We’ve talked here about how Idea Magnets make life more exciting, fulfilling and successful, thanks in large part to their unflagging creativity.
Yeah, about that: it only appears to be unflagging.
It flags, my friends. It absolutely flags.
But Idea Magnets know this, and expect it, and they have ways of addressing it. In her seminal book on the subject of creativity, The Artist’s Way, author Julia Cameron (affiliate link) refers to this concept as “filling the well.” To put it simply: repeated output results in depletion. In order to create, we require creative fuel.
I found this book during my first year of college. It completely changed the way I approached my own creativity, and much of that comes down to a commitment to filling the well. Ideally, I replenish my creativity in small, continuous ways. But that’s not always practical. So when I feel that flagging feeling coming on, I choose one (or more) of the items on the list below and apply liberally to the affected area, as it were. When you magnetize your life like this, things get better pretty quickly.
Curate the things that spark your creativity.
Pinterest is an ideal tool for this. If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, it’s a site where you can collect (“pin”) images onto different “pinboards”. You can create as many boards as you’d like, and you can decide what, if any, themes each board follows.
Some of my boards
A look inside one of the boards seen in the previous image.
Of course, you could also opt for a regular, physical scrapbooks using images culled from magazines or anywhere else. Playlists are another great way to curate the music that makes you more creative. Whether you use Spotify, YouTube, or place that needle carefully on a much-loved record, music is excellent for filling the well. Finally, one of my favorite ways to gather the things that stoke my creativity is simply to put pen to paper and list them all. (I’ve done this most of my life; there’s something powerful and exciting about seeing so much potent creativity and joy named on a page in your own handwriting.) A young Nick Cave created the following list of his influencers and sent it to a reporter who’d just interviewed him:
Shift your point of view.
This is something that can be done figuratively -- for example, by viewing your situation or project through the eyes of an artist you admire, or literally -- by taking a walk and allowing yourself to get “lost” in a place you don’t normally walk through. You can get even more literal by climbing a tree and noting the the things you miss at your usual height, or by lying on the couch, letting your head hang down over one end, and examining your daily view of your home from that angle. It sounds silly. It is silly. But it’s also effective.
Get out of your head.
Do something that requires you to use all of your focus. Painting, woodworking, gardening, knitting, and surfing are all great ways to get out of your head and let your skills and instinct lead you. You might also consider stretching, exercising, meditating, cloudgazing, stargazing, or gazing into a nice roaring fire. Sometimes a vacation from our relentless thinking can work miracles.
Get out...period.
Visit a museum and fill your eyes with art. Get to the beach, the forest, the mountains, the desert, the open field. Breathe. Wander through an estate sale or a thrift shop. Visit a craft store and imagine trying completely new types of projects. Head to your local farmers’ market and take in the sights, sounds, and scents. See what classes are offered in your community and try something you’ve never done before: ikebana, weight lifting, ceramics, Zumba?
Magnetizing Your Life
Ideas can and do come from everywhere. And Idea Magnets need ideas in order to function properly. Our creativity demands it. It needs to roam and gather up fragments of this and that to use as fuel. That’s why practices like these are critical. At first they may feel strange or silly. But you’ll find that as you continue to make it a point to fill the well, you’ll begin attracting more and more ideas, and better ones, too. Idea Magnet to Idea Magnet, I promise you. - Emma Alvarez Gibson
