Baraka_Guru

When I was younger, I was far more creative. I think this is usually the case for people. As we age and follow our paths in careers and personal lives, creativity often takes a backseat, and sometimes it gets ejected or jettisoned completely.

I've slowly come to realize (or maybe I'm just finally willing to admit) that my creativity has nearly died. I don't have the desire to create or play around that I used to have. I feel stunted, and it feels like a part of me is missing.

In the past, I've dabbled in writing, music, and some visual arts, and even in the dramatic arts. In my final year of high-school (fifth year), I had a course load consisting only of the arts.

I'm more in tune with writing and music than with visual/spacial things (with the exception of photography, which I absolutely loved to do), so they were always more interesting to me. Well, today? I'll be damned if I can even get inspired. Inspiration comes rarely, but it's not that I do anything to encourage it. And I certainly don't do enough to exercise my creativity. Now I know that waiting for inspiration isn't the right way to go, and that real work as a mainstay is required, but I'm at a stand-still here: I have neither.

I want to start writing again. I was never really one to write fiction or non-fiction much. Maybe the odd short story. I do love that format. But I tend to want to write poetry, and I'd also like to expand my capability as a guitarist and get into songwriting one day. It would be nice to learn how to sing properly too.

So....

• How does one rekindle one's creativity?
• What do you do to get the juices flowing?
• What do you do to keep your chops up?
• How do you get yourself out of a rut?
• How do you know where to begin?

Share you experiences, strategies, and tips, no matter how uncanny. I know everyone is different, but I'm sure we'd be surprised to know how much we're the same.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Toaster126

I think people often get into this trap as they get older. It's amazing what not regularly thinking for yourself, being stressed out, and having less uninterrupted time to devote to it will do for your creativity.

Or, to make my point in a different way, I think this has nothing to do with the people per se, but more their surroundings. It doesn't take youth, intelligence or wisdom to be creative. In fact, these are often obstacles.

Perhaps it's just the young don't listen to people telling them they will fail? No one seems to like real creativity (it's threatening) until it's accepted as common wisdom.

__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

PonyPotato

I won't be much help with suggestions in this thread (at least not yet!), but I am definitely in the same boat.. as if my most recent blog post doesn't tell you that.

I know that in terms of thinking abstractly, it comes a lot easier for me when I have someone to share with. Someone to draw on a white board with and explore different ideas and solutions to some problem we have both defined. It helps if one of us understands the concept being explored more than the other, because then he/she can act as a bit more of a "guide."

As far as inspiration.. my little dabble into poetry recently came largely as a result of a LOT of introspection, and a yearning to express some feelings in a more creative way than the same-old letter/email/card. I have been spending some more time reading and discovering new music (TFP, I love you for this), and some phrases get stuck in my head. And they help set the stage for new ones to come to me, I suppose.

__________________
"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark."
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Baraka_Guru

Both of these comments bring up a good point: when I was at my most creative, I was surrounded by others who were trying to be creative as well. These days, I feel locked up in a cloister. Maybe I should engage with the TFP creative community more by sharing and offering things up for critique and feedback.

I should also find a way to do this with others in the flesh and blood.

Au contraire. If you share with us the steps on your journey by posting here, it will help immensely. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was your blog post that was a catalyst in my creating this thread in the first place. I should probably thank you for that.

See? You're helping already!

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Zeraph

Besides what's been said, I take my favorite inspirational activity (reading a good book), do it, then starve myself of it. Cause if I keep reading then that takes care of my creative urges and I won't produce anything. Like if I want to write I can't be playing any good RPGs or be reading any good books. I also find it helps a lot, not just to share with a community but to find someone specifically that shares your exact interests and talk detailed shop with them so to speak. That can really get the ideas flowing. Beyond that stuff its about discipline and forcing it out even when its crap, then recognizing the crap, throwing it out and doing it better. Being creative ain't easy. That's assuming you want to be reliably creative though, personally I take the muse approach and am creative in intense bursts. So to each his own.

PS one thing I've learned form roleplaying is that limitations *can* (depends on many factors) lead to greater creativity. Finding a way to limit certain things may help. I realize that's esoteric sounding, but think on it and apply it how you will. I know you have a lot of wisdom BG, and I think you can figure it out. Let me know if you want to talk further, or more detailed. Maybe our interests meet up and I could be your CA (creativity anonymous) sponsor or something to talk shop with :P)

Vigilante

I am definitely in the same boat as well. I find some time to draw, but very little, and at times I have struggled with this realization as I tried to force myself to be creative once more.

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We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

archetypal fool

At the risk of incurring prudish comments and critiques, and if only to introduce an alternative option, the one thing I recommend as a last resort (or a first, depending on your personal opinions on the subject) for the spark of either visual or musical creativity is psychotropics. Specifically, the strong visual and auditory hallucinations conjured by DMT have been tremendously helpful in rejuvenating my creative impulses. My current girlfriend loves painting, and she says that experiencing her unfinished works while under the spell gives her new insights and ideas. As for auditory hallucinations, it's an equally incredible tool. There have been times where random noises and sounds generated by my otherwise silent house have arranged themselves into amazing compositions; other times I've been able to will the noises into musical ideas by thought alone, ultimately generating intricate and interesting patterns that flow and evolve in real time (though this is only perceived by myself). DMT is particularly useful as a creativity boosting tool because of its extremely short duration (<5 minutes), allowing you to get to work while the ideas are still fresh in mind.

Aside from that option, all I can do is reiterate what other posters have said: surround yourself with your chosen media, delve deeper into the culture than you have before, and explore the inexperienced layers and examples of your craft. I hope for you the best of luck in your search for inspiration.

__________________
I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights; and you have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality. ~H.A. Overstreet

ring

Creativity is a messy business.
Make a fine lovely mess of things.

snowy

I think part of it is that as we get older, we spend more time (over)analyzing the creative process instead of actually creating. One piece of advice I received about writing from another member here was to JUST DO IT. Just write, put the words on paper, and let it flow--let it go. The hardest part is denying the urge to self-edit as you go, I think. You can always edit later.

I find that creativity begets more creativity; if I start writing, this is often followed by the urge to draw, or to write more stories.

Good luck!

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Giant Hamburger

You must eat the flesh of other creative people.
Drinking their blood helps too.
Keep leftovers in a cool dry place for inspiration.
I don't know what these other people are going on about.

Good luck!

roachboy

once you eat the flesh of other creative people, the main thing is to make a routine practice and just do stuff.
inspiration is for amateurs.

if someone had told me that when i was 18 i would've thought they were crazy. whaddya mean? i would've said. i might have actually said it, but the hallucinogens i was doing at the time make that period a little foggy still.

i know we've talked about this before, but i really think that there's a point in one's life where things change in terms of how one approaches working. i think that's somewhere in the background behind eliot's kinda snarky line "everyone's a poet at 18; no-one is at 40." initially it's all fire and inspiration. later, you can go further but you should, i think, just take what you learned about what you like to do from that period and forget the modus operandi.

do stuff that engages you, think of it as a way to extend and refine modes of seeing or listening or being in the world.
you can play with the process once it's under way, go on adventures, take risks, have things fail or surprise you the other way.
but you have to be in a position so any of that can happen, and that position just requires doing stuff. patient, consistent doing stuff.

when i landed at tfp, my ex convinced me that i should do with the writing what i do with piano--just work at it every day, even if i don't have anything to write about, nothing to say, write anyway.
i took her advice. i'm not sure how far i've gotten, but i know that what i'm doing now is more fun and intricate than it ever woulda been had i not done that.

i guess somewhere in there i stopped really caring about what people thought of it---i mean i like it when people like things and learn alot from when they engage (this both sound and writing stuff)---but it's also entirely ok if people don't like things or aren't interested. i keep going anyway. it's not for everybody. it's just something i do, really, that i also do another thing with, which is getting it out into the world.

you can't learn to be a kind of self-contained operation right away. you work it out for yourself as you work on what engages you. allow things to change through consistency of interaction with a medium. have fun. give yourself a break, too. it's ok for things not to work. as you go, the reasons they don't work will maybe get more interesting. that's when the puzzles start opening up. i like puzzles.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

stevie667

Personally i go get really drunk/smashed on MDMA and go for a walk listening to music, come back with a head full of randomness.

Not for everyone however, but the music part and walking can be usefull.

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Wes Mantooth

Creativity is a funny thing, it pops up at the strangest times and disappears when you really need it. Almost as though it comes in waves. One thing I find helpful in sparking creativity is to indulge in something that invokes strong emotions. It helps clear away stale thoughts as well as stimulating emotions or thoughts I haven't explored for awhile. Try reading a good book or watching a good movie (something deep that forces you examine your feelings about the topic), perhaps go to a place that means something to you (an old hangout, the place you fell in love for the first time, a grave site) and try to stir up old thoughts and feelings you may have left behind.

Its amazing what begins popping up when your normal routine is broken.

As for where to begin just dive into it. For your guitar playing spend time going over what you know (scales, chords, old songs) and try to get a feeling for the instrument. What have you mastered? What do you need work on? Maybe take a course on music theory to expand your song writing abilities. Take lessons to help with your singing. All of this might also help with your creative drought as it forces you to look at your instrument differently while giving you inspiration to try new things.

Good luck I know how it can be.

__________________

Kaliena

I'm in the same boat--I decided to get back into writing and when I sit down, I have nothing. It's like my creativity died when I acquired my cube job.

So far, what's been recommended the most to me are some of the suggestions above: 1.) surround yourself with creative people 2.) write / create every day regardless of whether you feel inspired or not. Everything you create isn't going to be fantastic and you've got to be willing to deal with the good and the bad 3.) set aside the time for it. If you can set aside time to watch TV / play games / whatever, you can make time for your creative side.

That's about all the tips I've received so far. I have found that reading a good book / watching an amazing movie inspires me because it generates my emotions (which I believe were my inspiration when I was younger).

I think as we get older, we become numb to a lot due to our life experiences.

__________________
~Beware the waffle~

genuinegirly

Pick out your favorite pencil/pen/paper/desktop theme and get moving.
Create a special "place" to be creative, and designate a specific time regularly to devote to your craft. Separating it in space and time from the every-day allows it to take on a life of its own, freeing it from the mundane hum.

---------- Post added at 09:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 AM ----------

Once your creative juices begin to flow, you likely won't require this level of structure.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

redsneaker

There's also a book called The Artist's Way that is pretty decent at getting your mind working creatively again. But like Snowy said, just do it. Not everything you paint/write/photograph has to be a masterpiece. As a painter myself, I took some time off from creating after college and it took me a while to get back into the groove of creating. For me, creating on a regular basis helped me - as did giving myself permission to paint over things that I might not be pleased with in the end. Good luck!

Giant Hamburger

clavus

Turn off the TV. If you have not done anything creative, and the day is winding down, do not succumb to the siren song of the TV. Get in an hour of creative time first.

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Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

Baraka_Guru

Thanks for all the tips and insights, folks. I'm thinking about this more and more, and I've come to the conclusion that this ol' creativity thing is a big factor in my current struggle to define who I am and what I'm doing with my life. I think it's more than just about career and income. It's about me in general. I've still haven't adequately dealt with some past heavy issues that I need to clean up on or finish up with. I think my approach to this creativity issue is probably the best place to start.

Or, perhaps, the best place to return to. Whenever I think back to the times when I was the most energized and felt most like myself, they were the times when I was most creative. Whether this was related to writing/literature, photography, sketching, painting, acting, playing the guitar, or even simply doing anything freeform, these were the times when I felt most alive. The artist in me has almost died from neglect and I think it's been getting to me without my knowing. In hindsight, I perhaps should have even pursued art more seriously starting in high school (and, according to other evidence, even before that) when I was more steeped in it. I just never took it as something serious or something I could do at a high level. I think that was a mistake. I didn't have it drilled into my head that if I really wanted something, you really work at it. Don't think for a moment that I don't take responsibility for where I am now, but I hope you understand my dilemma. For years, no one lit a fire under me. And now, here I am trying to figure out how to do it myself.

Somewhere along the line, I forced myself to be practical: do something that will get you a job. And that's where I went off to business school. It wasn't at all bad. I excelled at it, probably because it allowed me to be creative in many different ways, and I picked up a number of skills that are quite useful in virtually all aspects of life.

Before that, I did consider going into design or art school, but I was too afraid that I wasn't good enough or that it wasn't a viable career option. I didn't have any support from my family when it came to this stuff. They were just relieved I didn't drop out of high school like so many others in my family.

I've been slipping for too long. I need to wake up. Even if it's just as a hobby, I need to be creative once again.

Actually, I have that author's followup The Vein of Gold. Apparently the difference is that the former is meant for you to discover the artist within you, while the latter is to reignite your creative passion. Both elements are in the latter book, but it focuses on the second aspect, of course. It's been sitting on my shelf for years. I picked it up after a bad life event, but apparently I wasn't ready for it yet. I'm going through it again to see if it catches on now.

I have a fairly good library of books that will teach me the nuts and bolts. It's just a matter of making the time and being dedicated to it. I'm doing it off and on, but I need more on than off, currently. I need to pick some goals and go for it. I tend to overwhelm myself with things like this. I should just decide that I want to play Beatles tunes and go with that for a while, while studying theory, etc., on the side.

I just discovered my favourite pen (a fountain pen) is dead. For some reason, the rubberized coating on it decided to melt into a sticky residue. Maybe I'll get a new one.

As for spaces, I'm currently in the process of gaining a bigger table all for me. And it's in the "den," which is mainly my area. In a sense, this will soon be a great room for doing various things. It will be my "room of one's own."

I don't watch TV. However, just yesterday I decided to let my World of Warcraft account lapse in a few days. I deleted the software, and I have no hardcopies lying around. I have other games on my machine, but they aren't as time-consuming as the King of Time Sinks.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot