24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being: December 5
The importance of seasonal cues.
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In the dwindling days of November, it occurred to me that I had forgotten to order the Drop Coffee Advent calendar.
This had become a bit of an annual tradition in our house, a treat to order something from one of my favorite Swedish roasters and then begin every morning in December with a new coffee. The coffee in that calendar originally came in small bags, and for several years, I would secure a line of twine on the wall and use clothespins to hang them all up. Decorating and morning ritual all in one!
By the time I thought of it, it was far too late to get one, and they were sold out anyway. I felt a little disappointed. To be clear, this was most certainly not a tragedy in the grand scheme of things. Obviously, I could go and track down some other coffee Advent calendar if I really wanted to, but that wasn’t really the point. With the abundance of coffee in my kitchen, it’s not like it was a need.
This wasn’t actually about the coffee. What I really wanted was the tradition, the seasonal cue. The thing that would tell me, “ah yes, now it’s time.” Fortunately, my friend Orianna had sent me a certain Swedish holiday tea that I love, so all wasn’t lost.
Cues are an important part of creative practice, because cues and habits are inextricably linked in the brain. As we repeat them, the more hard-wired they become. For example, we determine a specific time that we are going to start working, or we do some kind of preparation ritual (like lighting a candle or going on a walk before we sit down to write). The more we do that, the more we associate that activity with doing our creative work. It’s a little trick for our brain.