Creative work is often romanticized as inspiration, color, freedom, and beautiful finished paintings hanging beneath gallery lights. The reality is usually much messier. There are deadlines, logistics, wrapping artwork, carrying canvases, editing presentations, answering emails, promoting events, making decisions, second-guessing those decisions, and trying to remember whether you actually ate lunch somewhere in the middle of it all.

Have you ever caught your mind spinning a frightening story about the future—only to discover that the story wasn’t true? Our minds are astonishingly creative. Unfortunately, they don’t always use that creativity in our favor. Given an unanswered question or an uncertain future, the mind can quickly fill the empty space with everything that might go wrong.

In a world filled with noise, uncertainty, and constant distraction, finding peace can feel impossible. After attending the closing event for the Walk for Peace in Washington, DC, contemporary mixed media artist Precious Burger shares a simple mindfulness practice—and how breath, presence, and creativity can help you reconnect, find calm, and create from a place of grounded peace.