This article is going to deviate from music news about other people for a moment and focus on your creative flow. I was reading Gala Darling’s blog iCiNG recently and saw a post from a woman who has moved to a new city where things were starting to get too hectic for her.

Whether it’s job pressures, family responsibilities or just a lack of energy - stress and fatigue make it very difficult to get inspired.

She was stressed out and most of all, she really missed the creative energy that she used to have. She was asking how to get her creativity back, and she received a lot of advice. I began to leave a comment on Gala’s post, when I realized that I have a lot to say about it, as this is a very common problem in life. Everyone loses their creative drive at some point and it’s hard to know what to do to get it back. Whether it’s job pressures, family responsibilities or just a lack of energy - stress and fatigue make it very difficult to get inspired. So, I decided to write an article that addresses this situation, for all artists: musicians, painters, writers, dreamers of all sorts… Like all exercise, these techniques only work when you actually practice them, but here is what has worked for me.

Stress Can Be A Barrier To Creativity

Here are some techniques for reducing stress

The most important thing for restoring creative flow is a sense of safety and contentment. Few people feel creative when they are stressed out and worried about their own physical well-being. Gala pointed this out in her response to her reader. Escape is good, especially when you move to a new city. It’s the equivalent of Fake It Until You Make It. The best places to escape will be different for everyone.
For someone in a brand new city (or burnt out on being the same city for so long), the best place to start is usually the bathtub. Set up your bathroom for a nice long relaxing bath and then get in. Make sure you won’t be bothered by house mates, the telephone or anything else and set up candles or a dim lamp (some lamps can have a scarf thrown over the shade to make them darker, but don’t do this with bulbs that get hot enough to start a fire). You might need music to drown out what’s happening outside the bathroom, but keep it soothing. Think nap music, not energizing music. A warm bath is best, not too hot. Once you are in the tub, relax fully. Lean back and let your stress fall away. Once you feel relaxed, concentrate on how that feels. Really pay attention to how safe you feel and how content you actually are once you let everything else go. It’s actually kind of hard to feel stressed out in a bath unless you stop paying attention to how good it feels and you get bored. Pay attention to how your body feels, how soothing the water feels.

Think you’re too tough for a bath? Think again - even gangstaz need a good soak to clear the mind and body!

Once you have concentrated on what it feels like to be relaxed and safe, consciously store this feeling in your memory. That way when you start to feel stressed out during the day, you can actually recall the serenity and you will feel more relaxed and safe in any situation. Baths are very effective at meta-programming your brain to recall a safe place in a stressful moment.

If you don’t have a bathtub, make friends with someone who does, or find an affordable hot tub place in town. In San Francisco, there is a wonderful all-female bath house that has a hot tub and saunas for only $10 a day. Hopefully lots of other cities have this too.

Get Outside

Once you have had this experience with the bath, you can apply the same technique to a park or other outdoor setting. It is vitally important for humans to connect with the natural world. I live in a neighborhood where traffic is constant: cars race by all day and night, many with bumpin trunks and squealing tires. A 5-minute walk will land me in a neighborhood that is so quiet and peaceful. At night, walking between big trees and big houses, it is silent except for the wind in the trees. During the day, you can hear birds chirp and the bustle of squirrels. I can’t even explain the dramatic difference in my residual stress once I cross into this neighborhood. My shoulders drop at least an inch, and I hadn’t even realized they were up so high until they relaxed. My mind stops reeling with a million thoughts and I find myself listening with my full attention to the wind, the trees, my breathing. I start to take deeper breaths, and then realize that I hardly ever take deep breaths when walking down my own street…..

Which is tip two: get outside in a non-hectic setting as often as possible. Even just walking around a quieter neighborhood helps. A park is even better if you have one. Go anywhere that traffic isn’t blazing by. Somewhere that the bustle of the city can’t be heard. You will find that once you are there, the world finally slows down and there are no demands on you. It’s wonderful!

But Where To Go?

For ideas about where to walk in your area, try typing the name of your city, maybe include your neighborhood too if you live in a big city, and the phrase “go for a walk” into your favorite search engine. I noticed that there are whole websites dedicated to helping people find the best places to leisurely walk. You could even join an online group to help you stay motivated, like the 43 Things page that has “go for a walk every day” as a goal and people can add themselves to the group of people who are actively doing it.

These are the necessary first steps to reviving your creative flow. In part two of this mini-series, I will publish places to go and things to do to immerse yourself in inspiration!

As always, feel free to comment. What do you do to reduce stress? How do you regain creative flow when it isn’t coming easily? If you have suggestions for getting re-inspired, you can comment here or wait to comment on the next installment.

Have a super stress-free day! Enjoy being content with all the blessings you do have. They will outlive the negative aspects TEN FOLD if you let them.

Links

Gala Darling’s Fashion and Individual Style Tips on iCiNG
Go for a walk everyday - a page on 43 Things

Pages about inspiration ~ musicians ~ relaxing ~ safety