Last night, as I was making a bedtime snack of warm milk with a bunch of spices, I felt a dash of creativity run through my veins. I've made this snack many times, yet somehow, simply the way that I moved through the kitchen, picking up the cardamom and sprinkling it into the pot felt like a creative act.

What was that?

In part, not measuring the amount of each spice had a profound effect on me. I felt the joy and ease of the spice toss, the whimsy of being carefree, the spaciousness of letting the slight movement of my arm and wrist be the decision maker.

My left brain wants to say something now. It wants to explain how it felt a bit left behind in that moment, ignored instead of depended upon for analysis, labels, conscious system thinking and following a defined process.

My right brain says, "I still love you lefty. Sometimes your linear ways are exactly what I need. But not all of the time. Thanks for being available when the moment calls for you and thanks also for taking a backseat when I get all spontaneous and flowy."

The recipe in my head sounds something like this…

• Choose a small pot and turn on the heat. How high? I don't know.
• Melt a bit of butter and then add some milk. How much? Doesn't matter.
• Dash some spices that taste good and help you sleep. Mine are cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, turmeric.
• At some point, when the milk is warm, take it off the heat and add some honey. When? Whenever it feels right.
• Stir it up nice and good and pour into a container of your choosing. Which one? You'll know.

I am exploring the creative life. To be aware that opportunities for creativity arise all the time!

Like spiritual rapping…

I'm a soul —
And I'm here to say,
The creator is me
And I like it that way!

Creative projects are still important to me — carving out time towards making something with intention that I keep coming back to in service of a vision. Maybe that's just compartmentalizing. Maybe it's focus. Maybe it doesn't need a label. Maybe I'll call it Philip and imagine serving my creative impulses tea with an extended pinky in thanks for joining.

What about you? How do you stay open to creative opportunities? What is the most surprising context in which you have tapped into your own sense of creativity?