Many of us bemoan the fact that our lives are too busy to carve out time for creativity. And when we do have some free time, we are often stalled by the belief that being creative involves having both a process and a product in mind before we can "be creative." The fact is, being creative is not simply producing something new; it's a way of experiencing and interpreting the world around us. We all have creative juices that flow within us; the challenge is to tap into them and allow them to flow more freely.
Breaking Free
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. - Arthur Koestler
A good way to start is to break free of established patterns and preconceived notions by shifting your perspective. Creativity begins to flow when you free your mind and let go of outcomes, allowing yourself to move out of the box and into the open realm of possibility. In order to bring something new and fresh into being, you need to step outside what you already know and be open and playful with your world. Just as "there is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly" (Buckminster Fuller), often there seems to be nothing in the ordinary that tells us it will be a source of creative inspiration... but it's there!
The following is a very random list of ideas to help you take a fresh look at your world. Try some of them! Be curious and have fun!
- take a walk in a new place
- listen to a different musical genre than you usually listen to
- look up
- look down... what do you see?
- collect a special shape wherever you find it - a heart, a star...
- look for faces in nature and other nonhuman places
- make up a story about a someone living in a house you always pass
- take a different route to somewhere you regularly go
- play with clay
- choose one color to notice all day long wherever you go
- have a conversation with an animal
- write a found poem
- make an exquisite corpse drawing with some friends
- set the timer for ten minutes and make something!
- talk to a stranger
- go through your recycling and find paper and objects to make a mixed media piece
- keep an inspiration board
- make a magic wand
- find beauty in decay
- go to a museum
- keep a journal under a pseudonym
- go to a hardware store and choose 5 things you can use for an art project
- paint with a child
- buy some toys to play with
- visit an empty church
- make a muse to inspire you
- have a picnic lunch in an old graveyard
- spend a hour in silence
- collage your dreams
- swing on a swing
- be a tourist in a nearby city
- make an altar in your home
- look for fallen feathers
- watch the sky
- make paper beads from old magazines
- unplug and let the world go on without you for a day
- walk in a labyrinth
- try a new food
- make colorful decorated cupcakes and have friends over for tea
- spend an afternoon shopping around furniture and home furnishing stores as if you're a designer shopping for a client
- explore a color you don't like
- people watch and imagine their lives
- invent a musical instrument from something in your house
- let go of results!
- Play!
Share
- Do you have any other creative prompts to share?
- What did you discover in this process?
When you're ready to share, post your static link in the comments section so we can visit your blog and see what you've created.
The most potent muse of all is our own inner child. – Stephen Nachmanovitch
Have a beautiful and creative day!
Namaste,
Comments