3.31.2011

Tug-of-War

You know those days when you are really busy, running errands, working, and doing things for your family,  do you find those are the days when your creative juices are really flowing?

There are also those days when you have lots of work to get done or a deadline to meet and no time to let your muse take over. Sometimes its hard to decide if you should stop working and just let your creative side take over or to finish up what needs to be done.

This kind of tug-of-war can make your day challenging and unfulfilling.  I always get a burst of creativity when I am driving on long trips, or have to get something done.

There are a couple of things you can do to nurture your creative ideas, work in you journal/sketchbook for a few minutes, while the ideas are still fresh, put your work on hold and just start creating, or find a way to pencil in some time to create into your schedule.

If you just don't have time to take a break give these tricks a try:
-Take a moment
-close your eyes
-visualize what you want to do
-Make a list of the medium you want to work with
-Choose the colors you want to use
-Visualize your finished piece
-Let you mind return to these mental pictures often

You may find that the end piece is not exactly as you pictured it, but thats even better, because you nurtured your inspiration and allowed it to develop before it was executed.

"Even if its not possible to act on each moment of inspiration immediately.  It is possible to live in the moment and enjoy your creative soul."
Pam Carriker

What do you do when you have a tug-of-war between being practical and getting your work done and being creative?


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4 comments:

  1. I keep a running list of inspirations and ideas on my blackberry, then on days I'm dry for ideas I flip through the list and off I go!

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  2. I either do nothing or force myself to make something, anything. Sometimes I'll look thru old sketches I did. One thing for sure is to get off of facebook & twitter. That will consume hours of not confronting what it is you're supposed to be doing.

    http://chris-wrinn.blogspot.com/

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  3. I usually write lists-I don't know what it is, but writing down what I need to do with what I want to do and crossing things off as I go along is very therapeutic.

    I also set aside specific time lines to do things-I'll work on my homework for an hour, take a break and work on blogging for an hour, etc.

    Although, it's definitely hard when you have so much you have to do and want to do-You can EASILY get overwhelmed O.o

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  4. Visualization is a great tool, I use it often! Keeping up on household chores, versus letting them pile up and overwhelm me, insures pockets of creative time for me! :)

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Your thoughts and ideas are an important part of the conversation, thanks for sharing!