Five Tips for Being Creative

1. Time has nothing to do with it—spend as much time or as little time as you need to complete the project. If the project requires monotony, like drawing a line over and over before getting it right, or reworking a sentence like you are kneading bread, do it. If you want to know when the creation is finished, don’t look for a final, THE END. No work of art is ever finished so if you can get it to the 85% mark and get it out of the door, great.

2. Go into states of trance and let intuition enter—Some people call it “shower time”, when ideas come to them while taking a shower. Whatever you call it –learn how to get into a peaceful, nothing-going-on-inside-your-head-zone, and let “it” come to fruition.

3. Believe in your ability to create the unseen, unheard, unwritten, undesigned, and so forth. What you create may come from this or that but not even resemble this or that once it is complete. Because it has never been seen or heard before doesn’t make it any less.

4. Not all creativity comes from pain, it can but it doesn’t have to. Create when you are happy, sad, and in-between. But don’t let previous ghosts and goblins dictate all of your creative life. There is a place to work through your pain; crying, talking to family and friends, therapy, etc. Art can be therapeutic but the creative process is about a whole another universal dimension.

5. Create a ritual that lets you know you are starting your creative process and then give yourself a little treat or ritual when you finish. I mean make a favorite cup of tea, say a prayer before starting, or touch your magic brush. Rituals are important because they pay homage to spirits that are always a part of the creative process.

I’d love to hear how you keep your creativity going….Brian L. Ragsdale, blrstudio26@gmail.com, or post your response below.