How to activate your creative side?
This week, I missed my usual inspiration for writing. I tried different things and they led to this article. 🙂 If you want to activate your creative side, try one or more of the following practices. Of course, you can combine them however you feel:
- Practice mindfulness
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you already know this: Mindfulness is all about becoming aware of your present (state). Close your eyes for a moment and observe yourself, without judging: How do I feel today? What thoughts do I have in my head? What sensations do I feel in my body?
In my case: I realized I was worried. It somehow stressed me that I didn’t have a clear idea for this week’s blog. I love my writing, I love to share practical tips. And I always have bits and pieces in my head. How can it be so hard to define a clear thought? My body felt tense. - Accept & ground yourself
When we have a “problem” we often look for a quick solution. Let’s first of all accept that this “problem” is there and ground our body. Thanks to the current training I’m completing (“Trauma-sensitive Yoga”) I was reminded of the mental and calming grounding techniques. There are many ways but saying a soothing mantra out loud really helps to calm our body. In my case: Yesterday I said to myself: “I currently don’t know what I’m gonna share tomorrow but I know I will find a way, something will come up.” I said it several times. And this realization led me to my next point. - Ask for input
Whatever creative inspiration you are looking for: Why not ask someone who knows your work, to give you a helping hand? That’s the beauty and power of community. In my case: I asked a close friend for her input. She’s been reading my articles for a long time and so I shared my initial blog idea (which I will share in another week) and told her very honestly that I just wasn’t sure. And she gave me a beautiful advice: “Why don’t you write about how it’s OK not to know what to write?” While I’m writing these lines, I’m smiling gratefully. She is SO right. It’s totally OK not to know. Thank you, Veronika, I know you are reading this. - Inspire yourself in others
Instead of worrying about the present and keeping thinking in a loop about our “problem”: Let’s find inspiration outside. Other views. Other topics. Things that don’t even have anything to do with the current piece or topic we are working on. In my case: Last night, I watched the beautiful and inspiring video of Chimananda Ngozi Adichie about, what she calls, “the danger of a single story”. It’s an incredible speech, it takes 18 minutes. I hope you take the time, it’s worth every minute: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?subtitle=en&lng=es&geo=es. I felt so moved that I thought about how to approach my article of “not knowing what to write” in a different, creative way. I had a few ideas coming. Nothing too sure but I went to bed relaxed and convinced there would be a story to tell. Our life is full of stories. - Get into the body
When we are too much in our mind – we need to get back into our body. Through moving, shaking, practicing sports, hugging, touching, jumping… Whatever you feel like doing: Move, move and move. In my case: I started this morning with a little mix of yoga and dancing. I put on some of my favourite records, closed my eyes and just moved with the rhythm. I did some stretching to all sides, some cat and cow moves to relax my spine, and then I just started dancing more and more and at some stage, I was dancing in front of the mirror. I watched myself and it felt so good to just focus on this moment. The ones who have tried it, know how great it is. If you have never danced with/for yourself: Please try it and then let me know what it’s like. - Breathe deeply (into your left nostril)
Don’t forget to breathe deeply and – during a creative process – you might want to focus especially on your left nostril. Why? One of the oldest Pranayama (breathwork) practices is the breathing technique Nadi Shodhana or “alternate nostril breathing”. The technique helps to calm our nervous system and release stress as it brings our two hemispheres of the brain into balance: The left nostril connects to the right hemisphere (usually responsible for intuition, arts, rhythm, nonverbal cues etc.), and the right nostril connects to the left hemisphere (usually responsible for logical thinking, mathematic, facts, words, etc.). Here is a short, very well explained video of the technique: https://youtu.be/G8xIEzX40bA?si=ahhHeuV5pgzrsH9D
In my case: After my dancing session, I sat down and just observed. I practiced Nadi Shodhana for a few minutes and concentrated especially on the inhalations through my left nostril. I felt calm and somehow ready. - Brainstorm and let it flow
“The ultimate solutions to problems are rational; the process of finding them is not.” (William J. J. Gordon) For me personally, brainstorming is a powerful tool to generate ideas into different directions without deciding the objective or putting any limits in advance. In my case: I took a blank paper and just wrote down any words that came to my mind. ANY WORDS. I suddenly had a paper filled with a mix of emotions, sensations, atmospheres of the earth, states of nature, colours, people, moments, goals, fears, intentions, passions, mantras, types of movement, things I love, songs, lines of songs… it was pretty full and my mind felt at peace because I had allowed it to write it all out. The power of journaling. And suddenly it came to me: This is all part of my creative process. I can share exactly this experience. And I sat down and wrote this article.
Apart from this result, for me personally, the combination of these practices brought some new ideas for my next articles and business in general. So I can only hope this summary might give you a little hand in your personal situation, whether it’s a work-related task or project or idea or a private event (or surprise for example) you need creativity for. I would love to hear about your personal experience and input: What helps you to activate your creativity?
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