Light your Creative Fire
I was always encouraged to use my imagination as a child. When I had bad dreams, I would go into my parents bedroom for comfort. My Mom would tell me to go back to bed and imagine that my bed was a castle, and think about all the grand adventures that I would go on. I turned nightmares into a creative adventure. As a I grew up, I found music through playing the piano and singing. I would come home from a bad day and play through my emotions. Though classically trained, I found comfort in putting my own technique and touch in the process of reading music. I started writing my own songs. I found theatre and loved that I could be anyone that I wanted to be. I tapped into a character, created their backstory, and brought it to life through my body, voice, and connection.
In college, I was constantly stimulated and inspired by my fellow classmates and teachers. We rehearsed monologues and songs for each other on a Friday night and offered feedback. We prepared for auditions and encouraged each other's growth. Though competitive at times, we constantly poked the fire of our creative potential the more than we learned.
This knowledge, growth, and creative outlet is what makes me tick. When I went through a huge career transition where I was lacking music, art, and theatre, I found my creativity through my yoga teaching. It manifested through sequencing to the body, creating inspiring playlists, and challenging my writings and themes for class.
Creativity is the magic cherry on top of the ice cream of life. You don't have to be Picasso to live your most creative self. We have the opportunity to place our authentic and creative spin on every single thing that we do. Applied toward family, work, hobbies, friends, and spirituality, you have the chance to make it YOURS and offer that creativity to the people around you to stimulate that same energy.
So how can you enhance your inner creative person?
- Find your creative strengths
- Where do you shine? Is it through music, art, writing, blogging, graphic design, drawing, facilitation, outlines, sales, public speaking, connecting, yoga sequencing, teaching, marketing-you name it!? Write down 10 of your top strengths when it comes to living creatively. Acknowledge how you feel when you find these strengths. Can you explore a tangible place in your life in which you were living these strengths in your most creative state?
- Explore your creative values
- Make your own guidebook. When living as your most creative self, what are the values in which you desire to stay aligned? Pick distinctive words that come alive for you. Examples may be the words: fun, connection, authenticity, knowledge, inspiration, or positivity. Write down their definition in your own words.
- Uncover areas in your life in which you would like to fuel more creativity
- Acknowledge where you can incorporate your strengths and values through creativity. Is it in your job? Hobby? Relationship? Get specific. Tell a friend so they can hold you accountable or write it in on your calendar or planner. You can utilize these as goals. Maybe you are incorporating more creativity into your relationship. Example: I will find one date night a week in which we will get outside of our comfort zones and try an activity we have not done as a couple. (Sky is the limit--have fun with it)
- Find your Inspiration
- You can feel inspired and avoid becoming a copy-cat. The people around us, as well as the things that happen in front of us, are incredible tools of realization and innovation. We are all teachers and students in everything that we do. Can you determine who you relate to( or look up) and how that person applies creativity in their life? Do you notice any similarities in their strengths to yours? Why do they inspire you and what can you take away as inspiration to apply toward your goals? Maybe your inspiration is in learning or reading a book rather than in an individual. What fuels your desire to do and learn more?
- Don't Force It-Check your state
- Honor that some days you will have energetic writers block. Recognize that some days are good, and others are not so hot. Are you feeling in the flow with your values and inspired? If not, shake it off, and go do something for you. Do a ritual or activity that is the polar opposite of whatever it is you were looking to do in the first place. Meet your creative self with your best self so that you truly can enjoy the experience. Come back to your "why." This will lead to the generation of ideas and fuel the fire that you need.
- Doubt your Doubts
- Whether you're starting a creative project, or implementing creative patterns into your routine, you've probably heard the inner voice tell you you are not good enough. You hear that someone has already created what you are creating. You hear the I am stucks, cants, should's, wont's, and dont's. The beauty about creativity is that it is like a snowflake. It may have similar patterns and touch to the artist or creative next to you, but with your authentic patterns and geometry woven in. Can you rewire your thinking to do something creative for YOU rather than someone else? Come back to your values, strengths, and inspiration and allow it melt your doubts away.
Like anything, creativity is a practice.
CREATIVITY: (noun): the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.