3 Ways to Reset your Creativity

As creatives many of us are used to dipping into—and out of—the creative well very quickly. As the pace of our lives continues to accelerate, I find myself craving thinking time more than anything. I need quiet space to let the dreaming happen. But sometimes even when I can carve out the time it feels like my thinking brain is betraying me. Here are my biggest brain blockers—and what I do to overcome them.

1. Mind the mind chatter.

Oh, the working brain. Mine is always churning on something in the background, and if I am not mindful of it, the background noise continues to ramp up its volume from a low background noise to a total takeover of my mind. It slowly smothers the dreaming mind with worries, to-do lists and guilt.

What I do to reset: I start by noting it. Simply building awareness of when the little voices are present puts me back in the driver’s seat to start controlling those racing thoughts. Sometimes that’s enough other times, I need to give my mind something more productive to do.

2. Notice when you stop breathing.

Next time you get worked up, frustrated or even angry, stop and notice your breath. How would you describe it? Fast and short, puffing, or even holding breath? Oxygen is a critical ingredient for your thinking brain, and if you’re working in a stressful, fast-paced environment you could unwittingly be depriving your brain of the oxygen it needs to help you think more clearly and creatively.

I can sometimes notice the stress in parts of my body before I recognize my breath. Telltale signs for me are usually a locked jaw, gritted teeth, a tightness in my neck and my shoulders climbing up to my ears.

What I do to reset: Just breathe. It sounds so basic—too basic—but it works. I use the breathing app on my Apple Watch, but you can just as easily set a one-minute timer on any device and practice breathing. The goal is to take slow, deep breaths that fill your lungs.

One of my favorite breathing techniques is to take three-point breaths. Here’s how it works. Take a breath through the nostrils, filling the solar plexus. Inhale more into the chest. And then inhale a little more into the throat. Then exhale in reverse, exhaling the air from the throat, then from the chest, and finally out of the solar plexus. Then repeat. Remember to go slow, and if you need to, count to 8 as you inhale and 10 as you exhale.

3. Stop muffling your feelings.

My natural instinct is to let my mind veer from any uncomfortable feeling. And inevitably this only encourages those feelings to hang around in the background, creating a miasma of discomfort that taints my feelings of creativity and flow.

I started to change this thinking when I first read The Artist’s Way, and my yoga teacher training crystalized my thinking on how to own and be present in my feelings. And I was surprised by how these simple steps opened my mind more fully.

What I do to reset: I use two different approaches, and I hope at least one works for you.

1. Practice morning journaling.

In The Artist’s Way, one of the first recommended exercises is starting the day with free-form journaling. The goal is to write quickly, completing three full pages. This usually takes me about 15 minutes, and I use the journaling to dump all of my feelings, doubts, frustrations and blockers onto the page. Then I’m able to leave them there and start the day with energy and focus, having dealt with the weights that are burdening me.

2. Meditate on the feelings.

If you’ve never meditated before, consider a guided meditation app, such as Headspace, Calm or Insight Timer.

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Patanjali writes, “We have a mind and a body, but we are not the mind and body. We are the spirit that inhabits them.”

The goal is to let of the mental fluctuations and rest in our true nature. 

Further, he writes, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

In meditation, I used to try to avoid feelings. I thought of meditation as my way to block, avoid or calm the feelings, and I used it as a way to attempt to block them. Now, when strong or painful emotions arise, I use these five steps:

1. Notice the feeling.

2. Label it.

3. Greet the feeling as if it were an old friend. For example, “Hello, shame, my old friend.”

4. Explore how it feels in the body. For me, shame feels like spiraling waves through my arms. There’s a tightness in my gut, with occasional stabbing pain and my throat feels locked and hoarse, as if I am voiceless.

5. Return to the breath when the feelings are too intense.

Remember, that which we resist persists. Spending time with feelings may help you open yourself more fully to your creativity.

What techniques do you use to open yourself to creativity?