Five Ways To Spark Your Creativity

Are you feeling a little blocked in your creativity? OR - do you want to add some new flavor to your current routine? In this talk, I share 5 ways that I have found helpful in my own creative journey, whether it be inspiration from books, nature, coloring, journaling, or reconnecting with my past self. Sometimes, we just need to try something different to get that spark re-ignited when it feels dull or stagnant.

Transcript

Hello,

Cocooners.

Welcome back to another episode at Hello from the Cocoon.

If you don't know me,

My name is Lori,

One of the co-creators with my dear friend,

Sarah.

And on this channel,

We love to create inspiration using expressive arts and nature to help us all transition through the seasons and cycles of life.

And I would really love for you to come along on this journey with us while we explore five ways to spark your creativity if you're feeling a little bit blocked.

So if you are interested in that,

Grab a nice warm drink and get cozy,

And let's get creative.

The first way that I invite you to spark your creativity is simply to take yourself to your local bookstore or a library and just allow yourself to follow your intuition and browse the shelves.

See what sticks out to you.

Where is your interest going?

And I am going to share with you just a little story that inspired me.

So I was in Barnes & Noble,

And I had never been in the nature section.

And I just happened to notice this book.

It was like it just jumped out at me.

And it's called The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady,

And it's by Edith Holden.

And this book is so well-loved.

But at the time,

I had never heard of it,

And I got very curious.

From 1906,

And Edith Holden called it Nature Notes and did these beautiful illustrations of the nature that she saw around her.

My ancestry is from all over Europe,

So I have never actually been to visit anywhere in England or any of the places where my ancestors are from.

So in a way,

It felt like this book kind of jumped out so that I could visit the plant life and the land through the book.

And it inspired me to start my own nature journal.

So the first way that I invite you to get inspired is to simply go to your local bookstore,

See if there's any book that pops out at you and inspires you to do anything creative,

Whether it's with your art or with music or writing or even cooking.

Anything that you find creative.

That leads me to the second way that I would inspire you to spark your creativity.

Get out into nature.

And if you can't get out into nature,

That's fine.

I myself am an artist,

An explorer in a wheelchair,

So it's very difficult for me to get out during certain seasons and certain types of weather.

So I love to simply make a practice of looking out my window,

Observing the new birds that are coming through.

There are so many different migrations with the animals and birds and then also just seeing what is newly growing outside during each season.

So I love to let nature inspire me.

And I was gifted this very small handmade paper journal by my husband.

And I decided to start a courage and curiosity journal where I follow my intuition and I allow myself to just simply write down a few little notes that I learn about some of the plants that were arriving in each season.

And I did so well during the spring.

I even wrote about burrows and different types of nests.

And what's next is for me to step into summer.

So I'm going to be continuing with summer.

These are some dried flowers from Sarah and her daughters.

So they made it into my nature journal.

So that is my invitation for way number two.

Way number three to get inspired into your creativity is coloring books.

This one is also a gift from a dear friend.

I've had this a long time.

And it's one of those coloring books that is very detailed.

So each one takes a pretty long time.

And my birthday is July 22nd.

So I am literally the last day of the sign of the zodiac cancer,

Cancer season.

And so whenever I'm feeling a little bit blocked,

Sad,

Down,

Weird,

Lost,

Etc.

All the weird feelings that maybe don't even really belong to those labels.

I often just grab an adult coloring book.

And I have these markers that are really beautiful,

Like little brush markers.

And this one is all crabs,

Which is the sign of the zodiac for cancer.

So I love to color in my crabs and just put on music and a candle.

And often this just helps move energy and get my creativity flowing again.

So way number three is simply slowing down and coloring.

You can choose a detailed coloring book or something really simple to just quiet your mind and let your emotions flow.

And it also brings this feeling of warmth and coziness,

Just igniting that inner spark again.

Way number four is start your own daily intuitive art practice.

Or you could just have it laying around for whenever you feel like you need some moments to quiet down.

Draw and then you get a message back from your art.

I really love to find blank journals and then I decorate them on the outside with stickers.

And this one I like to put a date.

And I just let myself draw without any intention of what it has to look like.

It really is like doodling.

And there's this vase here.

It looks like little water droplets going in and then it's dropping into the vase here.

And at the top I let myself feel into the message it was giving me.

So the message was,

It will all go back home eventually.

And every time I look at this art I'm reminded of the message.

And it is actually like a beautiful,

I don't know,

Oracle in the moment I guess.

So it doesn't matter what it looks like,

It's just for you.

And then way number five is to reconnect with your past self.

So this journal is very dear to my heart.

It has all of my high school songs,

Some from college years as well.

And I used to love using songwriting as a way to integrate what I was going through,

Which was often the heart-wrenching boy things of my past.

It might be interesting to see if you can revive something from your past.

And it's just interesting to look at the journey that you've been on and where you are now.

And maybe you could either express something that you created in the past,

Or you could respond to it with your art or with your writing.

So the first song that I ever wrote on guitar I think was in,

Let's see,

Probably the year 2001.

And it was called,

You're the Sun in My Shadow.

And just that phrase is really beautiful for me to think.

At the time,

I was probably meaning it in a more romantic way.

But to feel that line,

You're the sun in my shadow,

It just feels like embracing my shadow and also embracing that hope that's also inside me.

I am both.

And that light that never goes out is truly my essence.

And so I may,

I have goosebumps all over.

I may want to take this old song of mine and turn it into an art piece or write a song back to her.

This sweet 15-year-old,

16-year-old Lori.

And I don't know,

Sing back to her.

So this is another way that you might find inspiring to get your creative juices flowing again.

And I just invite you to play and have fun.

And let me know what your favorite way is or what you're going to try.

If you have another method that you use to spark your creativity,

I would love to know.

I would love to try it.

So leave it in the comment section below.

And I will see you all very soon with care and connection from my cocoon to yours.

Bye!