Art Break

Hello friend – it’s Miriam 👋🏻

Welcome to this week’s Ikigami Insider.

When was the last time you created something with your hands—just for the sake of it?
No purpose. No outcome. No reason other than because it called you.

We live in a culture obsessed with productivity.
Even creativity has been hijacked by performance:
“Can I sell this? Can I post it? Can I prove it was worth the time?”

But art—true art—is not about the outcome.
It’s about presence. Process. Permission.

This week, I want to offer you something radical:
An art break.

Intuition: What Happens When You Let Go of Outcome?

Art can be a portal. Not to perfection, but to presence.

When you draw, paint, move, write—without judging it, sharing it, or naming it—you step into a deeper space of self.
You enter flow.

Not the kind of flow that makes you faster.
The kind that makes you still.

Hack 1: Set a timer for 20 minutes.
Pick up something: a pen, clay, fabric, your voice, your body.
Don’t aim. Don’t plan. Just move.

Intelligence: Flow Is More Than Focus

Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi called it flow—a state of deep engagement where time dissolves and self-consciousness disappears.

But flow isn’t reserved for athletes or designers or monks.
It’s available to you.
And one of its purest access points? Art.

Even simple creative acts can restore cognitive clarity, regulate your nervous system, and awaken dormant parts of your personality.

Hack 2: Create before you consume.
Even 5 minutes of unfiltered expression can shift your energy for the whole day.

Integrity: Make Space for What Has No Name

We’re conditioned to fill every moment with something “useful.”
But what about the things that don’t fit into calendars or KPIs?
The part of you that longs to color outside the lines, hum without melody, or stitch something messy and real?

Art isn’t extra. It’s essential.
Not because of what it does, but because of what it reveals.

Hack 3: Let art be a form of listening.
Not “What should I make?” but “What wants to come through me?”

Reflection in Verse

No one will grade this.
No one will see.
There is no audience—
only you
and the part of you
that doesn’t speak in words.

It will come
in color,
in curve,
in crooked line.

Let it.

Thumbnail Photo of Danielle Suijkerbuijk on Unsplash

3 Recommended Readings

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin – A poetic, powerful manifesto for making art as a way of life.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert – An honest and freeing invitation to create with courage and curiosity.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield – A call to overcome resistance and return to your creative truth.

A Question for You

What kind of art wants to move through you right now?
And what would it feel like to let it—without needing it to be “good”?

Let me know—I’d love to hear.

With clarity and color,
Miriam