Ten Tips to Undo Creative Blocks

Ten Tips to Undo Creative Blocks

Creative blocks. They can happen to anybody. They are frustrating. Discouraging. Even maddening. Blocks can happen when we are stressed, when we feel disconnected, or even simply unmotivated to be creative. However, creative blocks also hit us out of the blue. We just wake up, sit down to create and realize that there isn’t anything there in our heads to create. This sometimes happens when we have been working and working without a break.  Creative blocks can be a wake up call that something in our creative life needs to change or be shaken up a bit. What are the keys to getting unblocked? I have compiled a list of ten ways that you can use to move through the block and back into your creative groove.

  1. Change the Scenery: If you work at home or studio, go someplace else. Work from a coffee shop or at the park for a little while. Pack up the minimum amount of supplies you will need and just go. I have, on a few occasions, packed up scissors, glue, papers, and cards and gone to Starbucks around the corner. I sat with my coffee, people watched and made cards. I have even taken my laptop and knocked out two to three blog posts at a time sitting at a coffee shop. For some reason, I can sometimes tune in easier there than I can at home.
  2. Do Something Different: If you are a card maker that uses stamps, try your hand at some watercolor paints or clay. If you are a writer, it might mean your mind needs a words break, so color or draw. I find that I keep a few projects on hand that aren’t on time schedules that I can pick up and do when I am stuck on writing or card-making. It breaks up the monotony of the same thing. Even when you love it, sometimes the brain needs a break.
  3. Come out of Isolation: I have noticed many creatives get busy and into a project and they isolate themselves to get their work done. They are in “the zone”. This is great but if you suddenly find yourself stuck instead of creating, one of the things you can do is socialize. It can be with your family or friends. Go out to lunch with someone you haven’t seen for a while. Sit down with the kids and see what is going on in their world. It is so easy to become intensely focused when we are zoned in on a project that we forget we need the company of other people sometimes.
  4. Read Inspiring Blogs/Posts: Even if you read it before. I have gone back and read a post more than once because I found it inspirational. I also make sure there are bloggers that I can go to for some inspiration when I need it. Some great ones are: Jamie Riddler, Tery Lynn, Lamisha Serf- Walls, Leonie Dawson, and Chris Guillebeau. I am sure there are more. I discover them all the time using Pinterest. It is also a great place to go for some inspiration and ideas when you have creative blocks.
  5. Practice Mindfulness and Affirmations: This is an easy one to forget to do when we start or end our day. It is so easy just to jump into our work or to crash into bed that we often forget the importance of being mindful and practicing affirmations. I put these together because I use them as a practice at the same time. When I write my affirmations down, I am practicing being mindful of my goals and dreams. I create an awareness of them in conscious mind so that they stay with me through out the course of the day. Done right, I use them to reinforce choices/decisions that need to be made for the interest of myself, my family or my dreams. Mindfulness can also be just breathing for five minutes in silence. Allowing yourself to simply be in the moment before you jump into work or fall into sleep. Affirmations, ones that are believable to ourselves, have been shown to be a positive force in following our path and reinforcing a positive outlook on ourselves and our lives.
  6. Read: Pick up a book. It doesn’t really matter what kind it is so long as it is fun and enjoyable to you. Let the book inspire you in one way or another. I remember I was so inspired by Eat Pray Love, I bought copies for my co-workers and friends. Over the years, I have found inspiration in many types of books. I love Brene’ Brown, Chris Guillebeau, SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), and just finished You are a Badass! (which I LOVED and was totally inspired by). On the other hand I am currently reading Simon Sinek’s, “Start with Why”, which is inspiring in a totally different way. I also find inspiration in poetry such as Billy Collins and Mary Oliver. Reading can be a great source of inspiration and bring a resurgence of creative energy.
  7. Get Physical: Move. Go for a walk. Put on some music and dance. Go for a bike ride. Visit the gym. Just move your body. The movement of our bodies does great things for our brains, producing all kinds of happy chemicals that help our brain work. When I was in college, I worked with an instructor who would give us breaks during long working periods. She would guide us through movement and simple dance exercises to help us refocus our brains and wake us up after sitting for so long. If your creative work is something like dance or theater where you are already physical, try some other type of movement. Do something you normally would not do to break up the routine.
  8. Nourish Yourself: Have you eaten anything? Did it nourish you or was it a quick sugar rush and now you are crashing? It is so easy to get into a zone of concentration and forget to properly take care of our body. It needs fuel. Our brain needs fuel. It is easy to grab the sugary treat at the coffee shop or just drink a cup of coffee at home and start working but our bodies need more than that. They need nutrients for sustained energy. That way we don’t crash. I am not innocent in this. There have been plenty of times I have skipped breakfast or had a sugary muffin or slice of pumpkin bread. However, I have been on a new path, food wise, and have begun to learn the importance of balanced eating, especially not skipping breakfast and including more protein. I didn’t realize it but for years I have been protein deprived. I added some more vegetarian substitutes and protein shakes to my diet and it has made a huge difference. If you are feeling blocked because you are crashing, check what you are eating.
  9. Make Connections: Connect with other writers, artists, card-makers, dancers, or have a mixed group of creative minds. But connect with people who know what it is like to get into the creative zone. Other people who understand creative blocks and failures. Connect with them in person or through social media but connect. It is awful to feel alone and as though no one understands the creative quandary you may be in. Hang around like minded creative people who you can bounce off ideas and may offer constructive criticism. Get Connected.
  10. Know this will Pass: Creative blocks, like many things in life, will pass. They happen, we work through it, instead of fighting it, and then we move forward. Just keep reminding yourself that this is only temporary. The creative block will pass and you will keep going.

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Fourteen Tips of Self- Care for the Creative Person

Fourteen Tips of Self- Care for the Creative Person

Being creative is its own form of self-care. However even creative people need to take some time out and refuel their souls. Self-care is the new trend in today’s need to tend to our body and souls that are sometimes starving from lack of attention. Creativity is one of the recommendations for self-care. If you are a working creative, who spends every day head deep in being creative, even you need some vital self-care. Here are fourteen of my favorite tips on taking care of a creative persons spirit.

  1. My first inclination when I need to take some time out is to go for a long walk somewhere where it is green and pretty. I long to be out in nature. Sometimes I take my headphones but most of the time, I simply listen to the sounds of the world around me. If I can get away, I like to take hikes, not long hikes right now, but somewhere in the forest, usually among the redwoods, is my favorite place to go. There are times when all I can do is go to the walking trail around the park near my house. Then I walk around it a couple times, maybe take my shoes off and walk barefoot in the grass. There is something calming about walking in the grass with my bare feet. It is as though I’m being grounded to the earth again.
  2.  My next suggestion is to pick up a good book. Honestly, I recommend two books: one for just for fun and the second something I want to learn more about. When I am doing this kind of self-care, I am giving myself permission to step away from the tasks of writing or doing crafts and spend some time filling my mind with words. I love reading and can often devour a book or two in a weekend. Sometimes though, I savor them and they will last me at least a week. The last few books I have read that were for learning for by Brene’ Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert. Brene’ Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection, actually made me break my rule of not writing in books. I highlighted so much because I wanted to hold on to all that I could and surprisingly I did. I consider all her books life-changing. The other book, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert was also incredible and such an inspiration for a creative person. If you are creative, I highly recommend reading this and filling your soul with its stories.
  3.  Slow down. Find some place to sit in the cool of the evening and watch the sun set. When I was much younger my friend and I would drive out on the country roads listening to music. Then we found the perfect spot to park on the side of the road, sit on the car hood with sandwiches and watch the sunset nearly every weekend. It had such a profound effect that I can still see the sun sets in my mind nearly 20 years later.
  4. Let’s color. There are so many adult coloring books out there right now. You can pick them up anywhere from the department stores to the craft stores and I’ve even seen them in the drugstores and once at a gas station. Coloring has been proven recently to release stress and tension and allows the mind to relax.
  5. On Pinterest once, I saw someone set up a inflatable pool in their backyard filled with pillows and blankets in order to watch the stars. I recommend this. Though it’s getting harder with more light pollution in my neighborhood, I still sometimes like to sit on the porch with a blanket in the evening and watch the stars overhead. Or better yet, my friend and I sometimes like to walk late at night so we can see the stars while we walk. My recommendation is maybe you can get an air mattress laid out on the lawn in the backyard with pillows and blankets lay down and watch the stars; maybe watch them with someone you love.
  6. Journaling. I cannot say enough about journaling. There are more ways to Journal than I can possibly mention here: there is brain dump journaling, art journaling, bullet journaling, journaling with prompts, journaling about your past, and the list can go on. There are as many ways to Journal as there are people. But there’s something to be said for writing down your thoughts, clearing them out of our heads to make way for new thoughts and new ideas. My favorite form is the brain dump. I usually do this at night before bed. I pour everything that’s been in my brain on the paper. Some of it is good and some of it’s bad, sometimes a review of the day, and other times it’s just reflective. It’s basically anything. I think that’s why it works for me. I also like some kinds of art journaling where I am journaling on a theme or an idea but I haven’t worked with that as much.
  7. Meditation is a word that is being thrown around a lot these days. I know many people have this image of someone sitting perfectly still for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour and fully focused and not moving. But meditation can be simple. It can be sitting with your mind quiet for five minutes. Or you can try guided meditations by using YouTube or audio recordings. I have found I like to read a reflection and meditate on that for about five minutes. I like to have something I can focus on when I meditate. Though, if I’m sitting in nature, like at the beach, I listen to the sound of the ocean waves and slowly go into a deep meditative state where I can sit for an hour or more.
  8. Try an art activity with friends. I talked about this briefly in Taking Your Artist Date in a New Direction. Pick a friend or two and go do something together: a painting place or a ceramic shop or take a class like a dance class or a cooking class. The point is that sometimes it’s all about just having a little fun and having it with our friends. Our friends are a great source of reminding ourselves that we need to take care of our souls.
  9. Making intentions list. I did this at the beginning of the year instead of writing out goals ever out intentions things that I am mindful about creating in my life rather than setting a goal to master. This made more sense to me and is easier for me to accomplish. When I get lost I can easily go back to my intentions list and get myself back on the right shirt direction again. I also try to keep my intentions in different categories so that I’m a little more balanced and different aspects of my life. Here’s the sheet. New Year Five &Five List
  10. Visit any water location near you. Water is cleansing and grounding and can make us reconnect with her and ourselves whether it is the ocean a river a favorite lake it doesn’t matter. Water has amazing soothing capacity.
  11. Move your body stretch it out. I know we all can’t afford to do yoga classes and sometimes we think we can’t even do yoga. Personally, I have not yet tried yoga. I’m afraid to. But I have watched videos on stretching on YouTube and on a couple of health websites. Your body needs to stretch. It needs to feel the full length of its muscles and be in tune with itself for it to function fully. Stretching does get our minds back in touch with our bodies and our body in touch with our mind and is essential for centering ourselves.
  12. Treat yourself to a movie night. Pick a favorite movie, pop some popcorn, cuddle up with your favorite blanket and just chill. Or is there new movie how you want to see? Take yourself to the movie theater. Treat yourself to a movie. You can go alone or with friends it doesn’t matter. For me going to the movies as a treat especially with the cost and having three kids. So most of the time I wait for the DVDs. But when I do get a movie I really want to see is an exceptional treat and I thoroughly enjoy it. I get to be in the moment with the movie.
  13. Take yourself a little day trip. Hop over to the next city or town over or someplace you haven’t been before. Play tourist. Go do touristy things: looking all the little shops, have a little snack, take some pictures. Just enjoy the area that is new to you.
  14. Create a positive morning or evening routine. I often start out my mornings by reading a reflection or sometimes two. It helps to center and focus myself to start the day. I also start off with a cup of coffee and my routine of watching a little bit of morning news with just me and my dog while the kids sleep. This is my little time to myself. When it gets disrupted, I can feel it in my whole day. Having a consistent routine is good for our self-care for our body likes to predict what is happening next and is comforted by that knowledge.

There you have it. Fourteen tips on taking care of yourself. Our creativity depends on our ability to know when and how to implement some self-care. It is not an act of selfishness; it is necessary. We are not little bunnies running on batteries. We are human beings and are very complicated. When we take care of ourselves, our bodies and our minds, it makes it so much easier to take care of the rest of our life and our family and friends.

Build Your Ultimate Creative Toolbox

Build Your Ultimate Creative Toolbox

Many creative people have their creative toolbox that they keep on hand. They pull stuff, and tips and tricks right out of it. It’s like having a magicians magic hat. The key to a Great Toolbox is to include in it the things that will keep your creative soul going even in those times where you feel stuck or are feeling blah and uncreative.

Let’s start with what I keep in mine.

For inspiration, I have many Artful Blogger, Artful Journalling, and Where Women Create magazines, all produced by the Stampington Company. I love flipping the pages and seeing the beautiful pictures and sharing in others creative adventures. It is my hope one day to be in one of those magazines myself. It inspires and motivates me when I feel stuck or lost on what to do.ultimate toolbox 1

My favorite creative tool is my laptop. It is a MacBook Pro that is nearly four years old. Since I am first and foremost a writer, I find it essential for working on fiction, moving my poems from the written page to being saved and edited, and where I create my affirmation cards. I also use it for collecting my photos. I will give you a secret, I have about 22,000 pictures. NOT KIDDING. I always find reasons to use ones I thought I would never use especially in designing mini stories and affirmation cards. It is also where I create my stationary, my cards, and anything else that strikes me.
Pick your favorite tool! What is it? Keep it in good condition. If it’s something that gets used often, like a sketch book or journal, do you keep a back up so you always have one. My daughter keeps two or three around the house so she can just grab one.

Now onto some more practical, hands on stuff. Even writers need a little something out of scope of traditional writing to feed the creative soul. Here is what I highly recommend and what I keep for creative tools.

  1. Watercolor Paints: you can go to the dollar store and get the watercolor kits or you can go to Joanns and for ten bucks get the watercolor tubes. I use them for creating backgrounds, just playing when my mind has been so full of words, I need something that doesn’t require too much language processing.
  2. Pens, markers, pencils: I will admit to being an office supply junkie. I am fully addicted to new pens and pencils. I love makers, gel pens, colored pencils, Papermate Flair pens, and my fave are Pentel RSVP pens in purple. They just make writing, drawing, doodling so much more fun and interesting. Sometimes, it helps me to brainstorm in different colors to see patterns.
  3. Paper or Card Stock: A writer needs paper, whether hand writing or printing from a computer. If you want to make little notes or cards with writing or doodles, it helps to have sturdier card stock around and a good pair of scissors.ultimate toolbox 3
  4. Another thing that the paper is good for is making Word tiles. Inspired by Susan Wooldridge’s poem crazy. She creates word tiles and has her students draw out so many words and they have to create a poem. But I have also used them to inspire photos, or doodling or messages to friends. I think of word tiles as a great way to get out of stuckness because you have to work within the confines of the words you picked, it brings out the creative self.
  5. Tactile: A great toolbox as something wth texture that you can play with, touch in between or during projects. There is something about the switching of the cerebral writing, organizing to something that is just about touch. It changes our posture, calls on different parts of the brain, creates flow through other avenues. especially when stressed or up against a deadline, having some tactile object like play-dough or clay or even different types of fabric can re-direct us.
  6. TIME! Make sure that you give yourself time to use the tools in your toolbox. Our creative expression is of great importance. Even if you have a job and work forty hours a week, it is essential to our health that we take time for creative expression. I have said before, Brene’ Brown, a well know mental health writer, says that “UNUSED creative expression is NOT benign.” It will manifest itself in agitation, frustration, anger, guilt. A host of negative feelings that eat away at our self-esteem. So being creative helps you be a better you.
  7. Miscellaneous: 1) Music: I know for me when I am working on certain projects I have specific music that I listen to that creates the mood and environment that I want, especially if I am writing and I want to tune out the noise. 2) Add some acrylic paint as well. The colors are brighter and you get different results by blending. It is just a different than watercolors but fun. 3) Ribbons and stickers. These are just bits of whimsy to add to your toolbox. Maybe you only use them once in a while. I love using my own stickers to decorate packages when I send out orders. 4) Glue. All kinds but at least a good glue stick and a reliable craft glue, like Aleene’s tacky Glue. 5) A Journal. Whether you are a writer or an artist, a photographer or florist, keep a journal. They are great in offering us a chance to reflect. Maybe you just have a project journal. That’s ok. Its just another handy dandy tool for your box.

ultimate toolbox 2

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