3 Simple (but powerful) Daily Rituals to Reclaim and Activate Your Creativity

Every single thing that has ever happened since the beginning of time, everything that’s happening in this moment, and everything that ever will happen is happening for you, by everything else. And this applies to every single thing and person in the universe. Read that again. It is all one big, never-ending loop of gifts and you are right in the glorious middle of all of it.

The leaf on that majestic tree you passed by on on your morning walk is, of course, opening for the tree itself – to sustain its own mission of thriving in life – but it is also happening for you to enjoy, and it also opens for the insects and squirrels to munch on, even further fulfilling its wordless promise to always participate in the circle of life.

You made a similar wordless promise when you came into this world, to be you and to share the unique gifts inside you – both for your own benefit (it hurts when we keep our gifts inside) and for the enjoyment and benefit of the rest of the world.

Everything around us is a part of this infinite loop, a constant stream of beautiful, never ending always-giving, always-receiving energy.

The reason that humanity is suffering so much, the reason that we’re glitching is because we have been conditioned to believe some enormously limiting beliefs; that not all of us are special – that creativity only lives inside some of us, that the things we express must look or feel or sound a certain way, and that under so circumstances are we to ever shine too bright – that would be rude.

So we hold back the gifts that are trying to move through us. We say to ourselves, surely I am not creative…..

We don’t want to be weird, we don’t want to be the first one to try something new, we don’t want to be vulnerable and put on paper or into words or movement, what is really real for us – inside.

And so we hold it in, we edit ourselves, or we try to change the shape of the magic inside in a misguided attempt to curate it into an acceptable form for the world around us. And this is the source of all the pain and suffering we feel, all the anxiety, depression, addiction, name a dysfunction, it can all be tied back to some form of an attempt to control the creativity within us.

Creative energy is the most powerful force in the universe, it is not something that can be controlled, and trying to hold it inside is going to hurt and break stuff in you.

You are here for a very specific and important reason that really, really matters. And when you, for whatever reason, believe you’re not creative, believe it’s not okay (or your job even) to be your weird, wonderful self, when you do not allow that energy to move through you in a wild and unpredictable way. You cause yourself immeasurable pain, and your life starts to glitch.

But it doesn’t stop there, when you hold your creativity back, you actually cause pain for everything else in the entire universe because we’re all counting on you to share your weird magic gift -both so we can enjoy it, and also so we can be brave and inspired to let ours out.

What’s the point in saving the planet if we are not able to fully express and share the gifts that are within us, to … enjoy life and each other?

Learning how to unlearn the things you learned that made you feel like you shouldn’t be creative or couldn’t be creative or couldn’t let this energy guide your whole entire freakin’ life is hard. I am not going to dress it up. It’s scary and lonely sometimes, it is a road filled with uncertainty and unknowns. And it is the only path worth taking.

The quiet, wise intelligence inside belongs in the driver’s seat of our lives. Are you ready to step a little deeper into this part of you that is wild and unpredictable and unknown, and unstoppable?  (spoiler, it’s going to happen anyway because creativity can’t be stopped, remember?)  You might as well jump in the current and see where it takes you…

3 Simple Daily Rituals to Reclaim and Activate Your Creativity

• Start a reflective journal practice

Wake up a little earlier each day and find a quiet space. Spend 5 minutes or so listening to the silence. Don’t know what that means? Try doing it for a week and see if that shifts. After 5 minutes, begin to write in your journal as though you are writing a letter to creativity itself. Ask it questions – you could ask things like, what are you trying to show me? What would you like to do through me? What have I been ignoring that I need to see?

• Intuition workouts

As you move throughout your day, doing normal activities, find ways to check in with your intuition about making decisions. Start small at first. At the grocery store when you are deciding which pieces of fruit to buy, use your rational mind to narrow it down to two pieces and then hold a piece in each hand and ask your body to tell you which ones it wants – often there is one clear winner, you’ll just “know” which one is right. This will help you to retrain your system to reference intuition more than rational mind and strengthen your connection to this part of you. Soon you will find that you are automatically referring to intuition rather than your rational mind.

 

• Gut Check at Mealtimes

I have cultivated a beautiful habit of addressing myself as though I am my most beloved friend – at mealtimes this sounds like, “Ok sweetheart, what would you like to eat today?”  And then pausing to notice what answer bubbles up, it is usually instantaneous, but sometimes it takes a minute. Whichever is true for you, take note of what it feels like when the answer seems to come from your body vs your mind. There is a subtle difference. Beginning to notice this difference is infinitely helpful as you move toward a life that is led by your heart.

As we go along this path we may find that we bump into all kinds of fears. One of the big ones is that we are too flawed to be worthy of calling ourselves creative.

The truth is, our ‘flaws’ are like giant neon signs pointing us to our superpowers. But we tend to avoid being curious about these parts of ourselves, because we’ve been taught to avoid feeling things that make us uncomfortable. What we want is on the other side of the uncomfortable feelings! This free worksheet can help you uncover your creative superpowers!

Grab the FREE download ‘Finding Your Superpower – Self Directed Journal Worksheets’

Kate Shepherd is the founder and lead designer of Morning Moon Nature Jewelry and host of the globally top rated Creative Genius Podcast