Discover your Creative Lineage
How we can find home and belonging in our creative connections
The branches of our lineage trees grow high, small twigs stem from thicker boughs, and buds of new growth are ready to rise into the sky. The tree crown grows outwards, steadied by the trunk and roots reach back to the beginning of our time on Earth.
We all have ancestral lineages. They are the people who came before us and whose DNA lives within us still.
But, we can have complicated relationships with our family history and living family members that can pull us to find a deeper sense of belonging with others, with friends, and with the people who inspire us.
WHAT IS A CREATIVE LINEAGE?
I like to think of my creative lineage alongside my ancestral lineage. Our Creative lineage can include our ancestors but is focused more on the people not related to us, who have creatively inspired us. They may have come before, after or at the same time as us, be living or deceased. We see them as part of our creative lineage because we feel a deep resonance with them through how they express/ed themselves creatively in the world. We might recognise ourselves in their essence or notice the similarities in our creations. We might also find a sense of belonging and home with the people in our creative lineage, whether we’ve met them or not.
Creative lineage makers leave a legacy of work that continues to speak and evolve long after its release into the world. I sometimes think about creative lineage like a relay race (except that it’s not a race and there’s no finish line!), whereby, the baton is passed on from the first person to the second and so on in an infinite evolution of creative expressions, thinking and ideas. But! There is no one baton, there are millions of batons carried forward into the future. We are the living creatives continuing the legacy in our unique ways of the creators of the past, present and future (so the creative lineage tree kind of goes sideways too!).
Your creative lineage might include someone you follow on YouTube or social media or right here on Substack. They may be a scientist or philanthropist, a leader in technology, a spiritual teacher, a nature conservationist, a food artist or chef, someone whose lifestyle or skills inspire you, as well as people within traditional creative fields like writers, artists, actors, actresses or filmmakers.
Who are the people in your creative lineage? They might be well-known people or people you’ve met on the varying paths of your life. Think of the impact certain books, films, artists or other creations have had that you simultaneously recognised yourself in, then try the simple exercise below.
"We can surround ourselves with things that speak and spark soul recognition. We can keep books on the shelves and by the bedside, we can put art and photography on the walls and keep a list of films and music playlists or photos of people that we feel that sense of expansiveness with. Reminders for those many moments in the life journey that we forget or feel disconnected from our personal, connected relationship with this life.”
TRY THIS SIMPLE EXERCISE TO DISCOVER YOUR CREATIVE LINEAGE
Create a creative lineage in the shape of an ancestral tree on paper, or write a list, create a video or a tactile creative map. Include five creators and the things they have made in the form of books, movies, paintings, poems, songs or other creative expressions that are currently inspiring or moving you and that you also recognise yourself in (if you want to make your list longer then do so, keep going until you can’t think of anything else).
Under each of the items you have listed, write what it was about the person, book, movie, etc. that touched or inspired you. Was it their story? Their energy? Their message? What thoughts or feelings did it provoke in you? And what do they remind you of within your own creative life (whether tangible or still a dream).
*Note* - this list is focused on traditional arts-related people and expressions, but feel free to add and continue with people from different fields of creativity.
Creative people who have inspired me:
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What spark did these creative people ignite in me?
How do I recognise myself in them?
Books, authors or writers that have inspired me:
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What spark of inspiration did these books or authors seed in me?
How do I recognise myself in these creations?
Movies, actors, actresses, film directors, etc, that have inspired me:
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What inspiration did these movies, actors, actresses, film directors, etc, give me?
How do they bring me closer to ‘home’ within myself?
Poems, songs, music or musicians that have inspired me:
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How did these poems, songs, music or musicians move me?
Other creative expressions that have inspired me:
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What was it about these creative expressions that made me feel a sense of belonging?
When I think of my own creative lineage, it’s always expanding as I discover new creators, and, my lineage is filled with all the creators, books, films, poems and songs that have ever touched me.
Is there one creator in your lineage who is currently inspiring you?…Feel welcome to share who that is in the comments section below.
There are many ways to come home to ourselves. Exploring our creative lineages is just one way. I'm offering a path to discover home through your writing in HOME & SANCTUARY - A 4-WEEK CREATIVE WRITING ONLINE WORKSHOP SERIES begins on March 13th.
HOME & SANCTUARY is a 4-week online, hybrid creative writing and self-discovery workshop series that guides you to explore in-depth, the meaning of 'home and sanctuary’ for yourself and the stories or characters you create.
As you move through the workshop series, you’ll find each workshop expands and deepens your perspective on the theme as a whole which in turn will infuse your exploration and writing with greater meaning, insight and aliveness.
You’ll pour thousands of words onto the page and ignite ideas that could form articles, blog posts, newsletters, poetry, story ideas, character development or personal journaling.
Prompts will guide you to take a personal, explorative deep dive into the theme of ‘home & sanctuary’ that will create inner shifts and new personal understanding.
Collaborative exercises will help you to foster connection, expand your imagination and generate new ideas.
You’ll reveal threads of stories alive with possibility to weave into new and current writing projects.
You’ll connect with, learn from and be inspired by a wonderful group of people who love to write, create and discover.
Over four consecutive Thursday evenings beginning on March 13th, we’ll gather on Zoom for a 2-hour writing workshop on these four themes:
Week 1 - Place/environment/nature
Week 2 - Body/soul/self
Week 3 - People/other/relationships
Week 4 - Spirituality/Sense of connectedness to something ‘expansive’ or ‘greater than’
Discover more about this series here.
There’s an early booking offer until March 7th.
Sunday love,
Jane x
If you enjoy my writing and would like to support it, tap on the heart icon, click the share button or share on Substack Notes and/or social media or with a friend. You might also enjoy my book and workbook:
Language of the Feminine - Awaken the Source of Your Creative, Intuitive & Sensual Self
