If you are waiting for inspiration or a creative idea to spring fully formed into your head as if by magic, you may wait a very long time. Most of us need to make the creative magic happen. I’m not denying that inspiration strikes, but almost always inspiration comes when two or more ideas collide and make us see things differently. You can wait for that if you want, but if you want to be creative— (to borrow a phrase)—make it so.
What is Inspiration?
According to a study reported in Human Neuroscience, inspiration is a motivational state that compels individuals to bring ideas to fruition.
That study differentiated insight from inspiration. It stated that science described insight as the process by which a problem solver suddenly moves from a state of not knowing how to solve a problem to a state of knowing how to solve it. It’s that “aha!” moment. We creatives know it when we feel it, but how do we get there?
Inspiration can appear to come from nowhere and hit hard as an “aha” moment, but it can also come at a moderate level or even low levels. My guess is that when you are “waiting for inspiration,” you’re waiting for that intense “aha!” moment.
What I am suggesting is that you can have a low-level inspiration, act on it, and that action will lead to the “aha!” you crave.
The Problem with Waiting
If inspiration is a motivational state, the problem with waiting for inspiration is that feeling aren’t reliable. Inaction makes your brain view that creative thing as a huge and scary task. Since your brain is hard-wired to save you from danger, it will do every sneaky little thing to keep you from starting that task. What kind of sneaky things? It will convince you that you’re too tired. You don’t have a creative bone in your body. Or that you have to finish your to-do list before you can start.
How I Found My Inspiration
After years of focusing solely on learning to be a nurse, then working as a nurse, I thought I was one of those people who was born without the creativity gene. But man, did I wish I had it. I tried sewing, crochet, and knitting, music, drawing, dancing, and even stained glass. I had fun trying those things, but my motivation to do them fell away pretty quickly.
Then I met and listened to some writers talk about how they learned to write stories. One of them mentioned journaling. Hmm. I’ve kept a diary off and on throughout my life. I figured I could journal, so I started a writer’s journal. Over time, I learned there are many ways I can inspire my own inspiration.
Tools to Help Build Inspiration
There are many tools you can use that will give you that spark of inspiration you might need. I’ve shared a few I find most helpful, but the tools you can use are only limited by your imagination. Be bold. Be daring. Pursue your inspiration through action.
Journaling
I consider journaling an essential tool for creatives. When I say journaling, I don’t mean the “I got up, fed the dog and myself, took a walk, then read a book and went to bed” journals.
Creative journals are more specific. Writers record their thoughts, describe how emotions feel in their bodies, and their reactions to books they’ve read. Folks who work with yarn might record the names of patterns they’d like to try or notes for patterns they’re developing. Visual artists might use a journal as more of a scrapbook, collecting images with interesting colors, patterns, or light and shadow.
Starting my Writer’s Journal
When I started my writer’s journal, I began simply by describing how one of my emotional reactions that day felt in my body. And at first, those descriptions sucked. Big time.
At first, I just wrote in the journal when I felt like it. Please understand, there is absolutely nothing wrong or bad about deciding to do it when you feel like it. For me, doing that was like scratching an itch. The itching grew more and more intolerable. And the more I scratched at it, the more I had to scratch.
Eventually, I made an active decision to prioritizing time to write. At first, I did a lot more journaling that fiction writing. Over time, I learned to use my journal as a tool that enhanced my fiction writing skills. I’ll give you an example of how it worked as a tool.
One Way I Found Inspiration
Early in my writing career, I wrote about a young protagonist who hid in a cramped smuggler’s secret storage space. Hiding in a place like that was not on my resume. So, I crawled into the bottom of an overstuffed closet and dictated notes to myself about the physical and emotional sensations I experienced and how those intensified or changed the longer I sat there. That inspired a whole scene. My critique group found that part of the story to be highly effective.
If you still think journaling will not work for you, perhaps some of the other tools will help you make the creative magic happen.
Build a Habit
If your brain has turned your creative work into a big, bad, scary thing, you’ll have to re-train it. Look at your schedule. Find fifteen minutes that you can devote to your creative work. Find fifteen minutes every day, if you can. But even one session per week will help. Set a goal of spending fifteen minutes sitting at your workspace for a limited time, such as one week if you do it daily, or three months if you do it monthly. Next, you follow through. You go to your creative workspace, and the only thing you allow your brain (and body) to do is work on your creative project, journal about your creative project, or simply sit there and wait. Once the fifteen minutes are up, you can decide to keep working on your project or move on to the next task.
You’ll have days when you sit doing nothing every time. But sitting and doing nothing is hard. Sooner than you think, you will start tinkering with your project. Eventually, the tinkering will turn into a work session.
Why are you doing this? You’re training your brain to recognize that this is the space where you do creative work. In time, your brain will “flip the switch” and see the act of sitting in your workspace as a signal that it’s time to use our creativity.
Need more guidance on how to set up a habit? Click on the Psychology Today link in the resources list below.
Spend 15 Minutes Noticing
Deliberately set aside time in your day to notice the tiny details. This can be during a walk outdoors or from your own desk or sofa. Ask yourself questions like, what would I see if I were shorter than a blade of grass? Look for patterns, colors, or textures. Explore how that pattern, color, or texture makes you feel.
Exercises like this focus your conscious brain on something else and allow your subconscious to work in the background. And the next time you sit down to work, your subconscious brain will proudly show you what it’s been working on.
You can also stir your subconscious mind into action by a small change.
Change Your Routine
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got my morning routine down and it upsets my whole day when I change that. However, sometimes it’s the small routines we have that are most useful to mix up. Drive a different route to work and see what you notice. Instead of your usual bologna sandwich, try something else. Instead of scrolling, try doing absolutely nothing for five minutes. No music or TV blaring. No writing or reading. Just sit and observe how you feel and where your thoughts go.
Give yourself a set number of times or days you’ll follow through on this change. When that time is up, look back and see what your subconscious discovered during that experiment.
Another way to give your conscious brain a rest and give your subconscious time to find the next inspiration is playtime.
Play
I’m a big advocate of having fun—and I don’t mean on our electronic devices. We adults don’t do imaginative play often enough. Have you forgotten how to play? Here are a few things you might enjoy:
Think about the last movie you enjoyed and imagine yourself as the hero in that story.
Blow bubbles.
Go to the park and have fun on a swing.
Borrow your child’s Lego blocks and build something. Make it more fun by trying an unusual shape or using the bricks’ colors to make a pattern.
Maybe borrow their colors and coloring book. Or shape their play-dough into imaginary creatures.
For more ideas on how to incorporate play, read and view Energizing Your Imagination: Be a Child.
Even if you only have ten minutes, play. It refreshes your brain in ways that allow creative thoughts back in.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is one of my go-to tools for creative ideas. To brainstorm effectively, there are a few rules you’ll want to follow.
Don’t Judge the Worthiness of any Idea—including all your wild ideas.
Go for Quantity—the more the likely you’ll find an inspiring idea.
Build on the Idea—if you want to say “but” change that to “and.” Example: idea is the hero escapes by jumping off the building. You think, but he’d get hurt. Instead of adding the but, change it to “and he bounced off a series of awnings landing with every joint aching, but in one piece.”
Answer “what if?”—What if I used neon green instead of forest green? What if my character has a lifelong belief that superpowers are childish wish fulfillment and discovers he has a superpower that is frivolous?
Techniques
There are many ways to brainstorm. Some techniques you can use are: mind maps, word association, free writing, bouncing ideas off someone else, role-playing, scrapbooking, and sketches or doodling. And yes, you can use a search engine to help you brainstorm. (Include the “-ai” to keep AI from answering.)
Another way you can use your electronic device, physical books, courses, etc. is to educate yourself.
Learn Something New
No matter what inspiration you’re seeking, learning something new can help. You might learn to use a new type of knitting needle or a new way to hold your yarn. You might find inspiration in learning about the location or occupation you want your character to have. Visual artists find inspiration in studying classical paintings or the biographies of artists, or perhaps even trying a new medium. Even, and maybe especially, you are inviting inspiration when you learn about something new that is unrelated to your project.
Your Next Magic Trick
Inspiration isn’t a magic trick, but you can trick your brain into helping you create inspiration every day with action.
Please take a moment to share your favorite action that brings the magic of inspiration into your life.
Resources
Image Credits
Featured image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Second image by Amberrose Nelson from Pixabay