6 ways to cultivate creativity
Sometimes our creative energy can feel a bit stuck. We might feel a sense of impatience, almost as if we aren’t progressing or developing fast enough. Of course we know creative pursuits hardly ever fall on a linear trajectory—if we can generalize a spatial metaphor for the arts, I think it is much more accurate to think of a spiral of contraction and expansion that cycles through different phases. Nevertheless, even with a daily art practice, any creative can sometimes feel drained.
I really believe that we all have a creative channel that is able to draw on the energy and vibration around us. So if you are wanting to cultivate more creativity in your art practice of even just in your life more broadly, it can be helpful to think about the energy flowing through you (rather than draining from you), and investigate ways to call in more creative energy. Sometimes your channel is clear but other times you may need to intentionally get in alignment to allow the energy to flow with abundance, which will allow you to drop into your creative flow with greater ease and frequency.
Using mindfulness to handle
Creative Blocks
If you feel your creative channel is blocked, think about what types of activities or inspirations pour energy back into you. One of my all-purpose strategies for opening a creative block is to switch up the artistic media that I’m working in for a bit—perhaps go from painting to weaving for a few days, or from collage to printmaking. This is sort of the equivalent of stretching or shaking out a muscle that’s become stiff—working with different materials will quite literally require your body to move differently, and this allows your brain to do some gentle somatic mapping which in turn reconnects mind and body and allows creativity and other energies to move more freely.
Cultivate Your Highest Creativity
Here are 6 ways to cultivate creativity using arts-based mindfulness techniques.
Find Inspirarion:
Make art in nature
Bring nature into your studio
Use found objects or materials
Use natural pigments
2. Raise the Vibration:
Make a new studio playlist with high-vibe songs that set the mood
Begin art-making with a chant
Incorporate chimes or singing bowls into your studio practice
Investigate the symbolic and vibrational meanings of the colors you are most drawn to
3. Embody & Center
Pay attention to how your physical movements feel in your body
If your art making were a dance, what would it look like?
Experiment with standing in Mountain Pose before getting to work at your easel
4. Breathe Energy
Check out my reiki-infused Art Alchemy energy sessions here
Incorporate chakra meditations with art activities focusing on the corresponding color
5. Divination & Shadow Work
If you are on a path of self reflection and have a journaling practice, expand that to include artistic representations of your feelings or dreams
6. Ritual Practice
I like to think of rituals rather than habits because I am better at keeping up with a practice when I tie it to deeper values and beliefs
I hope you find some of these ideas inspiring. I’ve love to see what you’re making. Please share with the hashtag #paintingwiththemoon!
