wings4youcoaching

Creative Juice

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,

  
  

Weekly Wings Challenge 18 - Inviting Creativity

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Weekly Wings... a weekly coaching challenge to motivate and inspire you to realize your dreams and achieve success! Join in the journey, and if you wish to share your work, post it on your blog, and then leave a static link to the exact page in the comments section.

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Holistic Creativity

Be an everyday creative person, creative in everything you do. - Eric Maisel

As I approach the start of another academic year, I'm pondering the sometimes precarious balancing act I perform as I move among the various roles I play as coach, artist, and educator.  Often it seems like there isn't enough time in the day or the week to accomplish everything I want to do, and it's easy to fall into a sense of overwhelm, a  feeling most of us experience at times in our demanding lives.  We juggle job, family, relationships, hobbies, and self-care with a stubborn sameness each day, and often find ourselves physically and emotionally depleted.

One technique that I use when the waters of life start to rise around me is to retreat to the higher ground of inspiration - check in with my creative muse to discover fresh ways to perceive my situation and create new approaches for navigating through my various roles. Although each area is distinct with its unique demands,  everything I do is nurtured by my creative energy.  When that energy is stifled, I feel as if I could drown in the mundane tasks of each day.  When I let that energy flow, I sail gracefully over the water, exhilarated by new challenges.  So, as I approach each day and each new task, I seek creative inspiration as a catalyst for growth.

Inviting Creative Inspiration

Creativity can come to us  at any time and in any form, bearing marvelous ideas, enlightening insights, and the energy to try new things without fear.  Whatever your field or interest may be, creative inspiration is an essential element for innovative growth and a joyful process.  When we use creativity as a conscious tool, we not only discover who we are - we become better problem solvers and even the most ordinary tasks can take on an element of interest.  Inviting creativity into our lives allows us to receive wonderful, unexpected gifts.

In her book The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, Gail McMeekin suggests two simple ways to foster creative thinking:  create a sanctuary and invent creative rituals.  These two practices can work well together by providing a "sacred space" that belongs to you and your muse and by providing specific structures that welcome your muse to visit!  Neither the space nor the rituals need be elaborate; the important thing is that they are meaningful to you in a deep and personal way that brings feelings of peace, joy, and creative energy.

• Start by creating your sanctuary, a "sacred space" dedicated to visits with your muse.  It can be as defined as a room of your own or as informal as a corner of a room.  Surround yourself with things that feed your senses, emotions, and intellect.  If you can't decorate a room or a corner, consider something portable - a box of objects that inspire you and create a mood that's conducive to reflection and inspiration. 

• Schedule time to spend in your sanctuary, knowing that it is the special place where you invite creative thinking and practices.  Be sure to have the tools of creative expression ready - paper, pen, computer, paints, etc.

• Invent rituals that spark creativity.  These rituals can range from listening to certain music, taking a walk, journaling, reading poetry, doodling, meditating... whatever comes naturally to you that helps loosen you up and free your mind.  It's when your mind is free and clear that inspiration appears.

• Be conscious of what supports your individual creativity.  Is there a particular time of day when you feel more receptive to inspiration?  Do you get your best ideas when you're active or when you're relaxing?  Be mindful of what conditions allow your mind to switch into creativity mode, and honor them.

• Welcome inspiration without judgment!  Your muse is sensitive, and if you are critical and disdainful, she won't visit very often.  Sometimes her gifts may seem strange or irrelevant.  Just stash them away for a while; they may be very useful to you at a later date!  Always keep in mind the wise words of creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson  - If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.

Wrapping it Up

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. - Arthur Koestler

Creativity is tool that isn't limited to just artists . We can all use a creative approach to enrich our personal and professional lives - no matter who you are and what you do.  It grows out of a desire for change and can easily be nurtured by giving it a place and some time to appear.

Namaste,

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Creative Daydreaming

Channeling Inspiration

Where are you when you get your best ideas? What conditions generally foster your creative thinking? When an idea shows up, are you there to greet it?

Yesterday I was walking my dog, enjoying the crisp weather and the late afternoon sun. I had nothing on my mind other than the fresh air and the feeling of freedom that comes when I’m outdoors and…zing! Ideas started flooding into my head, one after the other. This often happens when I’m in nature and totally in the moment. Sometimes, though, I start to get anxious, and I think… I need to remember this… I have to go write it down, and just as quickly as Inspiration has dropped by, she’s on her way, leaving me in the dust of my disintegrating thoughts.

My best experiences of creative thinking arrive when I simply let the process happen. Then I find my mind moves its focus onto one or two ideas and starts dancing around them. By the time I get to my journal, I have some wonderful things to write down, and it feels like it happened so easily!

Listen to Yourself

It all comes down to listening skills. Although you might think these skills would apply to listening to others (and they do), I’d like you to consider how they also apply to listening to yourself so you will be “there” when great ideas show up.

• First of all, give yourself time and permission to daydream. Create this time as a sacred place that’s off limits to the “shoulds” and “musts” that can get in the way of inspiration and creative thinking. This might entail actually scheduling regular private, uninterrupted “you” time.

Allow yourself to be completely in the moment – mentally, emotionally, and physically. Be open and centered, calm at the deepest level of your being. Let go of agendas, predispositions, and anxieties. Allow yourself the space and freedom to listen for whatever ideas come forth.

Tap into your intuition, instincts, and senses. Learn to recognize the physical aspects of intuition – perhaps a “gut feeling” or tingling in your body. These are signals that will guide you to deeper awareness and listening.

As ideas appear, accept them without judgment. Be curious, like a child, asking how? and why? Encourage your ideas to grow at their own pace.

Like a wandering, exploring child, relax, have fun, and enjoy the process of creative daydreaming! Relinquish the urge to focus on results, and allow yourself to “go with the flow.”

Finally, listen for the quiet, sure message that tells you when it’s time to put your ideas down on paper – in words or images. It won’t be a shout or a nagging tug; it will be more like a whisper or a caress. If you trust your inner voice, you will know when that time comes.

Time Well Spent

Daydreaming energizes your spirit as you open the channels for inspiration. Henry David Thoreau once said that "our truest life is when we are in dreams awake," suggesting that there is much to be gained from allowing yourself to follow your muse into the land of imagination and possibility.

I know that most of my best ideas come when I let my mind wander. It's like the walls come down, allowing words and images to flow through my head where I can capture them like slippery fish in my net of consciousness. I dream of paintings, places, conversations, the past and the future, problems and solutions... really anything that wants to rise to the surface... and so many of these little dreams find their way into the things of which I am most proud.

How have your daydreams helped you? I'd love to know!