Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Finding your divine inspiration




This Wednesday wisdom I would like to talk about finding your divine inspiration.
I would like to mention that this is another post that is inspired by Liz Gilbert, who wrote a wonderful book about creative living that is called 'Big Magic'
 

There is a point at which many writers may arrive that we all fear and it's a writers block. 
You seem to be out of ideas and no matter how you dig you cannot come up with your next best idea for a post, a project, or anything. We feel stuck.
At which point we get scared that we may never get a great idea again.
 

Here is my theory on inspiration. It's a little bit of Liz and a little bit of myself.
 

Let me start by introducing the following idea of Liz to you:
Imagine inspiration being an energy that knocks on your door and says: hey, I am this wonderful idea that needs to be worked out. 

So we receive this idea and if we make the decision to be open to the inspiration and actually work it out, we may answer to inspiration. 

But let's say the writer block happens and we answer it with fear. Fear is as Liz points out the voice that will shoot each and every idea down. This is a little what the voice of fear may sound like: 

-'It's all been done before' 
-'People will think I'm stupid'
-'This may not be interesting enough.'
-'People will think I'm a copy cat'
-'I may never be succesful'

-'It's not perfect yet'

And best believe that is how you find yourself stuck and empty! 


I believe that fear is what will block or inspiration from ever reaching us. So, that this spark of inspiration cannot reach us. It's because we reject it through fear. When I wrote my post last Wednesday on why to continue blogging even when you are frustrated, I already pointed out that there's no one like you. You are authentic. This is something to keep in mind!

One important thing to realize about fear is the following it has a function to keep us safe and alive. But it doesn't know the difference between actual life danger: 'don't go down that dark alley'  and when there is no real danger.
Liz says: "Respect your fear, thank it for keeping you safe. Just never let it make decisions when you are doing something creative. It does not get to be in the drivers seat" 


I believe there is an important key to respecting fear in order to unblock it.
So here's something that you could do. You could imagine fear being a person or figure. Just allow an image to pop up in your head. Mine looks a little like a little hairy, black fluffy monster. Say: "Thank you for wanting to keep me safe. However it doesn't help when you are mingling in my creativity. So, please move to the background." and watch it stepping back.
this is a trick that is actually used by psychology. It sounds silly, but works wonders!
Now that we've dealt with fear, let's move on to the next step.


So, how do we draw inspiration back to us like a magnet? Well, after our rejection we are going to have to seduce it a little eh?
This is by the way also what Liz suggests. First of all, get out of those comfy pants and put on something decent. Suit up, sisters and brothers!
Unless you get most inspired  by being in your comfy pants, or plan to blog about it. In which both cases please stay in by all means.

Here's some ideas to get you going:
(which I will work out in the next few Wednesdays for you, so be sure to come back. This will now be another series.)


Have a little brainstorm session with yourself. 
Allowing any idea to run freely. That is really the only rule to brainstorm. You don't block anything that comes to mind, even if it sounds bonkers. You know what the mad hatter would say: 'we're all mad here'. Put the words: my blog in the middle and put words around it that associate. From those words, more words will come to mind. You may even build it out into a mindmap. 

Get inspired by others
I was inspired by the book Big magic and miss Gilbert's wonderful fresh vibes to write this. 
Does that make me a copy cat? NO! I wrote it in my very own style. Read other bloggers, read an interesting interview, or watch a video by somebody that inspires you. 

Use the outside world to get inspired 
Go take a walk and tell us what you find. Your fave coffee house, the atmosphere of the neighbourhood, that awesome vintage store. You name it!

Ask others to help
Ask a friend what to blog about next. Hey, sometimes we need some help.


What would your favourite superhero do?
Ask yourself how your favourite superhero would tackle this search for inspiration.
An out of the box technique that will deliver some interesting results, I promise.


Find a questionnaire and surround a blog post around one of the questions.
Generally the more crazy the question is, the better. I like having something unusual to read.


Now that I've shared some inspiration sources, I am very curious about yours.
What do you use to get inspired? Do you have a number 1 rule that always has success?
Happy creating, my lovelies!


Love and blessings,
Rainbow














15 comments:

  1. Some really unique and helpful ideas here to banish the dreaded inspiration block! Great post, I am sure it will be very helpful!

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    1. Thank you :) I really appreciate you stopping by to read my post. We all face a block in inspiration at some point. It's good to kno that it's not forever ^^

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  2. Just the post I needed! I've been staring at blanks pages/screens today trying to write. I shall definitely try some of them out! Fantastic post!

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    1. Thank you so much Menna. Let me know if it helped you ^^ and i'll be happy to brainstorm with you if you need any outside inspiration :)

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  3. Really enjoyed this post. I get writer's block quite often so I could use a few tips. I like brainstorming; it's something I learnt in school and have used ever since. Thanks for sharing your ideas, I'll use some of them next time I get blocked.

    Nicola
    http://www.nicshealthylife.co.uk

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    1. Thank you for stopping by Nicola :) Are you a perfectionist by any chance? I don't even know why I am asking, but i find that when I get into that mode it can get very hard for me. Let me know if you need any support :)

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  4. This was such an inspiring read! It's not very often that I get writers block (knock on wood!) but I love the thought of asking fear to step out of the way! Definitely something I'll be putting into practice in life.
    Saph xx

    www.simplysaph.co.uk

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    1. Hey saph,
      Thanks for coming to my blog :)
      It is a very handy trick. You can use it for all sorts of things. I also generally use it to banish negative thoughts. Once you name it, it can't hold power over you

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  5. I never thought about the ways to properly find our divine inspiration. Though, I always love it when something really good magically appears. Those little voices are doubts we need to conquer. I totally agree with you about fear. It's holding us back. If we never try, we won't know the outcome. However, if we try and it fails, we can always pick ourselves up and try something different.

    These are great tips to get us going. Thanks for sharing your thoughts :).

    exquisitely.me

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    1. Exactly hun. We need to keep going and trying what works :) I've written things I thought would be nice to others as well, but that didn't get response. No fretting here though. I enjoyed writing it anyways. If something didn't work, just try something different ^^

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  6. i do agree that fear blocks us from writing and be as creative as we could be. Like who would want to read it. Am i going to sound stupid?! But also, in my case, procrastinating and being lazy is a big part of the problem ahah

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    1. My theory on procrastenation is that it is a different shape of fear. It's practically self sabotage. Your mind keeps thinking up excuses not to do something. I have a big case of study procrastenation going on that I'm going to need to tackle soon. Or I may never graduate LOL!

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  7. This was such a lovely, positive post! I think these feelings are something we can all relate to every once in a while. A change of scenery can do wonders for creativity and changing your mindset x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

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    1. I agree. I was thinking that maybe that's why there's many travel blogs as well. I always find that travel can get you into a complete different mindset. For some reason you become more open. And things being different elsewhere is always interesting as well.
      I am so glad you enjoyed reading. Thank you for stopping by once again ^^

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  8. ohh yes. What a great idea to combine two of them actually. I feel like I want to listen to more podcasts and such. They can be a great source of inspiration. I like to wacht ted talks too. It's great! Thank you for your sweet and thoughtful comment. You are the best!

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