The first step to breaking through a creative block? Unlocking your intuition by giving it room to speak. The best way to do that? Play.
True play means stepping into a space with no expectations, no pressure, no rigid plans, and absolutely no concern for the outcome (or the potential mess). When we try to force an answer or muscle our way through a creative block, we inadvertently shut the door on our inner wisdom and imagination. If you want to access your deepest, most brilliant ideas, you have to stop overthinking and start moving your hands.
Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.
When It Feels Like You’re Trapped in a Creative Block
Sophie and I were in the middle of a long hike along an old USFS roadbed when a text came in from my new client, Nicki.
“I walked out of the library 30 minutes ago and have been sitting in my car, staring into space,” her text read. She continued, “Guess how many words I wrote today? ZERO! I was there for 3 hours! NOTHING! The weird thing is that I mostly know what I want to write. It’s like right there at the edge of my brain, but I can’t reach it. Can you help?”
I quickly texted her back, “I have just the brain lasso you need, so don’t worry. I’ll be back in my studio in a couple of hours and will call you then. In the meantime, clear everything off your desk in your home office. It’s time to play.”
The Liberating Power of Play
A couple of years ago, I was teaching a class and demonstrating the power of working in a series. To keep things simple, we worked on two paintings, going back and forth between the two.
Every five minutes or so, we’d stop and move to the other piece. This kept us from getting precious with our compositions and color choices and also from getting stuck in our heads.
We made big, bold marks with vibrant acrylic paint and stayed in a suspended reality, fully immersed in our intuition. Back and forth we went until the 90 minutes were up. We then had a fun debrief, shared our work, and class adjourned.
As I walked toward the sink with my paintbrushes in hand, I could feel something shift in my brain.
I dropped the brushes in the sink and ran to get my phone to type the ideas that were urgently, insistently coming in, rapid-fire.
After nearly an hour of ferocious pecking on my phone, I surveyed the stream of consciousness on the screen. I had typed out an outline for my second book.
When Intuition Has Room To Speak
Ever since BUOYANT was published, people had been asking me what I was going to write next. I told everyone that it was way too early for me to focus on that, and that while I was always open to new ideas, I wasn’t going to force them to the fore.
When I sat down that morning to teach class, I had not been thinking about my second book. My intuition, though, had been whirring away in the background. And all it took to set all of that rich ideation free was the simple act of moving my hands.
Notice that I didn’t say “paint a work of art, write a spectacular poem, or take an arresting photograph.” While I did like the two abstracts I had painted during class, I was really just playing with the paint and experimenting with shapes and colors.
This kind of play for playing’s sake is the ultimate skeleton key for unlocking the best of our imagination, intuition, and problem-solving.
The time spent across the threshold of making something surfaces a calming and centering clarity while igniting synchronicity. It gives your mind the space it needs to get past creative block, access the deep well of your imagination, and trust your intuition.
(If this sounds like Magic, well, it is!)
I bet I can guess what’s going through your mind right now:
I don’t know how to get started.
I don’t know what kind of supplies to get.
I haven’t made anything since I was in primary school.
This sounds ridiculous, far-fetched.
Aren’t arts and crafts for kids and retirees?
I get it!
That’s why, on Sunday, August 23, I am launching a weekly series called Analog Sundays. No special supplies or “talent” needed. And it’s free! Subscribe to my Substack to get all the details.
The way out of our own way is not another hour of thinking. The moment we begin to move our hands, we are no longer waiting outside the door of possibility.
Let’s go across the threshold together.
