Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous. Bill Moyers
No matter how creative we are, we all experience ups and downs and different mood swings, in our routines. On days such as these, we are unable to give our 100 percent. That is quite unavoidable even for the most creative people.
1) Set up a daily schedule
What is within our control is to follow a set routine. It is prudent to fix up a daily schedule for our creativity. A fixed time and place. If we are ready with our laptop (or with paint and brush if we are into a painting) at a fixed time and location, that is our way of telling our minds that we are ready to receive the creative juices, even if it’s a trickle or a torrent.
But be there at the appointed hour and place. In that way, you are conveying to your mind that you are ready to connect with the creative current, whether in a drip or in a flood. Having a daily routine for creativity will also have you protected from the bustle of the remaining part of your schedule.
2) Find a silent and secluded place
So, you have fixed up your daily schedule for your creativity. But in today’s hectic lifestyle it is also important to find yourself a secluded and silent place to practice your creativity. Perhaps some of the silent time zones could be early morning or late at night when everybody is asleep or even on weekdays when everyone is out for work. In such time zones, even the dining table can be used as a creative workspace if you do not have the luxury of having a separate study room.
Let’s call such a place your “bliss station”. There would be no checking of social media and other distractions from your mobile phone and no sounds of disturbances from the external world. Practically you will be in “airplane mode” by putting on your earplugs and keeping your mobile on silent mode at your “bliss station”. The idea is to have yourself cut off from the interferences of modern life during your creative time zone.
3) Keep your bliss station neat, make a to-do list, and take a nap.
Even if you are not feeling like doing anything creative, it’s a good idea to make a to-do list for your creative work, so that you can always come back to take up the things listed in the to-do list and are not at a loss where to start from, making you more energized and inspired.
Cut down on the extra clutter in your immediate environment as well. Tidiness around your bliss station will stimulate new ideas toward creativity. Of course, some amount of disorderliness may even help in rekindling creativity.
Apart from having a neat workstation, one should also have a well-ordered mind. How? Just take a nap. While you do that all the toxins in the brain are washed away from the brain cells and when you wake up you are refreshed and recharged with new creative ideas.
4) Do what you love
Creativity should be practiced just for the love of it and not for gaining money or fame. If you practice creativity for money or for fame you may get under pressure to get even better and better. On the other hand, if you practice creativity just for the love of it you will never get pressurized. A 5-year child draws with colors on a piece of paper because he is enjoying the particular moment of drawing. He is not particularly bothered about what people will feel about his drawing. Hence in order to protect your creativity, shield it from the entrapments of money and fame.
5) Keep doing what you love and do not run after a tag
To be a truly successful creative person keep doing what you love doing and do not long for a tag of “having arrived” as an “official” painter or writer or sculptor or filmmaker or dancer or whatever you are aspiring for. For example, even if you have “arrived” as a writer, it would not be a good idea to restrict yourself as a writer alone when you can also paint and sing. There is no point in limiting your creativity.
Instead of being obsessed with being a painter or writer or sculptor or filmmaker or dancer, one should just focus on painting, writing, sculpting, filmmaking, or dancing. In other words, instead of putting too much emphasis on a noun, one should focus on its corresponding verb.
6) Connect creativity with playfulness and have a sense of detachment
Your creativity blossoms even further when you do it with a sense of playfulness without bothering about the end result. Detach yourself from the end result. If the creative product is digital, delete it, if it is physical destroy it. When a child is finished drawing his piece of art he is not actually bothered if it adorns the wall or goes into the bin. And while trying to connect with your inner child-like self, it’s a good idea to actually play with some children to work through your mental blocks.
7) Ordinary people can produce extraordinary creative works.
There is no connection between having an extraordinary life and producing extraordinary creative works. There is no link between the two. There are numerous examples of artists living ordinary lives and producing extraordinary creative works of art. Remarkable talents are even born in the most unremarkable and ordinary circumstances. All you need to have is an observant eye to note down the magical elements hidden within the most ordinary and routine aspects of everyday life. Study your subject closely noting or drawing its special features which are otherwise ignored by ordinary people.
8) If your creativity gets torturous for you or for others, it’s time to step away.
All forms of creativity should lead to happiness and make our lives better for ourselves and for others. It should not become torturous and miserable for us and for others around us. If it does, it’s time to step away, at least temporarily. After all, creativity is to serve us and not the other way around. If creativity is not adding value to our lives, there is no point in continuing with it.
Generally, when one is struggling through a rough patch in one’s life, creativity is a welcome change. We should practice it by all means. But we have to keep in mind that the world needs a good person more than a tortured artist.
