Rekindling Your Creativity
As I step out from the depths of a bad year, a season of depression, and winter — there is one thing I know for certain. Creativity is my life source.
We all have a life source… that “thing” that guides your decisions, your passions, and interests. It’s that “thing” that brings you back from lost and lonely places. It’s the “thing” that can save you when nothing else can. Your life source isn’t anything external because it comes from deep within you. When everything in your life can be stripped away from you — your life force is what remains. It’s what keeps the fire in your belly lit.
Realizing that creativity is my life source was both revolutionary and… not all that surprising. I’ve been engaging in creative thinking since a young child. I’ve always thought of myself as a creative person and regularly indulged in it.
What was revolutionary was how much I needed it in my life. It was only in the true absence of being creative that I felt what can only be described as soul-wrenching despair. It was as if my soul was being squeezed and draining everything that made me… me. It was then I realized I didn’t have a choice in the matter of being creative. I either was or I wasn’t. End of story.
There’s a certain kind of surrender (remember, that’s my word of the year!) to your life force that happens when you finally accept that it is so. You find out that you can’t help but reach for that life force when you feel out of sorts, or lost, or broken.
Just because we know something is our life force though, doesn’t make it any easier to actually do it when we are dealing with things like pandemics, stress, anxiety, depression, mental illness, physical injuries, home or work-life issues, etc. Even while basking in the glow of realizing what my life force is, I had trouble connecting with my creativity at times.
What helps that, you may ask?
Well, just as a fire needs kindling to continue to burn, so does creativity. So does your life force. The more attuned I became with the ebb and flow of my creativity, the more I was able to use external kindling to build the fire of my creativity. Through card readings, creative exercises, journaling, and community, I was able to keep the fire burning while knowing that I wasn’t always going to be able to feel the heat of it.
Truthfully, it doesn’t matter what external resource you use to help bring you back to your life force, what’s important is the intention behind it. For me, being creative isn’t always about creating something tangible. It can mean thinking outside of the box or in innovative ways to solve a problem. It means starting my day with a quick doodle or poem simply because my heart needs it. It means expressing how much I value someone or something in my own way.
Your life force is not a static thing, either. It changes and evolves as you do and therefore, it requires that you change how you interact with it. It takes work, sometimes. We don’t like to think about that part. I know I didn’t for a long time. I thought because creativity was my life force, I could be a passive participant in its growth. Wrong.
You have to work at engaging your life force. Sometimes that’s a painful process. Other times, it’s a euphoric, orgasmic experience. That’s what we really live for, right? Those moments of pure joy. Unfortunately, they’re rare. But I can tell you that if you continue to put forth the work and intention to keep your life force burning within you, the more likely and often you’ll have those exciting experiences.
Embracing ALL parts of you
Those who are familiar with Jungian Psychology or Jungian Philosophy, Archetypal or Depth Psychology know what “embracing your shadow” means. If you’re not familiar, here’s a very basic explanation:
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, named this hidden parts of us the Shadow.
These are the parts of us that we try to hide or shy away from, but the truth is that we can’t. We can’t run away from these parts of us, because they are us. Hiding these parts actually contributes to the toxic shame we endure in our life and keeps us from being our authentic selves.
Our life force doesn’t really like when we deny ourselves our authenticity, either. Sometimes, our life force actually shuts down on us to force us to look at our shadows and come to terms with them.
If you’ve felt “stuck” with your life force (especially if it’s creativity), it could be time to do some shadow work and embrace the parts of you that you’ve denied.
When I was able to confront and embrace my shadow parts through therapy, journaling, and yes, even creativity, I was able to see how my authentic self had been pushed aside in order to appear more in line with societal expectations. My shadow parts actually contribute to my creativity in an incredible way and until I was able to see that, my creative attempts felt thwarted and insincere.
I could write about shadow work in depth but there are so many other wonderful resources out there that delve into this topic in more detail and with more knowledge than I have. I encourage you to seek those out if you’re so inclined.
Practical tips for rekindling your creativity or life force
Become aware of your life force and the part it plays in your life. This is usually the first step in any type of change or evolution — realizing what is and what is not. You must come to terms with what your life force is and how you can engage with it on a regular basis.
Find what works for you in terms of engagement. Sometimes we can connect to our life force through meditation or going inward. Sometimes, we need writing or journaling. Painting. A community. Nature. A warm bath. Whatever gets the cogs in your brain turning and thinking about your life force is what you need to do. It may not look like what other people do, but that’s okay because it just needs to work for you.
Become friends with your shadow parts and use them as fuel for further introspection and conversation with your life force.
Try something new — you’d be surprised how many revelations shake loose when you attempt to do what you’ve never done before.
If you’re the journaling, card reading, introspecting kind of person, you may enjoy some prompts and exercises to rekindle your creativity. I’ve built out a workbook for just that reason. In fact, I built it for myself first. I’ve found great success in accessing my creativity and life force through intentional practice and I’m hoping that if you take a chance on these prompts, you’ll be able to do the same, too. You can learn more about the workbook here.
