Creative Flow—Locking into the Zone

Today we are doing a bit of a deep dive into the creative zone. Breaking down barriers to locking into "the ZONE" allowing divine creativity to flow through us like a river.

How do we get there?

How do we get truly inspired?

How to not to let it slip away?

What it means to YOU to live creatively?

There are so many ways to answer these questions... and I will share my tried and true way of connecting... but I hope to learn your tips and strategies as well.

Are you happy with your creative process? Do you have daily practice of connecting to the divine creative?

I would like to say that I have it all figured out but I don’t. 

I have days that are so full of flow, so other worldly that I forget the time. I don’t consciously aim to get to that state, I just try my hardest to show up and see if inspiration blesses me with her presence. 

I find that the longer I go without a day in the studio, the more resistance builds up in me… as if I have “forgotten” how to do the work. 

But I find, that even if I am not “feeling it” if I go about as though I DO... I get out my canvas, do the prep work, clean my palette off, I just move into focus on the task at hand then the scope of my mind narrows to that one thing…

 Putting paint on the brush and

“Just touching up this one area over here...”, 

“just laying in this background color”… 

it moves to the next element and the next and then all the sudden I am just painting and moving through the process on autopilot.

Do you ever feel like it’s not even YOU doing the painting? (or playing piano, or planting in the garden, reading a book to your child, or writing a draft? etc.?) I feel this very often. I get so involved in the minutiae of the process that the overall idea that I am creating is gone… 

I just move the colors around and arrange color values and correct proportions… its each its own thing. But it all adds up. 

Soon hours have gone by. You step back and it’s a whole other picture now. Maybe not finished, but a lot farther on. This is where the flow comes in. 

I find it happens in many areas of my life. Not just painting. 

Creativity shapes how I move through the world. It helps me problem solve. 

It helps me do everything from organizing my kitchen cabinets to the quickest most efficient route to do my errands. 

It’s there when I plant tomatoes, and there when I create panels to paint on. 

It’s there when I take my dog for a walk. 

It’s there when I surrender in meditation. 

Does this resonate? What is it you love to do that you can so easily get lost in? Explore THAT. Don’t wait. It’s just wasted time. 

Give yourself just a short introductory task that moves you closer to you’re actually embarking on this new creative challenge. Go but your sheet music to play from. Read through it. Give yourself a five-minute window to play it. Watch a Youtube gardening video, then go get some seeds to plant. Clear a space for your garden or just get some pots for a patio garden... you see the small steps you can take that will get you started.

Your future self will be so happy you stopped NOW to try this one thing for REAL.  Or just admit I want to take time for ME today to do this thing I already love to do. Carve out space for you to begin. It can become a daily practice if you allow yourself the leeway. TODAY.

What are you considering giving more of your time to? Where are you allowing creative juices to flow to manifest this new delight?

I would LOVE to know. Share your answers in the comments, I can’t wait to see all the many paths you are on. Also, it can help to inspire others here to reconnect with a forgotten part of themselves.

(And if you’re enjoying these conversations, you can subscribe and join our growing circle. We are building such a beautiful group of thoughtful, creative women… and I’m so grateful you are part of it.)

All this discussion of motivation and inspiration reminds me of a really great book on this subject that I highly recommend... “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert, of “Eat, Pray, Love” fame. 

I recommend listening to the audio book (on audible or free via the public library Libby app) — it is read by the author who is a delight to listen to. I have listened to it twice, and I often go on Youtube to see interviews with Elizabeth speaking on this book. 

This book is a delicious narrative on inspiration, how it happens, how it flows in and out of the world and what to do if it comes to you!  

Elizabeth tells tale of inspiration not as the "Genius" within:

She points to ancient Greek and Roman beliefs, which held that a human doesn't contain or embody genius, but rather receives visits from a genius. 

This removes the immense pressure of feeling entirely responsible for your own creative brilliance.  As she says, If I show up and do the work and its crap, then It’s not MY fault. My Genius didn’t show up! 

Her notion of inspiration and ideas can be somewhat summarized as follows… Ideas are free flowing entities. They are ALIVE. They come looking for willing partners.

And if we ignore them too long… they may move on to someone else who is ready to bring them into the world.

Isn’t that fascinating?

If you do not act on it, the idea moves on to the next candidate who is willing to bring it into fruition! 

She has so many delightful and incredible examples of how this exact thing has played out in creative people’s lives. 

One such example was her interview with the 90 year old poet, Ruth Stone, who said ideas would come through her like a locomotive...

for example... she would be outside working in the garden when a poem would come at her like a “train roaring down the track”… she knew she had to jump up and run like hell to the house to get a pencil and paper to write it down… 

sometimes it flowed through her so forcefully she would have to employ such extreme frantic recall, she would be pulling the words back into existence writing that poem backwards, line by line!

Do we allow this kind of inspiration to grab hold of us when it happens? I LIVE for THAT kind of inspiration!! Ha!

Think about how many times you’ve had an idea… a dream… a calling… and talked yourself out of it.

I think so many women do this. Especially women our age.

We think: “Oh, it’s too late.” “Who would care?” “I’m not talented enough.” “I should have started years ago.”

But what if this season of your life is actually the beginning?

Not the ending.

Because maybe inspiration has been trying to find you too.

Maybe the universe has been nudging you toward something beautiful.

A painting. A journal. A garden. A business. A class. A new beginning.

And maybe all that’s required… is for you to say YES.

And in the meantime, figure out ways to collect and keep ideas filed away for quiet moments when you do have the time and inclination...

I have some routines I do to keep me inspired... I keep hundreds of digital visual files on my computer ... files and folders divided into hundreds of subject’s image groups that I want to paint one day. So I never run out of inspiration. I also have a habit of taking photographs and culling the good shots from those.

So MANY images! So even if genius didn't show up to hit me over the head with the best idea ever... I still have a few in my back pocket to work with.

So this is your gentle reminder today:

Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Don’t wait to feel fearless. Don’t wait for permission.

Just begin.

One brushstroke. One sentence. One seed planted in the dirt.

That is enough.

And before you go, I’d love to give you a little creative invitation for this week:

Choose ONE thing that brings you into flow… and give it just 20 minutes.

That’s it.

Then come back and tell me how it felt.

We inspire one another here.

Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. Truly.

You make my heart full.

I’m sending you so much love, and I hope I’ll see you in the next video.

Until then… Go create something beautiful with your life.

Namaste.