Reignite Your Creativity

Has Your Flame of Creativity Gone Out?

Do you wonder if you are creative? Were you creative as a child, but now the spark has gone out? Do you want to find a way to reignite your creativity?

It’s difficult to find something you have lost unless you think through what caused you to lose it. When it comes to redeveloping my creative side, I know some of the reasons why it was “lost”, but I wanted to dig deeper and get the whole picture. Let’s start at the beginning…

We come into this life full of wonder, awe, curiosity, spontaneity, vitality, and flexibility (I could use some more physical flexibility now!). Those gifts at birth allow us to indulge our vivid, childish imaginations without reservation and with unrestrained creativity. Our first mission in life to learn every thing. As infants we figure out how to communicate until someone listens. We learn how to move our bodies from point A to point B. We discover our hands. We learn that we can make silly sounds and that we can wrap Daddy around our little finger.

I grew up in a home where learning was important. My mom taught us problem-solving skills. Creativity was a big part of learning. I shared with you on my about page that I started sewing at age 6. That is also when mom started teaching me to cook. I seem to remember the first cooking lesson was biscuits. Through the years I remember lots of creative adventures with my mom. I specifically remember doing macramé, and making my own stretch & sew patterns (The book pictured might be the same one she had!). Creativity was intentionally encouraged in our home. So what made me stop exercising my creativity as an adult?

What Smothered the Fire?

One thing was that I did not recognize that I had a creative bone in my body. Since I cannot sing, dance, draw, play music or any of the things people usually think of as creative, I just did not see myself as a creative person. I did not see my ability to organize anything as creative. I did not consider my ability to create a comfortable home for my family as creative. Oddly enough a few years ago I took a creative writing class. Many people had said that they enjoyed reading what I wrote. I still did not see my ability to write as being creative.

Is that you?

Do you not see the creativity that is part of who you are? I encourage you to take a moment and think about a time as a child when you were doing something creative. Remember what you made and who you gave it to. What was the occasion? Who helped you? God created each of us in His image. Since He is a Creator, He gave us part of that in the image of Him that He imprinted on us.

Another “reason” I lost my creative side was as simple as the busy-ness of adult life. Being a wife and working mom, is full of things that have to be done and not necessarily things we do for ourselves. That busy-ness can make us put away our playfulness. We don’t have time to sit enjoy the wonders of life. We are too tired to have a spark of vitality.

Is that you, too?

Are you too busy to exercise your creative side? I encourage you to let yourself go and be playful. Take a moment and enjoy the wonder of life, especially the wonder of how blessed you are. Doing those two things will start to energize you and give you a spark of vitality that will reignite your creativity.

More Ways to Spark Your Creativity:

Turn off the TV
Read a book (or lots of them)
Listen to music
Go for a walk
Color in a coloring book – without your kids!
Start a blog!
Write a letter to a friend you miss
Cook a new recipe from scratch
Fan the Flame of Creativity

Add Fuel to that Spark!

Learning something new will take that spark of creativity to a glowing flame! To get started make a list of all the things you have ever wanted to learn to do – speak French, arrange flowers, calligraphy, work with clay, etc. I was listening to a lot of podcasts the weekend I painted our entry and stairwell, in one episode the guest said she makes a point of learning something new every year. One year she took piano lessons. Another year she learned a new language. You get the idea. Create your bucket list of learning adventures (click here for a free printable). Then get started with your adventure.

Keep the Flame Burning

Create an atmosphere where your creativity won’t burn out. Do not criticize yourself, do not compare yourself to others and do not pressure yourself. The best way to prevent those things from happening is to focus on your blessings. Create a gratefulness journal (click here for a free printable). Write in it all the reasons why you are thankful, then read it when you start to be critical, compare or pressure yourself.

I am still a work in progress and so is reigniting my creativity. Writing this post has inspired me and I hope it has inspired you! Please be sure to share your thoughts, your creative sparks and maybe a few items off your creativity bucket list in the comments section at the end of this post. I will do my best to respond to each of your comments.

Blessings,
Lauree

…keep dancing the dream!

P.S. Inspired to share this post? Please do and I’ll add you to my gratefulness journal!

…keep dancing the dream

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