What Kills Your Creativity?

Image courtesy of khunaspix/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net It is good to know what inspires you and what feeds your wild creative spirit and fill your life with these things.

But…






It is also good to be aware (beware!) of the things that sap your energy and kills your creativity.

So, make a list.  What brings you down?  Makes you go grey and listless inside?  What tasks?  What people?  What places?

From that list decide what you can jettison from your life.  Get rid of as many things that are counter-creative for you as possible.  Put them on a ‘Not to Do” list.  (Seriously, try this.  The feeling you get by writing down that you’ll never do some dreaded thing ever again is like inhaling freedom.  And once you get start thinking this way you may be surprised how many things you are doing simply because you vaguely feel you ‘have to.’) 

Look at the remaining things on your list and see if there is any way to infuse some of them with inspiration and playfulness.  Doing the dishes will always be dull but I now do them wearing bright pink gloves.  The laundry has been getting tedious lately but I am thinking of buying some fancy French lavender linen spray to spritz the dryer with.  It will make doing laundry feel wonderfully posh. Small things like this do make a difference. 

In the end you will probably be left with a few unavoidable things that you can’t get rid of now.  Or maybe ever.  But that’s okay.  They will balance you.  If every hour of the day was filled with sunshine we’d never know darkness.  And without darkness we’d never know how wonderful the sunlight is. 

The thing to remember is: we can make a ‘Not to Do’ list as easily as we make a ‘To Do’ list.  We can limit the things that drain us and we can add more of what inspires us.  It is a choice.

Make a ‘Not to Do’ list so that you have more time for what inspires you. 

Then be inspired.  Write.  Make art.  Create beauty. Be happy.

Because happiness is contagious and we can all use a bit more of it.