How to refresh your relationship with creativity

Olá from Lisboa! (Yes, I am clearly publishing this waaay after I’ve started to write it… meanwhile I’m back home ; ) … ) I dare say I’m using my time well here, meeting friends (and getting fed fries by my friend’s kids at the playground), altogether following a pace that is not only slower but also leaves a lot more space for observing, musing, journaling, writing, reading.

I’m not entirely sure if it’s Portugal’s „energy“ that infuses me with a different energy and aliveness, too, or if it is the gift of using my time in whatever way I fancy –and that means: Being waaaay less in front of my computer, no wrecking my brain about marketing and admin stuff, returning more to writer and poet mode and putting the trying-to-run-a-business-with-something-that-I-love-mode on the backseat for a bit).

In some way I guess it’s both:
- Not being in work- and doing-mode but rather in inspiration- and receiving-mode
- And also having a change of scenery (and that scenery coming with a different pace)

I’m wondering if I should introduce a „Muse- and wandering-day“ back home, too. Because the truth is: It’s much more inspiring than sitting in front of a screen and I have much better thoughts and ideas while I´m walking around.

It’s not that I wouldn’t know that in theory anyway… but these few days here have shown me again that often the idea of what „work“ is and how we are supposed to work doesn’t make sense. Let people go for more walks! Let’s move and gather inspiration in and from the actual world.

We have been fooled that the world is inside a box but the world is around us, life is oozing out of leaves and flowers, not of boxes.

Let’s use our senses to engage with the world, let’s feel it in our bodies.

I mean, yes, I return to „the box“ (the computer) to write down what I’ve gathered; if you want, the writing program is the basket where I collect the fruit of my strolls eventually ; )

But still, there is only so much fruit if we do not venture out of our caves first. And I’m writing that as someone who is very much a „cave-woman“, too. I like to be in my cave, to be on my own, to have time and space to make sense of what I experience. To give it time to settle.

But let’s not confuse caves (homes) and boxes (our devices) anyway ; )

I’m not against computers and other devices. But I’ve realized for myself how much they drain my energy and inspiration after a while and how the lanes of thinking become dead ends at some point. So what I’m talking about is, to make space again for inspiration, for the muse and the creativity she awakes:

One important thing: Let’s not confuse receiving with consuming. Consuming (also in terms of content) is often trying to fill a void or not trusting that something can emerge from ourselves, too. Receiving is making space inside us so creativity can come along slowly and inspiration can enter us.

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean you shouldn’t read anymore or watch movies anymore etc. That can be very inspiring, eye-opening, moving, comforting. And I love that, too. It’s about balance.

So if you’re craving to be creative, don’t forget to allow space that enables you to receive, that allows space for things to emerge, too. And allow your eyes and mind to wander (and wonder).

If we’re focusing our gaze on the screen/box most of the time, we can get really rigid in our thinking, too. When we widen the gaze and our perception the world gets bigger and there is more space for inspiration. When I’m working on my computer I’m trying to pause every once in a while and to intentionally look out of the window (on some days I’m more successful with this than on others…). Not only for my eyes and mind to recover but also to escape the narrow box and the literally limited view that comes with it.

When I allow my gaze to wander there are so many things that can spark inspiration.

Equally: When I engage with my senses, there are so many things that can spark inspiration.

Pause to arrive in your body again. Take a breath. Get up and move with your feelings. Shake a little. Have a cup of tea. Smell a flower. Listen to the rustling of the leaves in the wind.

We often don’t allow ourselves these things in the midst of work-mode. But they really just take a minute or a few and make such a big difference in how we feel and how (what) we think.

Actually, I got carried away a little… ; ) And actually I’m watching a Nespera-tree heavy with soft orange-coloured fruit outside of my window, swaying in the wind. Let me feel the cool breeze and stretch out a little before continuing this essay…

I’m about to leave my apartment to go to the flea market. I’m not on the hunt for anything – I’m going because I love to watch people and objects and displays and immerse myself in the vibe of the place. And if I find something, great! But what I’m really interested in is: The experience of it.

To really experience something we need time, we need to slow down, we need to allow ourselves to immerse ourselves in something.

I’ve just listened to a podcast with poet, writer and Zen teacher Henry Shukman. I’ve read his memoir “One Blade of Grass” and some of his poetry and I really like his writing. I’ve also listened to conversations with him before and there are quite some things he said that resonate with me. In the latest podcast I listened to he said that poetry is a lot like meditation. And I feel so, too. Let me quote a part of the conversation for you here:

“Oh my gosh, poetry is so close to meditation. It’s the closest because it is about the immediate experience of the moment, whether that moment is about a memory, it’s capturing what’s happening or it’s responding to what’s happening in the moment.

You’re listening to what your deeper voice that comes from deep within your body is telling you. So poetry is absolutely a tracking of present moment experience.”

I’ve started to experiment with different styles of meditation around 10 years ago when I got introduced to it in order to deal with some anxiety. And I haven’t stopped being in a dialogue with meditation in different ways since then.

For me, as a poet, I can absolutely relate to the quote above and I’ve stumbled over so many other poets and writers who engage in meditation as well. So… think about it : )

The funny thing to me is: We often think it’s only the loud, the big that makes us feel alive. Many people still think meditation or poetry is boring. But when we sensitize, get quiet first, there are so many more things, even little things, that can make us aware that there is so much that is vibrant and vibrating in this world…

Tapping into this mode can help us feel and understand connections, gift us with insights and inspiration. It can re-fresh us and our being in this world.

It can help us to dive deeper instead of just sliding over and scratching on the surface.

Ok, let me mention one last thing that I watched on Louisiana Channel. There was this interview with Seán Hewitt and he, too, stressed the gift of poems which is their invitation to read them not only once but several times – to go deeper, to find new meanings and connections.

A poem is something that is unfolding over time and it is changing when we are changing. It’s shimmering in different colors at different times in our life. I mean, isn’t that beautiful?

I often see people hunting for the extreme/s, testing out their limits and while I can acknowledge that this may be a certain disposition, I personally am finding so much joy in going deeper and learning to get sensitive for the ever more subtle things, too. In a certain way, I feel, that it may even be the most extreme practice in a world like ours… What it requires is curiosity to listen to and look out for the quiet and subtle.

Anyway, before this is going to become an extremely long essay, I want to encourage you to share your thoughts on this with me and to make space for the muse! (and yes, to “make space for the muse” is a constant reminder to myself in my daily life, too…) Now that I`m back from retreat and holiday mode I need to make “poet mode” a practice. What helps me to do so, is to remember how the world and my experience of it can change once I enter it…

I am Chrischa: Artist, Poet and Embodiment coach. I work at the intersection of Creativity, Embodiment (practices that work with and foster the body-mind-connection) and inner transformation.

Through my classes, workshops and 1:1 coaching, I help women to feel more at home in their body, more connected and alive, to give space to their creativity and to dare to be and express themselves in all their wonderful facets.

https://chrischavenus.de

The website is in German but I´ve offers for English speakers, too.
Just get in touch, I´d love to hear from you!

I´m also creating artist/poetry publications that you can find and purchase here