All of us are artists in some way or other (even those of us who don’t have the faintest idea of what to do with crayons and a blank sheet of paper), and we have a natural ability to create things on a daily basis.
But sometimes we do hit speed bumps in our attempts to be ‘creative’, whether it be with regards to artwork, our crafts, or even solving a problem (you need to be creative to do that too). We have all hit dry spells in our creativity and it can be infuriating! Here are some suggestions as to what you can try to do to get those creative juices flowing freely again.
Breathe Deeply.
These days when we are so caught up with the busy-ness of our lives, we tend to take shallow, rapid breaths. Just take a moment to observe your breath to see if this is the case. Shallow breathing shortchanges our body’s demand for oxygen which, amongst other things, most definitely affects our ability to think clearly.
So to counter this, make a conscious effort to take deep, calm breaths during the day. Imagine your lungs comfortably filling up to their maximum capacity with life-giving oxygen, and release your breath gently until they’re empty. Repeat this as often as you can. You may choose to set aside a specific time to do this as an exercise, or better yet, decide for yourself several intervals during the day at which you tell yourself you’ll step back from whatever it is that you’re doing, and to take x-number of deep breaths, before continuing whatever it was that needed your attention.
Take a walk or do some form of exercise.
This is also another way to circulate oxygen around your body and to your brain. Plus it’s always a good idea to get yourself out of an enclosed building to let your eyes feast on your surroundings. Who knows – you might find inspiration in a relatively unfamiliar environment.
Write or do everyday tasks with your other hand.
If you are right-handed, try to consciously do stuff with your left hand instead – like opening doors, drawing, or brushing your teeth. Doing new things, or performing familiar tasks in a different manner is said to be an easy way to give your brain a nice workout. Besides, seeing the results of your switching hands for such tasks could possibly let you see things in a slightly different light.
Limit your options
Sometimes having too many options available to you gets you stuck in the I-can’t-decide-which-one-to-use rut. So let’s just say you have an assignment to create a piece of jewelry. That’s pretty broad, right? I’d imagine that there are countless materials to choose from, and ways to get started on that! If you’re stumped by how to start, how about telling yourself that you’ll only use… bottlecaps? This is what happened when two teenage sisters did just that:
Don’t take yourself too seriously
Like it or not, there will be things in life that will blow up in your face at the worst possible times and it’s easy to get caught in the gravity of the situation. I think you’ll agree with me if I were to suggest that these mind-ruts are possibly your worst enemy because they are potentially soul-draining, life-sucking thoughts that can literally stall you from moving forward with anything, let alone being creative.
You always have choices available to you. So it might be a good idea for you to choose to look at the lighter side of things. You’ll make mistakes and muck-ups once in a while–that’s perfectly okay. Just promise yourself that you’ll learn to do better next time, and move on.
So those are my 2 sen worth of ideas on how to get creatively un-stuck. What do YOU do when you need to breathe new life into your creativity? Please share your thoughts with us! :)
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