All of us have seen the news reports on TV and the internet about the warmest driest summer on record that the US has experienced.
When rain is in short supply, many species of grass will go dormant, turning brown and looking like it died. In fact, grass survives six weeks or more without rain by going into this dormant state, just waiting for a good rain when it will green up and start growing again.
Our creativity sometimes acts like grass, going into a dormant state when it goes without a nourishing rain of exercise, sleep, good food, reading, travel, or play for too long. Then, our creativity can do a credible job of playing dead.
We can start to feel a little frantic about whether or not that lawn can be brought to life again. But it hasn’t died. Our creativity is always there…just waiting for a little rain…
So here’s how to make it rain again on your creativity:
- Do a raindance. No, you don’t have to don ceremonial garb, or live in the Southwest or Africa for this. Instead, get up and get moving. Dance—swing, belly dance, hip hop, ballet. Shake your booty and shake loose that creative flow once again. Or if dancing isn’t your thing, then walk, bike, hike, garden. As creative, we often spend too much time in our heads while sitting painting, writing, composing, etc. Getting back into our bodies through movement, can shake the rain loose from the clouds.
- Seed the clouds. Ideas can flit by, the beginnings of a new scene, a new perspective on our work, or a new way of communicating about the work can cross our creative skies but never fall to the earth to be developed and used unless we keep seeding them. Recently, scientists have used tiny grains of silver to seed clouds to make them rain, a real manifestation of every cloud having a silver lining. So look for ways to seed your clouds…trips to the museum, watching movies, tending your dreams, even conversations with friends and colleagues can get those clouds raining and your creativity greening up again.
- Pray for rain. Yes, you can pray for rain. By pray, I mean, give yourself time and space, silence and solitude to be still and listen…to communicate with your Divine Creative Source, the Muse. Failure to give ourselves time and space, silence and solitude in order to enter into that sacred space where we can hear ourselves and our Muses is one of the biggest causes of creative drought. So, if it’s been a while since you gave yourself over to the experience of the sacredness of silence and the nourishment that waits there for you, give it a try. You’ll find your creativity greening up again in no time.
We had a drenching deluge of rain today, and everything looks a little greener outside. Time to water my creative grass as well.
A little silence and solitude is in order…