24
Jul
2014
0

Motivation…. Thursday! Going with the flow and quotes to inspire creativity.

Did you notice?

No motivation Monday this week.

The truth is, this Monday I was in a FUNK. Last week was crazy. I was busy with shoots, launching a big new project, filming at our studio, preparing for Giuliana’s 6th birthday party (I thought making 48 cupcakes would be a “fun” activity), and I traded the gym and meditation for pizza and wine all week. I woke up Monday morning, rolled over, and my entire back seized up. I get a pinched nerve a few times a year and it is brutal. It always follows up a stressful period at work. I try to take it as a wake up call to slow down and take care of myself.

I had to reschedule my newborn shoot. No amount of Motrin helped. I still had a pile of work on my desk that looked like Mt. Everest and when anyone would talk to me, I wanted to cry. I couldn’t even hear their words. All I could feel was the pain.

What happened to good-old-fashioned sick days?

On top of being injured, I felt down in the dumps. Why does this keep happening to me? Am I taking on too much? Why am I trying to juggle so many balls? Why am I always dreaming up new projects/ new shoots/ new plans and adding more to my plate?

It was not a good day to be “motivating” others…

After a trip to the Chiropractor, some mental rest, and a few green smoothies, I’m feeling much more myself. In fact, I’m feeling better then myself. I sat down to meditation this morning and my head was swimming with new ideas.

Launching new projects is a rush for me. For the past 5+ years as a business owner, I tried to quiet that voice. I thought something was wrong with me. Especially when my back would go out. Why was I always dreaming up the next greatest thing? Why couldn’t I just be happy in the “present moment”? That’s what those piles of spiritual books tell me is the key to life.

Today I realized something. It’s a life-changer. I AM happy in the present moment. I am just happiest in the present moment when I feel intuition and creative energy rushing through me. I am an artist and an entrepreneur. The creative process thrills me. It is a natural flow of the energy I was born with (you were born with it too by-the-way). It is when I start worrying about the outcomes that I lose myself. When I let fear or doubt quiet my voice, I feel stuck.

Looking back on last week, I realize it wasn’t the work that made me exhausted. The work was passionate and fulfilling. What made me feel stuck was Sunday. Sunday I was tired, I hadn’t taken care of myself and I started doubting everything. I started fearing I couldn’t do it all. I started fearing I would fail. I started thinking maybe my intuition got me into this mess. And that “stuck” feeling landed right in my back, as it always does.

So, why let fear block the flow of the creativity we were born with?

We are all born with a creative spirit, we must simply remove the blocks to it. Creativity means letting go of fear, self-doubt and outcomes. It is listening to the quiet voice of our intuition. It is leaping without a parachute and trusting the ground will be there.

creativity quote

I’m going try something radical from now on and trust the process. I’m going to listen to my creative voice more, not less. Being creative feels good. Listening to that voice makes me feel alive. It sure feels a lot better then waking up with a pinched nerve! Most importantly, I’m going to let go of the outcome. Put that in your book pile!

I’m going with the creative flow. How about you?

What do you think of all of this? Share it with me it in the comment section below! What would YOU do if you had nothing holding you back?

See you for FAQ Friday!

Heidi

 

Try it with me this week:

1. What is an idea you would try if you had no doubts, no fears, and nothing holding you back? A creative shoot? A business idea? Hiking to a new location? Jumping out of a plane?

2. Go for it! Take the first step. Make your plans, take your hike, grab your camera. Just start!

3. Trust the process! Remember you had this idea for a reason. Doubt, fear, and nay-sayers not allowed into this project.

4. Let go of the outcome. Don’t worry about the future. Just enjoy being in your creative zone!

 

Want more creative inspiration? Check out some of my favorite creative quotes below!

 

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. ”
– Pablo Picasso

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
– Sophia Loren

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
– Sylvia Plath

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
– Maya Angelou

“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
– Robert Henri

“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.”  Robert Bresson

“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.”
– Pearl S. Buck

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”  -Joseph Chilton Pearce

“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.”
– Erich Fromm

“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.  You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.”  – Alan Alda

And my favorite:

“A creative person does not take direction from the outside. She does not imitate established forms. She listens within. Now she may survey the world. She may even study and scrutinize it. But then she internalizes what she sees. She takes it in and digests it. She considers it in the light of her own experience. She feels it. She owns it. She makes it hers. And then she gives it back. And what she gives is her vision, her unique perspective, her story. And if she is honest, others will respond to her, because they hear their story in hers.” ~ Paul Ferrini

So go get your creative on!  Oh, and let me know what you think in the comments below!

 

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