Sunday, December 04, 2005
7 Easy Creative Rituals to Spark Your Creativity and Inspire Your Soul
by Nancy Marmolejo, Comadre Coaching
Creativity is a mysterious force that visits us with great ideas, new ways of seeing the world, and the courage to do things differently. Revitalizing your creative talents will help you in the most unexpectedly wonderful ways: a new business idea, a renewed commitment to self-care, an appreciation for the beauty that lies all around us.
Finding a small bit of time each day to feed this force will not only reward you with increased creativity, but also give you an expanded sense of appreciation and gratitude for the creative process.
The following list highlights simple yet powerful actions you can take to spark your creative energy from the inside out.
1. Keep a Daily Journal
Use a journal to jot down the meandering thoughts of your mind. Write, draw, doodle, paste collages together. Stuck among your great ideas are random thoughts, mental notes, and menial observations. Use your journal as a place to deposit these thoughts, keeping your creative mental workspace clear. Think of it as feng shui for the mind, a way of keeping the creative juices flowing.
2. Create Sacred Space
Find a place in your home to keep inspiring, motivating, and spiritually significant objects. Remind yourself that creativity flows like water and wind, that it is steadfast like earth and powerful like fire. Collect objects from nature to remind you of this. Include things that awe and inspire you, projects you’re most proud of, and photos of people who support and encourage your creative action.
3. Reflection
Reflection can be a minute of appreciating someone or something, or it can be a day of meditation and writing. Find ways to incorporate reflection into your daily routine, noting how experiences and interactions help you grow as a creative person. Use this time to survey what inspires you and what blocks you, what attracts you and what doesn’t.
4. Get Away
If you can, find some time to sneak away and enjoy a creative pleasure. It can be an hour wandering through a craft store, window shopping, a hike in nature, or a visit to a special place. If you have kids and can’t get away alone, don’t worry. Enjoy the outing and reflect on it together. There are no rules to creative getaways. It’s whatever touches you at that moment.
5. Do Something Loca
What’s something crazy you’ve always dreamed of doing but didn’t because of insecurity, fear, or intimidation? Make a pact with yourself to get to know your Inner Loca (or loco for you guys reading this), and find ways to let her out to play every day.
6. See the World Through a Child’s Eyes
Children have the amazing ability to be open to the possibilities of just about anything. Give yourself playtime to see the world with the eyes of a child. Sometimes it can be simply sitting on the floor and looking at a room from a new angle, or it may be giving yourself permission to laugh and have fun.
7. Chart Your Course
It’s one thing to dream of creative things, and it’s another thing to make them happen. Look at all the wonderful ideas you have and choose one to act on. Make a commitment to do at least one daily action to support this idea. Doing the footwork to make your dream a reality will show you how easy it really is to turn ideas into action.
A ritual is a series of repeated acts. By incorporating creative ritual in your life, you will increase your innovation and creativity in ways that will surprise and delight you. Try at least one of these actions, and feel your creativity grow!
Nancy Marmolejo helps creative and entrepreneurial women hone in on their core strengths to turn ideas into action. She helps both the wildly creative and the mildly creative launch innovative ideas, enter new markets, and build on natural talents.
Visit Nancy Marmolejo on the web at www.ComadreCoaching.com to receive a free copy of Get Creative Now! Four Simple Tools to Boost Your Creativity from the Inside Out and the award winning newsletter The Pocket Comadre.
Creativity is a mysterious force that visits us with great ideas, new ways of seeing the world, and the courage to do things differently. Revitalizing your creative talents will help you in the most unexpectedly wonderful ways: a new business idea, a renewed commitment to self-care, an appreciation for the beauty that lies all around us.
Finding a small bit of time each day to feed this force will not only reward you with increased creativity, but also give you an expanded sense of appreciation and gratitude for the creative process.
The following list highlights simple yet powerful actions you can take to spark your creative energy from the inside out.
1. Keep a Daily Journal
Use a journal to jot down the meandering thoughts of your mind. Write, draw, doodle, paste collages together. Stuck among your great ideas are random thoughts, mental notes, and menial observations. Use your journal as a place to deposit these thoughts, keeping your creative mental workspace clear. Think of it as feng shui for the mind, a way of keeping the creative juices flowing.
2. Create Sacred Space
Find a place in your home to keep inspiring, motivating, and spiritually significant objects. Remind yourself that creativity flows like water and wind, that it is steadfast like earth and powerful like fire. Collect objects from nature to remind you of this. Include things that awe and inspire you, projects you’re most proud of, and photos of people who support and encourage your creative action.
3. Reflection
Reflection can be a minute of appreciating someone or something, or it can be a day of meditation and writing. Find ways to incorporate reflection into your daily routine, noting how experiences and interactions help you grow as a creative person. Use this time to survey what inspires you and what blocks you, what attracts you and what doesn’t.
4. Get Away
If you can, find some time to sneak away and enjoy a creative pleasure. It can be an hour wandering through a craft store, window shopping, a hike in nature, or a visit to a special place. If you have kids and can’t get away alone, don’t worry. Enjoy the outing and reflect on it together. There are no rules to creative getaways. It’s whatever touches you at that moment.
5. Do Something Loca
What’s something crazy you’ve always dreamed of doing but didn’t because of insecurity, fear, or intimidation? Make a pact with yourself to get to know your Inner Loca (or loco for you guys reading this), and find ways to let her out to play every day.
6. See the World Through a Child’s Eyes
Children have the amazing ability to be open to the possibilities of just about anything. Give yourself playtime to see the world with the eyes of a child. Sometimes it can be simply sitting on the floor and looking at a room from a new angle, or it may be giving yourself permission to laugh and have fun.
7. Chart Your Course
It’s one thing to dream of creative things, and it’s another thing to make them happen. Look at all the wonderful ideas you have and choose one to act on. Make a commitment to do at least one daily action to support this idea. Doing the footwork to make your dream a reality will show you how easy it really is to turn ideas into action.
A ritual is a series of repeated acts. By incorporating creative ritual in your life, you will increase your innovation and creativity in ways that will surprise and delight you. Try at least one of these actions, and feel your creativity grow!
Nancy Marmolejo helps creative and entrepreneurial women hone in on their core strengths to turn ideas into action. She helps both the wildly creative and the mildly creative launch innovative ideas, enter new markets, and build on natural talents.
Visit Nancy Marmolejo on the web at www.ComadreCoaching.com to receive a free copy of Get Creative Now! Four Simple Tools to Boost Your Creativity from the Inside Out and the award winning newsletter The Pocket Comadre.
