Awakening Creativity - Part Two

Welcome to part two of a 10 part series exploring the ways in which we can awaken our inherent creativity and free those stuck places that block our efforts.


The Quiet Place – Welcoming the Still, Small Voice

One of the reasons I’ve had difficulty in focusing and working on my books or creating music recently is the addition of a huge plasma TV into my home. What a nice little distraction it’s become. I’ve never been much for TV but, let me tell you, when I’m stuck in the world of writer’s block or there are simply difficult areas to deal with that I’d rather not deal with, it’s magnificent (such lovely shows and, really, I only watch the shows I can learn from…). It’s also deadly to the creative person.

Well, TV, itself, isn’t deadly - it’s the inner choice to allow things to distract you from the difficult places that is deadly. These distractions can hide inside many different things: our jobs, family, friends, finances, classes, spiritual journeys/quests, good deeds (these last two are often the most insidious because they’re sneaky – it’s wonderful to seek out a deeper spiritual life and do kind things for others or the environment, but when these become your hiding place, they have the effect of stunting the gifts given to you to use). Whatever we use to hide from ourselves and our light is a distraction.

Stillness - a most difficult thing to reach for. It is much, much easier to fill our time with noise and activity. Stillness takes courage and discipline. But, with it comes so many gifts. The first of which is silence. Our world is so noisy and most of the noise comes from within ourselves. When we are quiet inside it is amazing how quiet the world seems. Cultivating stillness gives us a break from the noise of machines, traffic, offices, technology and most importantly, our own thoughts. Oh! It feels so good when your mind is still and your body is quiet. There is a deep letting go that could be a bit unnerving at first but then it just feels so very right.

Out of that stillness comes the second gift. We get the opportunity to observe ourselves and in the process we learn about who we are at a core level. Again, this can be a little scary but worth it. When we are still and quiet there is nobody there but us. We listen until our thoughts run out and then there is just us. And, slowly, as we face ourselves we experience a third gift – hearing that still, small voice.

It has been called the voice of God, inspiration, our muse, our intuition, That Which Is, our Higher Selves, our guides, our angels and so on. Whatever name is used, it comes from the deepest places of ourselves and cannot be heard unless we are quiet and still. It is this voice that speaks to us of our light, our power, our love, our creativity – our way in this world and how to make it so. It reminds us of what we feel we were born to do and promises support and answers along the way. As we learn to listen, that gentle voice will become stronger and much easier to hear throughout even the noisiest and busiest of days. And as we hear it, trust it and act with it, our paths will be made clear and our creativity stronger.

How do we become still in a world that asks for everything to be completed long before we’ve even had a chance to begin it? We create that stillness and discipline ourselves to sit through the uncomfortable moments, the outside comments, the whines of our egos that are afraid to let go like an overly tired child insisting on staying up way beyond her bedtime.

Set aside time each day for quiet stillness and contemplative listening. If you have never done this before, begin with 5 minutes a day, then move to 10 and then to 15 and on up to 30. If you can allow longer periods then, by all means, do so. If you don’t have time even for 30 minutes, aim for at least 15-20 minutes.

Find a quiet place. If you have a family, this might be difficult. Have your partner ease this by taking care of the kids for a short time (or choose a time when they are in bed or out). If you can, turn off all phones, TVs, radios, etc.

Make yourself comfortable. Sit cross-legged or lay on your back on the floor or sit in a straight backed chair (to help promote proper breathing posture), feet flat on the ground, arms uncrossed.

The easiest way is to simply breathe deeply from your relaxed belly – breathing from your nose if possible. Release your thoughts. If you have thoughts, know them to be natural and release them again. Don’t worry about those thoughts – worrying will create more thoughts. Just let them go. If you find this difficult, focus wholly on your breathing and use an easy mantra (repeated statement) such as: I breathe in peace (love, creativity, light, etc), I breathe out stress (excuses, thoughts, anger, etc) or simply count your breathing with a 1 for an inhale and 2 for an exhale (1, 2, 1, 2…). Repetition of simple phrases or counting will slow your thoughts down until all you hear is the phrase or numbers (you may also find that repeated phrasing can help focus the mind on a desired outcome). Eventually you can drop the words to find absolute silence.

At the beginning the voice can seem like the faintest of stars seen only from the corner of your eyes disappearing when you look directly at it or seek to find it. The still, small voice can be heard only if you simply and easily listen rather than strain to hear (straining causes more thoughts and frustration and will block the hearing). If you don’t hear anything for awhile, don’t worry about it, it may take time. In the meantime you are gaining those other gifts from silence.

As you lean to be still, face yourself and listen, your creativity will shine brighter and brighter until it will simply pour out naturally in everything you do. You will be calmer, stronger, healthier (oh, yes, meditation slows the resting heart rate, lowers the blood pressure, eases insomnia, lowers stress and stress hormones, etc), more focused, happier, and most definitely more creative.