You know that moment when everything is just FLOWING?
The perfect words are coming out of your mouth or onto the page
The perfect stroke out of your brush
The song is just soaring…
It’s EASY….
You feel like an unlimited and unstoppable Creative Force, ideas pouring out.
Isn’t that glorious?
But, what about when you’re stuck?
What about when, no matter how hard you try, NOTHING is coming?
When the cursor is just blinking at you on your computer, or your throat closes when you need to speak, or the canvas just sits empty in front of you, as if to say,
Ummm…Hello?? Anybody there? We’re waiting for your genius…..
Doubt has come in that you will never have another brilliant idea again, and all you can think is,
How the HECK do I get out of here?
Why was this so easy before and now is so hard?
If there was a muse, she has left the building, and there you are, now alone feeling stuck and hopeless.
Have you ever felt this?
When we are mired down and completely uninspired, how do we turn it around and get back into flow?
I have a few things on my plate these days. Just gave my first ever Move the Crowd Workshop last week (thank you to all who came!), am planning my next big online event, and I’m getting married in two weeks.
I’m deeply grateful for all of this, AND I’m holding a big container.
With so much needing my attention, I could feel my mind squeezing….my inspiration waning. And I needed it most now. I actually had one of the most important things of my life to write…
My wedding vows.
I learned very quickly that I don’t write well under pressure or when I’m exhausted. So, I was looking at my calendar and starting to panic.
For those that are new to the community, this marriage is a miracle. Five years ago I went through a devastating divorce and the worst year of my life, watching all I had built burn to the ground.
I went on the first date of my LIFE at 38, because I had met my ex at 18. I had a LOT to learn, to heal, and laid myself at so many coaches, mentors, and teacher’s feet to learn HOW to find love again.
I thought I knew what love was….until I met my fiance.
From losing everything five years ago to now living in a house, I’m about to marry a man who not only shares my Zen practice and does yoga with me, he completely supports me and my work. He’s every vision board I made over the years come true.
This is no small thing, and the first time I got married, at the tender age of 22, the vows were written for me. I just repeated the words. They were not my own.
This time, for the FIRST time, I’m writing them. These are my words.
So, it matters…it matters deeply.
For weeks, I’ve felt stuck around what to write, and as each day was passing, I was starting to get more and more anxious. I’m going to be standing in front of my closest friends and family….I’m going to be FACING the man I’m spending the rest of my life with….
What the HECK am I going to say?
Last Saturday, I did a Half Day meditation sit at the Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn.
Our teacher started the day with these words,
I’ve been reflecting lately that we really don’t know what’s going on. We come to the cushion with our minds racing, and thought after thought pulling us here and there. Then we sit, and our mind settles, and everything changes. And it’s not a KNOWING…it’s an experience. We actually don’t KNOW what’s going on, but it happens.
This resonated with me, my racing mind, and my anxiety about writing the vows.
So, I sat.
I placed my attention on my breath.
And I practiced letting go, again and again.
I saw each thought as it arose, and released it.
I felt every emotion as it coursed through my body.
And then, I relaxed, and an image came.
When the day was over, I grabbed a pen and paper and just started writing.
One of my friends came up to me and said,
Oh wow….a lot came up, huh?
I took a moment from my racing pen and said,
This is what happens every time I do a longer period of sitting. What felt impossible suddenly opens. Where I had no ideas, I now have clarity. I always walk out knowing exactly what to do next.
And then I said,
It’s really the creative process.
Could we even really explain what happens in that moment of inspiration? Probably not. The words wouldn’t do ti justice, but you’ve FELT it. You’ve felt the flow from inside to out. It’s not logical, it’s not planned….it’s far more magical.
And yet, where it won’t come from, is a place of pressure, clinging or control.
You can’t grasp it. There’s nothing to hold, actually.
Inspiration is actually an EXPERIENCE.
Creative Flow is an EXPERIENCE.
It’s not something you lock in a cage and demand from. It’s not something you can “think” or “logic” your way out of. Flow moves and breathes. It’s alive.
So, what is really vital to the creative process?
SPACE.
RELAXATION.
When you are feeling completely stuck, step back. Take a break. Go outside and connect to the sky, or hold your hand over your belly, and do three deep breaths. When you do this, all the whirling stops, and you can connect back to your unlimited spaciousness inside.
And from the space comes the inspiration. And with inspiration, comes the flow.
What helps you to create space in your life?
How can you incorporate this into your life?
We have so much pulling us today as Creative Forces: family, emails, health, constant notifications.
I learned VERY quickly in my business, I needed to schedule in Half Day Sits at the temple at least every two months. And last weekend, it was proven to me again.
The day after the sit, I sat out in my backyard in the August sunshine, and wrote my vows.
I cried when my pen lay down, because there were just what I wanted. These were the words I wanted to say. The doubt and pressure disappeared….and all that came from my pen was the intention I had all along,
LOVE.
So, trust the experience of space, and incorporate this into your life. Invite the muse in openly. She will frolic and play in the vastness.
When you are open and relaxed, your perfect and truest work will emerge.
Photography: Caitlin Cannon Photography