Having a block in the flow of our creative energies can be frustrating and difficult to overcome when there is no explanation for where that creative potential went. Oftentimes we might experience a flow of ideas or concepts that we can use, and then that flow gets cut off and the ideas stop. How do we approach this problem when it happens?

I took some time to meditate on where I derive new ideas for articles and other projects from. I have come up with five potential approaches that can be helpful for coming creative blocks and finding new inspiration.

Finding the Source

Take some time to think about your original motivation for doing what you do… for being the person that you are. If you are attempting to draw something or to write something for example, ask yourself where that motivation originates. Sometimes experiencing this creative block is just the result of losing touch with the original source of motivation.

There can be a number of different sources of motivation within us. Some are complex and difficult to decrypt and others more straightforward and easier to remember. If we forget our source of motivation, then a creative block becomes inevitable. One example of a straightforward motivation is helping someone overcome a problem. Sometimes realising that the process of writing or creating something can benefit others is enough motivation to find new inspiration.

Relaxing

Sometimes when we strain to see what is in front of us we might miss something important in our peripheral sight. Focusing too much and too hard on something causes it to become strained and it becomes tiresome and almost like a chore that we have to do – we end up doing it but not because we want to do it. If our creative inspiration starts to become a chore then no matter how hard we work at it the results will still feel strained and forced.

Relax and attempt approaching it from a different angle rather than straining to achieve that which is becoming harder and harder to do. Let go of what seems to be the goal and look at the larger picture instead.

Rebalancing the perspective we have on our goals and beliefs about our creative potential allows us to realise that it is infinite — it is when we force our creative power into a finite idea of what it should be that it becomes limited and restricted.

Do Something

I have noticed that the more I write on a particular topic the easier and more natural it becomes to gain momentum and to draw on new sources of inspiration. However if I stop writing altogether it becomes difficult to start again in a month or in a few months time.

The best method I have learned to overcome this is to begin writing on a blank piece of paper. It does not matter what is written. It might not be useful and could feel like a waste of time, but the point of this exercise is to fire up the mind and to get it to start generating new thoughts and ideas. Once the mind is forced to begin doing something new most of the time after 30 minutes useful and better ideas will start coming through those creative channels.

Some of the most interesting sketches I have drawn and best poems I have written have originated from just sitting down and starting to draw or write whatever came to me, instead of forcing it. I have often felt like there is this belief or idea that I might not be able to do something, but it is not that I cannot do it, it is more that the belief causes me to not even bother attempting it. Ignoring the belief and just doing it has proved to me that creative inspiration cannot be contained or limited to the beliefs a person has about what he can or cannot do.

Moving On

I used to do a lot of creative writing, but at one point I noticed I would start writing and it became harder to do. It took a few weeks for me to start exploring different methods of writing about the same concepts, and when I did that it felt natural and easier to do. Now I find I can switch writing formats without much trouble. The lesson for me was that it is never a good idea to keep doing the same thing.

If a person keeps drawing the same pictures, keeps giving the same advice, and keeps making the same jokes, their creative power turns into uninspired habit.

To tap into additional streams of creative inspiration it is crucial to explore new methods of self expression. Our creative abilities as human beings cannot be limited one or just a few modes of expression. Sometimes a creative block is how the mind tells us: it is time to give something else a go.

It Does Not Matter

Often it becomes difficult to do the things we most like doing when we hold ourselves to too high of a standard. If a person is good at golf, then just because she is good at it she expects herself to get a high score in each game. The better she gets the higher score she expects. Often we place the same requirements on our creative inspiration. This is a big problem because our creative power cannot be ranked or scored – it is infinite and boundless.

Creating standards for our creative abilities causes them to disappear altogether. Go for a walk outside and take a close look at one of the flowers in the garden, or at the people walking past, or at whatever is occurring at the present moment. Look at these things with an uninhibited mind and draw the source of creative inspiration from the inner-creation existing in all living things.

Looking at something with a fresh perspective is often just enough to get us to see the role that thing or person has in our worldview and what the meaning of that is. It does not matter whether we do something right or whether we perceive something in the right sense when it comes to the creative mind. To realize this is the essence of creative freedom.

Our inner inspiration is ever-present. However, looking at it under a judgmental light, or assuming that we can lose it, or somehow not be as creative as others are just blocks out the true creative self beneath the labels we place on it.