I wrote the following for the 224th issue of the Weekly Awareness Guide, a written document distributed weekly via email that I offer for $11.11 a month.
Income from the guide helps me get by and ensures I can continue to offer free content, and every subscription is appreciated. The option to subscribe is given at the bottom of this post (learn about subscribing with cash/check here).
Check out a preview of this week’s issue, made with Sway: httpss://sway.com/GvgHMdlLrLhcQorY
Inspiration is great. Ideas flow, projects take form, and for a moment you feel unlimited.
There’s nothing you can’t do, and there’s nothing you’d rather do than explore this abundant creative channel you’ve opened.
But what do you do when inspiration runs dry and all those great ideas fail to appear?
In my short life, I’ve been unable to pin down the cause of writer’s block or the general lack of enthusiasm it seems tied to.
I have some theories, one of which I’ll share here, but ultimately, I don’t know what causes it or how we can get past it.
However, I’ve learned a few things about the state of mind responsible for inspiration and creativity; one of which is that it’s boosted by a solid spiritual foundation.
Wholeness Brings Confidence
Nothing beats openness and confidence when it comes to expressing yourself or searching for new ideas.
This is especially true for writers and musicians. Understandably, people seek the wholeness that provides the confidence to be open in countless ways.
It’s sought through drugs and alcohol; sex; putting others down; living an egotistical or self-centered lifestyle; the list could go on and on.
Fortunately, these qualities can also be sought in positive and constructive ways.
For many, this is where spirituality comes in.
In using it to find the love and enthusiasm missing from their life, they receive an unexpected creative boost as well.
They might suddenly be permeated with incredible or complex ideas and feel like they’re in touch with a higher consciousness, because they essentially are.
The Intuition and Higher Self
Countless terms are used to describe this guiding force, with the most popular in the spiritual and new age communities being the “higher self”.
The higher self is an extension of your consciousness (or rather, you’re an extension of its) that communicates with you through the intuition.
It turns out that the intuition is more than a small guiding voice meant to help you stay on the right path; it’s a literal channel to the “higher self” or higher consciousness.
Connecting with this consciousness enlivens every aspect of life and inspires you to improve the world through no other means than sharing knowledge, wisdom and good vibes from the heart.
However new-agey it sounds, it’s easy to understand for those who open the intuitive doors.
What Can You Do?
Regardless of your level of connection with the higher self, you might experience a boost of inspiration only to have your creative well run dry shortly thereafter.
What can you do then?
There are two options: keep working and attempting to form ideas regardless, challenging yourself in a way that can bring back your missing inspiration and help you evolve in the process; or approach the problem from a spiritual perspective.
The latter will require you to take a break, slow down the mind and relax into a meditative state where you can explore the source of your disconnection.
I tend to resist meditation, but five minutes of it will bring my attention to countless issues I thought were unsolvable.
It’s profound the way the meditative state sheds light on these issues and offers practical solutions.
From this centered space, it’s nearly impossible not to be connected.
Thus, the choice to go with meditation over pushing yourself when you can’t produce ideas will provide more clarity and spiritual growth.
Either path can lead to the intended result, but the meditative path can lead to so much more.
Inspiration Comes from the Space Between Thoughts
Why is the meditative path more effective?
The answer is simple: when we’re awash in creative inspiration, we risk falling out of the state responsible for it by shifting back into the mind and expecting to produce the same quality and quantity of ideas from this limited space.
The mind is capable of amazing things, but it’s a receiver, not a generator, for ideas.
To an extent, it should be open and calm to receive a steady flow of meaningful ideas.
When you struggle, it helps to stop and shift back into a calm state where you can perceive and interact with the space between your thoughts.
For me, this is crucial to tapping into a practically incorruptible flow.
It seems that intuition and creativity come not from thought, but this space between thoughts you can discover with meditation.
I recommend exploring and interacting with this space whether you’re creative or not, because it’s key to eventually becoming one with your higher consciousness.
Sometimes you might be in this space without realizing it.
This is when an abundance of ideas will flow and you’ll feel on top of the world, but the moment you shift out of it, inspiration will wither and you’ll wonder what happened.
The State of Mind Sought by All
It only takes a simple shift to connect with ecstatic states of consciousness, the contents of which you can pour into your work.
This is the space religious and spiritual thinkers have sought for centuries, and it’s responsible for the greatest, most uplifting creative and scientific work the world has ever seen.
The people responsible were instruments for this higher consciousness, and we can be open to it simply by relaxing and calming the mind.
That’s all it takes, but it can be surprisingly difficult if you’re used to letting the mind run the show.
The mind is an important part of it all, but it alone isn’t responsible for ideas or creativity.
An aspect of your being that’s untouchable for most people is responsible, but like the innovators throughout history who worked tirelessly to develop the fruits of their connection, you can tap into it and let it change your life forever.
By Wes Annac, Culture of Awareness, November 25, 2016 – https://tinyurl.com/j8vjyru
Featured image credit: thecreativestrategist.com.au