Many believe that creative ideas strike light lightning but are so ethereal and magical they vanish when studied. But the key to unlocking your creative potential isn’t waiting for that mystical bolt of inspiration. The key is in recognizing and following your creative instincts.
Indirectly or directly, someone may have taught you that you are born with “good” instincts or “bad” instincts. There’s no such thing as a “bad” instinct. What makes it seem “bad” or erroneous is that we make judgments, comparisons, or have a mis-match of talents, experience, and knowledge. The good news is that you can gain experience and knowledge that will help you recognize and use the talents you have and live a more rewarding, creative life.
What are Creative Instincts?
Some define creative instincts as the need to be creative in whatever form. But all people have an innate need to solve problems which make them creative. That may be one sort of instinct, but not the one up for discussion here.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines instinct as “a usually innate ability or desire to perform a specific activity.” That is appropriate when we’re talking about animal instincts such as a cat’s drive to catch mice or a bird’s drive to fly south in the winter. That’s not what we’re talking about.
Intuitive decision-making or ‘gut instinct’ is your ability to instantly get an understanding of something without needing to consider other people’s opinions about it or take time to think it over.” Russell Futcher
For this discussion, let’s define your creative gut instincts as those hunches or aha moments that lead to new directions in your creative life or project.
Unfortunately, the ability to recognize those instincts has been driven into the unused corners of many people’s minds. Fortunately, you can reawaken that ability.
The Difference between Instincts and Impulses
In order for one’s creative gut instincts to be useful, you need to understand how to differentiate those instincts from impulses.
An impulse is a spontaneous behavior pattern in response to a stimulus. It is a “sudden and compelling urge to act without deliberation.” That action happens before the little voice inside your head that can question, is this a good idea? A certain amount of impulsivity is normal. But an impulse is not your creative intuition at work.
The difference between impulse and instinct is subtle. An impulse is a reaction. You might have the impulse to give up when you feel your creativity isn’t “good enough.”
Your creative instinct is an understanding. It can be sudden or slow growing, but this understanding pushes you toward your desire to create.
Recognizing Your Creative Gut Instincts
Learning how to recognize your creative gut instincts isn’t difficult but it does require some different levels of self-awareness.
Listen to Your Inner Self
Listening to yourself is a vital part of the process of working with your creative instincts. But how your inner self talks to you varies. Some people feel it in their body. When their inner self is saying no, they feel it as a resistance or tension. When their inner self is saying yes, they feel it as a lightness and a rightness.
Other people feel it in their brain or their heart. It can be physical, as in a heartache or a headache when it’s a no, or an inexplicable happiness or giddiness when it’s a yes.
Still others hear it or feel it differently or describe it differently.
If you aren’t certain you have a creative gut instinct, think back.
Have you ever experienced…
- You “feel” one thing, but your mind is telling you something different…
- Had an idea that you put aside but it keeps cropping back up again over and over
- Decided that idea you had was stupid or too much work or too likely to end in disaster?
Those were creative gut instincts you had and ignored. It’s time to listen to those ideas.
If you aren’t hearing or feeling your creative gut instinct, you may need to coax it out of those dark corners in your mind.
Four ways you can learn to hear and feel your instincts
1. Calm Your Mind
If you aren’t hearing those instincts, your mind may be too busy. Step away from electronic devices, meditate, exercise, play, get out in nature, or taking a break by stepping away from your project and work on something else.
2. Be aware of how your body feels.
Need practice? Do an inventory by asking yourself how each body part feels right now. Are you experiencing tightness somewhere? Is your stomach queasy? Do you have a sour taste in your mouth? Or are you feeling a wave of relief or excitement? Do this when you hit a roadblock in completing your project, at the end of a creative work session, or at least once a day.
3. Explore and record your ideas.
When you get an idea and you can’t decide if it’s a creative gut instinct, write it down, talk it out with another creator, or talk it out with yourself (record yourself or you may lose insights you want to keep.) Explore what the idea means in terms of what you need to follow through and what it might do for your project. Does it excite you? Scare you?
3. Ask your intuition questions directly.
You can do this any time of day, but before sleep or upon waking allows you to use your brain’s alpha waves. Recent brain research shows there’s a relationship between alpha waves and creativity. Alpha waves naturally occur when you are awake and relaxed, have a soft focus on a single task or a wandering mind. So, if you’re having difficulties finding an “aha moment,” ask your intuition what to do.
There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” Rumi
The more you listen to that voice, the stronger it will become.
Identify Patterns
Reflect on past projects. Develop a practice of looking back after you’ve finished a project. When did you listen to your instincts? How did that turn out? When did you ignore your instincts? How did that turn out? What else helped or hindered you in developing that project?
Recording those reflections (in whatever format works for you) helps you identify how your gut instincts work best and when you are most open to them. It may also be the pattern your brain identifies and pairs with information to form your next aha moment.
Observe Emotional Reactions
Try out your ideas. How do you feel while you work on this? Your emotional responses to ideas or projects will guide you. Understand that fear isn’t necessarily a negative. It may be a simple response to something new. But a negative emotion, one that drains you, probably means this isn’t a direction for you. Positive emotions, those that lift you, mean you’re heading in the right direction.
Learning to Trust Your Creative Gut
Now that you know the difference between instinct and impulse and you know how to recognize your creative instincts, it’s time to learn to trust that gut.
Build Confidence
Acknowledge and celebrate small successes resulting from you using your creative gut instincts. Each small success builds your confidence a little more. The more confidence you have in your creative gut, the more you’ll be able to hear it, feel it, and use it.
Get Feedback
Most creatives need some feedback to help us refine and validate our instincts. Protect yourself from destructive, mean-spirited feedback, but ask for constructive, objective feedback from people you trust to your core. If that’s only one or two people, that’s okay. Feedback helps us get out of our own head and learn to trust ourselves more.
Practice
Practice paying attention to your creative gut instinct. Understand that practice doesn’t mean aiming at perfection. You will never not need to practice this, but you will grow in confidence and your ability to recognize and use your creative gut.
Using Your Creative Gut Instincts in Your Work
With practice, using your creative gut instincts gets easier, but there are additional ways you can encourage that instinct to work for you.
Create a Supportive Environment
Fill your workspace with things that inspire you. Consider using a combination of music, artwork, textures, colors, and natural elements that can help “feed” your instincts. Set aside regular times for creative explorations without interruption (as much as possible). Connect with like-minded individuals. Sharing experience and insights can be as helpful to others as it is to you.
Combine Instincts with Experience
Use your instincts as a starting point, but back it up with your experience. Test it out. Does it align with your current skills and goals?
Balance Instincts with Knowledge
Most crafts require a balance between instincts and structure. Use your instincts to cultivate ideas, but know and apply the structures that make your craft successful.
Stay Informed
Keep learning and growing. Stay up-to-date on trends, techniques, and recent developments in your craft. The more knowledgeable you are, the more you practice your skills, the better you’ll be able to refine your instincts and your creativity.
Trust Your Creative Gut Instincts
Intuition is the power of pattern-matching paired with experience and knowledge.
To be truly creative, you must always start with your intuition and follow that with intellectual thought processes. That order allows you to be creative and successfully so because you use all the knowledge you have gained about your craft. Now take what you’ve learned, follow your gut, and live your best creative life.
References
Science Direct: Understanding Creative Intuition
Russelfutcher. com: The Psychology of Intuition, Trusting Your Gut
Creativekatrina.com: 3 Simple Tips for Listening to your Creative Gut
JenPicicci,com: How to be More Creative
Image Credits:
Both images purchased from DepositPhotos.com