Three Ways To Unleash Effortless Creative Flow

Do you know how to access the state where original ideas effortlessly come to you, and creative expression flows with ease and joy?

Do you ever feel stuck when attempting to create something?

Do you wish to engage in the act of creation, whether it pertains to your work, art, or personal life, with less effort and more delight?

In this audio, I discuss how the playful, nonlinear, creative flow can effectively collaborate with the function of rational planning and evaluation, leading to the creation of exquisite results and enhancing the enjoyment of the creative process.

I share three ways to transition from a rational to a creative state of being.

The image: evgenyatamanenko from Getty Images obtained in Canva

Transcript

Hello,

Nice to connect with you,

Karolina Glady here.

I am a coach and a psychologist.

I especially love supporting creative clients,

Those who want to express their unique flavor of creativity,

Whether it is at work,

In their businesses,

In their families,

In art,

Music,

Writing,

In their gardens or kitchens,

Or wherever they choose.

I believe that creative expression is really not limited to arts or music or writing,

But it is a way of life.

It is a way of allowing our unique life force flow through us,

Giving us joy and also contributing to others.

And in this audio,

I want to share with you my ideas that worked really well for me and also for my clients that can supercharge your creativity,

That can help you enter creative flow that is easeful and less effortful,

More enjoyable.

And when you enter the creative flow,

You are also open to unique ideas.

Do you know this moment where an idea comes to you when you are creating something that feels very new,

That you haven't thought about it before?

And it's exciting,

It's inspiring,

It's like your creative process is a portal for something new to come into you and then being expressed into the world.

I'm finding it just delightful.

And I also know very well the state when I am in front of my laptop trying to create something,

Working hard,

Struggling in a way,

It can feel like a struggle.

And it feels very serious and tense and it's not flowing.

And then sometimes I try to work harder.

I try to make myself to be creative and it just becomes more and more effortful.

Have you ever experienced something like that,

That you are putting so much effort and not much is created or what is created doesn't feel juicy,

Feels somehow dry?

So here I'm going to share the ideas that will support you in shifting this pattern or this trap.

In order to create with sense of ease,

You need to enter the way of being that is not super structured,

Super rational and serious.

You need to enter the way of being and the part of your neurology that feels playful,

That is connected to sensing and feeling,

That is open,

That is flowing.

I'm not saying that the linear planning,

Being rational doesn't have its place in creative process.

It does,

But it has a different place.

We cannot really mix together the inspiring flow,

Playfulness and being super rational and structured.

They need to go hand in hand,

They need to operate and create together,

But you cannot mix them at the same time.

In a moment,

I will share with you some ideas how you can enter the creative flow,

But first I want to share when in the creative process it's the most essential,

Needed and necessary even to be in the creative flow.

So it is when you want to be open to inspiration,

When you want to receive ideas,

When you want to decide what to create,

Decide what would be the most enjoyable,

Inspiring and juicy for you to create.

There is another place for the creative flow.

It's when you are actually creating maybe a piece of writing or maybe it's art or music,

The initial stages of creating before you are editing.

And there is also a place for the rational,

Linear,

Structured way of thinking.

This is when you are planning and then when you are editing.

So in most cases,

It can be simplified to those four stages.

The first stage,

Opening yourself to inspiration.

This is when you want the creative,

Playful,

Flowing part of you.

And then the inspiration came,

You know what you want to create,

And then is the time for the linear,

Rational planning.

So you need to decide on some steps on what you will need to create it,

Put some time frames,

Resources you need,

Rational planning.

And then again,

The initial stages of creation.

Let's say that it's just writing.

You are allowing yourself again,

Enter the creative,

Playful,

Non-linear way of being,

And you are just writing without editing.

You are not assessing,

Evaluating,

And criticizing what you're writing,

But you're allowing yourself just to write,

To be in flow of writing.

And then the last stage would be editing,

Evaluating,

Making corrections,

Structuring the thing.

So you can see that those two ways of creating the non-linear and the linear kind of weave together.

First,

Then the second,

Then third,

And fourth.

But the problem starts when you try to mix them together,

And maybe you are allowing yourself to have some inspiring ideas,

And then you jump immediately with assessment and criticism,

And why it is not possible.

Or maybe you are creating something like painting or writing or planning something that feels wonderful,

And immediately you jump with the editor,

The inner evaluator,

And you start picking on the ideas.

It's like not allowing the creative flow,

Not allowing the brainstorming.

It just kills the energy before it has a chance to build the momentum.

So I hope that you are seeing the value of having those two ways of creating separate.

And now,

For a lot of us in our modern day,

Because of the conditioning and because of what is commonly valued,

A lot of people struggle with the non-linear,

Creative,

Playful way of creating.

We tend to go to the structured,

Evaluating,

Rational too quickly.

So I will share three ideas,

Three ways how you can invite yourself to enter the creative flow.

First one,

And this one is the most important to me.

It works the best for me,

And you will pick your favorite.

But for me,

This one is the essential one,

Is to descend into my body,

To stop the thinking and doing and go to sensing,

Feeling,

Being in my body.

And I have a couple of ways how to do it.

The first one is intuitive dancing.

So I love putting music.

I usually search for ecstatic dance music or intuitive dance.

And I pick something that feels good in the moment.

So sometimes it's something slower and more sensual.

At other times,

I like something more tribal and quick,

Something that allows me to shake and be in quite intense kind of movement.

So you can try that.

Just go into your body by dancing,

But dancing without really looking at yourself and judging what you look like,

Dancing without needing to make sense or look good.

It's just allowing the body to move the way it wants to move,

Even if it doesn't resemble dance,

Even if it is just movement.

The second way for me is to really engage my senses in nature.

So I go to my backyard and I feel the sun on my skin or I feel the wind on my skin.

I touch the leaves of my trees.

I hug the tree.

I smell herbs or flowers,

Really engaging the senses in nature.

I love to also step bare feet on the ground and just breathe,

Touch,

Smell,

Listen,

Sense,

Feel,

Look.

And the last one in the go into body category for me is to bounce on my bouncing ball.

I really love it.

It's playful.

It helps my hips relax and it's very simple to do.

Another way to enter the creative flow is by being playful,

By doing something that doesn't have any goal,

Doesn't have any end result that you expect.

You're doing it just for the joy of doing it.

If it can be a bit messy,

Even better.

So maybe when you like to write,

You do something different.

Take some crayons and white sheet of paper or paint and just paint something that doesn't need to be pretty,

Doesn't need to make sense.

Just play with color and shape.

Allow yourself to get a bit messy,

Get a bit irrational.

Just follow your appetite for color and shape and structure.

Or maybe you have a musical instrument.

Play again in a way that is free,

Not structured.

Just make sound,

Play with the sound.

If you don't have a musical instrument,

You can use the tabletop and drum on it.

Just have some fun with it.

If you have kids or pets,

You can play with them.

And don't make the play anything educational for kids.

Make it a bit silly and just for fun.

So this is another great way to open the gates of the creative energy.

And the last one that I want to share with you is a bit similar to the playfulness,

But it's like a particular flavor of it.

It's being silly.

Allow yourself to be silly.

And what do I mean by it?

To do something that is out of character a bit,

That is unlike you.

I like to do it usually on my own,

Sometimes with kids.

By doing some improv theater and embodying a character that is very unlike me.

So maybe someone very social and extrovert or someone that is very selfish or super confident.

I like to play with magical characters,

Like a witch,

For instance,

Too.

That's a great way for me.

Or you can do something silly,

Like do silly faces in front of a mirror.

Something that allows you to come out of your everyday identity and just play with something that is very different.

So to sum up,

These are the three ways to help you enter into the creative flow.

Go into your body,

For instance,

By dance,

Being in nature,

Using your senses.

Second,

Do something playful.

And third,

Do something silly.

And third,

Do something silly.

I wonder if you have already picked the one that you want to play with,

Experiment with.

One of them or two probably will work best for you,

But I'm encouraging you to experiment with all three.

And I hope that you see the value of being in the creative flow without any rational evaluation,

Editing,

Judgment,

And then going to the rational,

To the planning,

To the linear and structured.

And then perhaps again,

There is time to go to the creative nonlinear flow and again to the structured one.

They can collaborate with each other,

The two ways of being,

Of creating,

But they are not meant to be mixed together into one.

They are going to,

They are meant to weave together.

I hope that your creative flow will feel very juicy and delightful to you and that the world will have a chance to receive your unique creations,

Because this is something the most precious that we can offer to the world.

Something that comes from our uniqueness,

From the way that creative force flows through us.

Thank you so much for listening.

I'm wishing you a wonderful time with your creations.

Bye for now.