8 Easy Ways To Overcome Creative Blocks
If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a blank page or canvas, you know how frustrating creative blocks can be. When your life is overrun by monotonous dullness and you lack inspiration, that's a huge creative block too.
Feng shui philosophy says that energy needs to flow freely in order to generate abundance and well-being. Creative blocks are no different than piles of clutter scattered around the house — they both have stagnant energy that can make you feel like you’re sinking.
Celebrated books on creativity such as Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, Tom & David Kelley’s Creative Confidence, and Steven Pressfield’s War of Art, all share a similar message. They say that creativity is a vibrant necessity, and creative blocks can only be broken with action.
Action breaks up the stagnant energy and makes space for a connection where creativity can flow freely.
If you design a lifestyle that has room to play, stretch, think, and explore, you’re on your way to a more expansive reality. Here are eight ways to shake up your space and habits with feng shui principles that supercharge creativity.
1. Check out The Artist’s Way.
Julia Cameron’s classic book The Artist’s Way is not a text to just skim through — it's meant to be utilized like an educational course. The Artist's Way offers 12 weeks' worth of ingenious exercises to help you get your creative bearings. After leading nearly 1,000 people through this process, I’ve not once seen it let someone down.
2. Quit sugar.
We all know that a big jolt of sugar gives us a fleeting energy high followed by a crashing low. But it also floods the body with stress hormones like cortisol for hours after it's consumed. Sugar stresses you out. This introverting, frustrating stress is the opposite of spacious, flowing creativity.
3. Move around all day.
A sedentary lifestyle is terrible for the body. As Dr. Frank Lipman says, too much sitting can bring on just about every disease imaginable. The more you move around, the more flow you'll welcome into your life, so check out that yoga class, go on that midday walk, and choose the stairs over the elevator.
4. Sage stuff (including yourself!).
Burning sage wands is an ancient space clearing ritual. The smoke floods the air with negative ions that create a space filled with fresh, positive energy. When I feel creative blocks, I'll light a sage wand and carefully wave it around my body, imagining the smoke clearing away anything that’s stuck. I find it instantly refreshing!
5. Walk away and come back.
If you’re truly drawing a blank in your creative work, walk away for a short while and come back to it later. You’ll be far less stressed and pressured to “force” things after you take some time off. As Julia Cameron says, “Creativity is the opposite of control.”
6. Declutter your space.
Clearing your physical clutter creates more room in your mind and your environment for good vibes to flow through freely.
7. Get more creative sleep.
Fill your bedroom with feel-good textures: silky sheets, fluffy comforters, perfect pillows. Burn some herbal candles before bed. Add a layer of relaxing music. Aim for at least seven to eight hours of deep rest.
Right before bed, decide that you’ll find the answers to your creative problems by the time you wake up. When I follow through with this nighttime ritual, I always find myself filled with ideas the next morning.
8. Use light as a creative cure.
Getting up earlier and getting outside in sunlight as often as possible can improve sleep and enhance an overall feeling of well-being. Swapping your traditional light bulbs for full-spectrum, natural ones is another major move toward a more colorful, illuminated, inspired space … and life!
Written by Dana Claudat
