your left.
Fold fingers in a firm but gentle grasp.
Internally, express gratitude.

This ritual is your anchor. An anchor holds you still—still enough to take action. And that action, no matter how large or small, is your step forward.

When you are ready, when the world calls you back to care for family, to provide service in your job, acknowledge those roles too.

Know that you are fortunate when you spend hours working for others. Your paycheck acknowledges that this service provides value.

Also know that the work you do without compensation matters too. Keeping your home tidy, feeding yourself and your family, finding spaces for rest and slumber—supports your ability to whisper the yes.