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Posts tagged ‘creativity’

Jun 27

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How to remain an artist once we grow up, part one

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up – Pablo Picasso

This quote by Picasso is touched upon in a delightful Ted Talk given in 2006 by Sir Ken Robinson who says our education system is designed to educate the creativity out of children.

When we’re children we’re curious and play without inhibitions. The world is our secret garden. Once we go to school and become educated, we worry about “making mistakes.” We worry about whether or not we have the “right answers.” This worry about being correct all the time kills our creativity and our spontaneity. Read more

Mar 26

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Do you need to leap out of your creative comfort zone?

One night I got an unexpected call from a former co-worker. We hadn’t talked in months and he caught me at a time when I was struggling with pushing my writing projects forward. I was stuck.

Something he said gave me a jolt of creative energy, although he probably had no idea it was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. It went something like this:

“Sometimes you get a feeling in your stomach that makes you feel a little nervous, and that’s to let you know that you’re close to the edge of something that’s exciting and challenging and you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone.”

Even when we’re doing the things in life that we know we’re meant to do, it can be scary because the stakes are high. The best way to combat fear and resistance it immerse ourselves in our creative pursuit so that it becomes the focus instead of the fear.

Have you ever been scared of taking a leap but knew you just had to do it?

Feb 5

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Practice mindfulness 10 minutes a day to change your life and your art

When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that: Refreshing your mind for ten minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment. (No need for incense or sitting in uncomfortable positions.)

Puddicombe says we rely upon our mind to be focused, creative, spontaneous and to perform at our very best in everything we do. And, yet, we don’t take time out to look after our mind or nourish it. He says we spend more time looking after our cars, our clothes, and our hair than we do our minds.

Our minds go round and round until we’re so distracted that we are no longer present in the world in which we live.

You don’t have to become a monk, like Puddicombe did, to learn how to nourish your mind so you can be the clear, creative, compassionate soul you’re meant to be.

Practicing mindfulness for 10 minutes a day can change your life and your art: (Tweet this)

To read more about my experiences with meditation and writing, click here.

Jan 24

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Generate writing ideas with online photo galleries

In my last post “Overcome writer’s block and generate new ideas with tarot or picture cards,” I wrote about how I stumbled upon the benefits of using tarot cards to inspire my writing.

I’d like to share another great source of inspiration I discovered recently. Sometimes, Carly and I will go to Shutterstock or iStock to find photos for our blog posts. Recently, we purchased a large number of photos, and I helped find pictures for our blog. What I discovered was a plethora of inspiration!  Read more

Jan 9

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Seven ways to breathe life into your novel or short story idea

Are you stalled at some point in your story or manuscript development? Or maybe you’ve finished a project and are jumping into a new one. Generating an idea for a novel is one thing, but how do you build it out into a manuscript? Maybe you’re looking at all the ideas you’ve collected, and you’re stuck about where to go next.

Breathe life into your novel ideas by brainstorming your ideas. Here’s where to start:

1. Ask the question: “What was happening in my life when I thought of this idea?” For memoir writers, this is especially powerful. Big life changes or milestones often spark new ideas. Whether you’re writing a memoir or novel, our inner selves drive themes in our writing worlds. Many novels are autobiographical to some degree — consciously or unconsciously. Our life experiences can’t help but inform the stories we write. Read more

Jan 7

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Four techniques to tap into your imagination

Have you ever noticed how being creative and being stressed out aren’t very compatible?

Coming up with new worlds, creating characters, and putting words in people’s mouths require us to think big, tap into our imaginations. The writer’s life requires a certain amount of stress-free time for maximum creativity.

Just being alive brings a certain amount of stress. Add to that stress caused by high pressure jobs that can knock us out of our groove and block our ability to create. Even just fatigue from regular day-to-day life and all its demands can deplete us of creative energy.

If you find you need to fire up your imagination, here are some ways to get back in your groove. Read more

Oct 9

Daydream your way to creativity

My mother tells me that when my brother was in elementary school, she would come home from teacher conferences in tears because she didn’t get a good report from my brother’s teacher. Apparently, my brother wasn’t paying attention in class. He was staring out the window. He was daydreaming.

As it turns out, daydreaming can be a creativity tool. And it has other benefits too. It can relieve stress and lower blood pressure.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re trying really hard to think of how to fix something or move forward in your writing, you just get more stuck and stressed out? Then when you give up and go on to something else, just let your mind drift, the solution pops into your brain? (This works when you’ve lost something too and are trying too hard to remember where you left it). Read more

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