Creative Inspiration doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.
Creative inspiration is a state of being that we cultivate through doing things that inspire us. For me, it’s a pretty simple formula: in order to feel inspired, I need to do what inspires me on a regular basis.
People sometimes mistakenly assume that what I do is effortless. Not true. I spent my early adulthood experiencing random spurts of inspiration and feeling so stuck in perfectionism that I rarely took action toward what I really wanted to do. For years, my mindfulness practice was limited to sitting meditation, and I missed out on the real magic of this practice that can happen by integrating it into everyday life. All that I do now in my work and personal life is the result of mindful, intentional, and sustained effort and working through all of the things that kept me stuck. Not only do I practice mindfulness daily to feel well and happy, I also practice mindfulness for creative inspiration.
Creative inspiration can be cultivated.
Creative inspiration fosters positive emotions
Inspiration nurtures happiness, creative problem solving, artistic/creative expression, and a sense of increased meaning and satisfaction. Similar to how we know that eating healthy foods can improve our physical health, but we don’t always choose healthy foods, we don’t always choose to do what inspires us. Like most things, we forget what inspires us until we remember again. Whatever we rest our attention on grows, so if we can learn to focus more attention on celebrating the remembering and less attention on lamenting the forgetting, this, too, nurtures more positive emotional and mental states.
Mindfulness for Creative Inspiration
I infuse my morning practices with mindfulness that include:
meditation
mindful yoga
mindfulness-based nature practices
mindful writing/journaling
mindful photography
Let’s not confuse the practice of cultivating inspiration with producing something. We can practice mindfulness for inspiration. The cultivation of inspiration is an effort that we make in order to feel inspired, to feel a sense of aliveness, meaning, and purpose, to have an experience of growing and deepening—whether this relates to deepening and growing in our spiritual practices, making positive lifestyle changes to support health, deepening the creative though process as an entrepreneur or business leader, or deepening creative expression as a writer or artist.
The emphasis is on the creative process
Practicing mindful creativity is much more about cultivating the positive emotional state of inspiration rather than producing a specific outcome or product.The energy of that positive emotional state serves me by promoting wellbeing and health and a greater sense of peace, happiness, meaning, and satisfaction. This enables me to be more present and effective as a meditation teacher, coach, counselor, writer, and photographer. And it helps me to be more present, compassionate, giving, and grateful in my personal relationships.
What we do to cultivate inspiration can be as varied as who we all are as individuals and the things that we want to feel inspired to do. Deepening our study can inspire our meditation or yoga practice. Imagining our intentions for the future we desire can inspire us to take action to create what we want. Watching a video speech or interview of a thought leader who inspires us can inspire our own creative thought process. Reading a writer whose work we admire can inspire our own writing. Any action that we take to cultivate inspiration may also inspire us in other areas.
Wishing you a mindful and creatively inspired week!
Do what intrigues you, explore what interests you; think mystery, not mastery.
Julia Cameron
Jen Johnson is a mindfulness and creativity coach and therapist, photographer, and writer teaching mindfulness and creativity for healing and resilience. She has been teaching mindfulness for 30+ years.
This post was originally published in January 2019 but has been updated to incorporate new content.
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